Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
HKD 243/S
(ISI)
Nigel French Security Branch
Hong Kong Government Central Offices
Lower Albert Road HONG KONG
Dear Mr French,
Telephone 01-
270.2652
Your reference
Ou
Our reference
PTAAFT
Date
14 September 1988
VIETNAM: THE INDO-CHINESE REFUGEE PROBLEM: EC DEMARCHE IN HANOI
1. The idea of a demarche by the Twelve in Hanoi was agreed in principle at the Asia Working Group meeting of 6 July and the UK was invited to circulate proposals.
2.
We have been working with our EC partners since July to agree the text of the demarche. The text finally agreed upon is enclosed. On 5 September the French authorities instructed their Embassy in Hanoi to make the demarche.
It
3.
The text is the result of lengthy negotiations with several members but particularly with the French and Germans. We have put a great deal of effort into persuading our partners of the gravity of the problem and the immense burden it is placing on Hong Kong. This text is the best compromise we have been able to reach. is the latest of several versions and has been drawn up by the Presidency to take account of the views expressed by the partners at various stages.
4.
The biggest difficulties which arose were:
various partners,
a) over references to compulsory returns:
notably Germany and France wished the demarche to refer only to voluntary returns.
b)
c)
further to this, some partners were unhappy that in urging Vietnam "to take back all those who are not genuine refugees", the right of anyone to return to his country might be undermined.
similarly one of our texts which called on Vietnam to "stem the outflow" was unacceptable to the French and Germans since they felt it might imply an erosion of the principle that everyone should have the right to leave their country.
Yous ever,
Judith Slater
J SLATER
Hong Kong Department