Mr Colvin, SEAD
CONFIDENTIAL
From:
P K WILLIAMS
248
1 X 21/12
показват ок
United Nations Department
Date:
19 December 1988
CC:
Mr Hum, HKD
Mr Gwynne, UND
HKD 243/5
N
29/12
PA
VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE IN HONG KONG
1.
Mr Volfing, the UNHCR representative in London, raised with me today the above question and said that speaking personally he thought he should tell me that "minds in UNHCR and Washington" had been thinking about ways in which the Hong Kong Vietnamese Boat People problem could have been "dealt with".
2.
When I asked exactly what new thoughts had surfaced on this very difficult problem, he explained that UNHCR and Washington
(Mr Jonathon Moore had been in Geneva last week) had thought of a scheme whereby the Vietnamese Boat People population in Hong Kong could be divided into two with the UK taking together with Hong Kong responsibility for re-settline the first half over 2 years ie with the UK taking 1,000 a year for 2 years and Hong Kong taking 2,500 a year for the same 2 years. The balance of the Vietnamese population in Hong Kong would then be taken up by the US and other re-settlement countries.
3. I said that the scheme outlined seemed to me unreal in failing to take account of either the re-settlement possibilities in the UK or Hong Kong, the reluctance of the Vietnamese to settle in Hong Kong and a number of other important political factors. I went on to say that I understood that Mr Volfing had raised this far-fetched scheme with me on a purely personal basis and I thought we might leave matters there. Mr Volfing then said that this was precisely the reply that he had expected and also implied that he had already told Mr Hocke and others in Geneva that the scheme was a non-starter. He added that if ideas of a "package" on this or other lines were to be pursued, then UNHCR would not wish to get out in front but would seek to persuade the US to lead.
WETABD
CONFIDENTIAL
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