CONFIDENTIAL
ZCZC
CONFIDENTIAL
FM FCO
TO PRIORITY UK REP BRUSSELS
TELNO
OF 161630Z DECEMBER 88
AND TO INFO ROUTINE HONG KONG, HANOI, UKMIS GENEVA
PRIORITY
HONG KONG TELNO 4542 AND KUALA LUMPUR TELNO 664 (SINCE REPEATED
TO YOU): VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE: EC INTERVENTION AT UNHCR
WORKING GROUP MEETING IN KUALA LUMPUR
1. The Kuala Lumpur meeting did not go well for the UK. Our
policy of seeking agreement with Vietnam for the repatriation of
all boat people in Hong Kong who are not refugees received
something of a setback. This policy is generally supported by
the international community, including the ASEANS and
resettlement countries such as Australia. UNHCR can live with it
if not challenged by a major donor. However the Americans are
causing problems. They tend to fluctuate between tacit
acceptance and pious objection on humanitarian grounds. At Kuala
Lumpur they were in the latter mode. We are working on bringing
them round to accepting that the situation faced by Hong Kong
similar to the problems the USA has with, for instance,
illegal immigrants whom the Americans forcibly return to Mexico.
The Vietnamese have accepted the need for comprehensive
arrangements (code for accepting responsibility for taking back
all the screened out, but insist on accepting volunteers only at
is
this
RTAAFE
SEAD
P KC THOMAS
2449