From: J G H Dickinson Secretariat (Overseas) (Commitments)
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE Rm 5314
Main Building Whitehall London SW1A 2HB Telephone 01-2182084 (Direct Dialling)
01-218 9000 (Switchboard)
Your reference
Mr. Bartow
cor
Mr Clinton Leeks
Hong Kong Department
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Whitehall
London SWIA
Our reference
D/Sec (0)(C)/6/7
Date
21 August 1986
Dear Mr Leeks
TREATMENT OF VIETNAMESE REFUGEES AT BMH HONG KONG
I would be grateful for your advice on the attached request for guidance originating from the staff of the British Military Hospital at Hong Kong.
2. The problem is that the staff of BMH have been accepting a small number of Vietnamese patients from the camps into the hospital without the approval of the Hong Kong Government. Strictly, this practice is a breach of the HKG's refugee policy, and the staff at BMH would obviously prefer to notify the HKG of it in order to avoid a potentially embarrassing dispute at some point in the future, in which HKG could claim that they had been meeting 75% of the costs of this treatment without having approved it.
3.
I wonder if you could suggest what the likely reaction of the HKG would be, were they now to be notified of this practice? Obviously, we are not looking for an immediate approach to Hong Kong at this stage and would prefer to consider our position in the light of your views.
Yours sincerely
John Dickinson