CONFIDENTIAL

numbers from those camps.

The

provide a

memorandum on

difficulty in agreeing

Home Office were also

We had

asked to

considerable

Vietnamese refugees.

with the Home Office the terms on which we dealt with question (b)

above. The Home Office were reluctant to give too much currency to

the view that, in order to break the log jam on resettlement from

Hong Kong, we needed to take the lead.

the other hand, all the

international evidence indicates that this view is correct.

3.

On

response,

in

We shall now need to produce a considered

conjunction with the Home Office whose ultimate responsibility it is

to coordinate the Government response.

The normal form for this

would be a Home Office White Paper,

which would include an FCO

contribution on matters for which we are responsible. We shall

discuss this with Home Office officials next week. A meeting

between Mr Luce and Mr Waddington will probably be necessary give

the areas of potential difference between ourselves and the Home

Office, particularly concerning the recommendation that Britain's

family reunion criteria should be relaxed for Vietnamese refugees in

Hong Kong, to allow a further intake from the

4.

camps there.

Because agreement on a White Paper may take considerable time,

may need to consider the possibility of using an inspired

Parliamentary Question to give a preliminary reply on points in the

Report of particular interest to

we

us.

19 April 1985

деталий

A C Galsworthy

Hong Kong Department

CONFIDENTIAL

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