CONFIDENTIAL
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133055 MDHIAN 5233
CONFIDENTIAL
FM HANOI
TO IMMEDIATE FCO
TELNO 341
OF 26061OZ SEPTEMBER 88.
HD
243/15
26 SEP 1989
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Toms
INFO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG AND UKMIS GENEVA
YOUR TELNO 247
2477
5)
TO HONG KONG: BOAT PEOPLE
SECOND ROUND OF TALKS
1 I HAVE ONLY SOME MINOR OBSERVATIONS TO MAKE.
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FIRSTLY THAT WE SHOULD AVOID THE WORD ''GOODWILL'"' YOUR PARA 5. IT WOULD ALL TOO EASILY LEAD TO A REQUEST FOR A RECIPROCAL OF GOODWILL WHICH NATURALLY WE WOULD FIND UNPALATABLE.
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GESTURE
2. SECONDLY YOUR PARA 6, WE SHOULD BE WARY OF PRESSING TOO HARD FOR ASSURANCES ABOUT THE TREATMENT OF RETURNEES. IT WOULD DO NOTHING TO STEM THE FLOW OF ILLEGAL EMIGRANTS IF IT WERE PUBLICLY ANNOUNCED THAT RETURNEES WOULD SUFFER NO PENALTY AT ALL. THE SUBJECT HAS BEEN RAISED BY THE UNHCR. AND AHMED HAS CERTAINLY RAISED IT: SEE BANGKOK TELNO 510 AND HANOI TELNO 250 TO YOU.29
3. AS FOR GENERAL ECONOMIC AID (YOUR PARA 8) THE VIETNAMESE HAVE NO REASON FOR MAKING THE ASSUMPTION THAT REINTEGRATION ASSISTANCE COULD LEAD TO A MAJOR AID PROGRAMME. THEY HAVE BEEN TOLD IN MONOSYLLABLES AT ALL LEVELS BY MEMBERS OF THIS EMBASSY THAT THERE IS NO QUESTION OF AID UNTIL VIETNAMESE TROOPS LEAVE CAMBODIA. WE HAVE ALSO BEEN CAREFUL NOT TO PROMISE AID EVEN AFTER WITHDRAWAL. HOWEVER THE TIMINGS OF THE RETURN OF BOAT PEOPLE AND WITHDRAWAL OF VIETNAMESE FORCES FROM CAMBODIA IN 1990 MAY PRODUCE THE ILLUSION OF A CONTINUOUS PROCESS.
4. YOUR PARA 9. I THINK IT RIGHT TO SEEK A DETAILED ACCOUNT
OF DE MELLO'S VISIT IN GENEVA. HIS VISIT HERE IS SO SHORT THAT WE ARE UNLIKELY TO SEE HIM AND WILL HAVE TO RELY ON AN ACCOUNT OF IT -
FROM THE LOCAL UNHCR REP.
5. YOUR TELNO 2478 ABOUT REINTEGRATION ASSISTANCE. LOCAL UNHCR REP HAS BEEN SPEAKING WITH THE VEITNAMESE IN GENEAL TERMS. THERE HAS APPARENTLY BEEN NO MENTION AS YET OF PROJECT ASSISTANCE OR SETTLEMENT OF THE RETURNEES IN THE VIRGIN LANDS'' IN THE HIGHLANDS. NO FINANCIAL FIGURES HAVE BEEN MENTIONED BUT IT IS BAZOCHE'S VIEW
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CONFIDENTIAL