WHETHER THE UK SHOULD CONSIDER GIVING ECONOMIC AID TO
VIETNAM IN ORDER TO HELP STEM THE FLOW OF REFUGEES?
THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH LED THE PRIME MINISTER TO ANNOUNCE
IN JULY 1979 THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT'S DECISION TO CEASE AID TO
VIETNAM HAVE NOT SIGNIFICANTLY CHANGED. THE VIETNAMESE
GOVERNMENT'S POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC POLICIES CONTINUE TO BE
REPRESSIVE. OVER 10,000 VIETNAMESE ARE STILL HELD WITHOUT
TRIAL IN RE-EDUCATION CAMPS. VIETNAM CONTINUES TO OCCUPY
CAMBODIA WITH A FORCE OF SOME 160,000 TROOPS, AND AS YOU WILL
BE AWARE IS CURRENTLY LAUNCHING AN OFFENCIVE OF UNPRECEDENTED
FEROCITY.
OUR VIEWS, WHICH WE PUBLICLY EXPRESSED LAST YEAR
TO THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION, ARE GENERALLY SHARED BY
ASEAN AND BY OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES AND WERE ENDORSED PUBLICLY
IN THE JOINT COMMUNIQUE WHICH WAS ISSUED AFTER THE EC/ASEAN
MINISTERIAL MEETING IN DUBLIN LAST NOVEMBER. GIVEN THE SCALE OF
VIETNAM'S ECONOMIC PROBLEMS AND THEIR COMMITMENT TO ECONOMIC
POLICIES WHICH SHOW LITTLE CONCERN FOR THE WELL-BEING OF THE
POPULATION, ANY AID OFFERED BY US WOULD BE UNLIKELY TO HAVE ANY
EFFECT ON THE REFUGEE FLOW.
1.
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