CONFIDENTIAL
HKK 243/5
RECEIVET
1
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SJH
recalled, inter alia, his talks in Vietnam in 1984, when
in answer to his question about whether voluntary
repatriation would be acceptable, one Minister had replied
"Never, only possibly on a case by case basis" while
another had said "Yes, but not until we can work on it
on a case by case basis". Mr Hartling confirmed his
conclusion that there was anyway no prospect of the
Vietnamese accepting voluntary repatriates for a year or
or even ten years or more. In passing, he spoke of
what he clearly saw as the unacceptable possibility of
involuntary repatriation, saying that he very much hoped
HMG would never contemplate it and speaking of the reaction
which there would be in our media and public opinion. As to
the argument that the closed camp policy had slowed down the
inflow of Vietnamese refugees to Hong Kong, Mr Hartling
contested that there was a cause and effect relationship,
two
3.
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Mr Luce indicated that HMG might find it necessary
themselves, through HM Ambassador, to raise the question of
repatriation possibilities with the Vietnamese government
direct. Mr Hartling welcomed this suggestion as
supplementing his repeated questioning of the Vietnamese,
whose response was negative even though he had confined his
enquiry to voluntary repatriation.
[Note: Given Mr Hartling's reaction, the Minister did not
specifically say that we might wish to explore Vietnamese
views on involuntary repatriation].
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