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TO EAGLEBURGER AND SELIN ON HIS RETURN, AND POSSIBLY VISIT LONDON LATER IN AUGUST. GILLMORE SUGGESTED THAT HE MIGHT REINSTATE HIS FLYING VISIT TO WASHINGTON IN THE NEXT TWO WEEKS. IF THIS SUITED THE AMERICANS, THEY MIGHT LET OUR WASHINGTON EMBASSY KNOW.
6. EARLIER, GILLMORE HAD SPOKEN TO ZOELLICK WHO ACCOMPANIED SECRETARY BAKER. ZOELLICK REVEALED CONSIDERABLE CONFUSION ABOUT OUR POSITION. GILLMORE EXPLAINED THAT PEOPLE IN THE GREY AREA WOULD NEED COUNSELLING. OUR HOPE WAS THAT AS THE SITUATION - IN PARTICULAR THE FACT THAT THERE AS ABSOLUTELY NO PROSPECT OF RESETTLEMENT CAME HOME TO THEM, THEY WOULD ACQUIESCE, ALBIET RELUCTANTLY, THAT THEY HAD NO ALTERNATIVE TO REPATRIATION. THERE WAS NO QUESTION OF OUR FORCING PEOPLE ON TO AEROPLANES AT GUN-POINT. BUT THE AMERICANS WOULD UNDERSTAND THAT WE DID NOT WISH TO SAY PUBLICLY THAT A SIMPLE REFUSAL WOULD BE ENOUGH TO ENSURE THAT THEY WERE NOT RETURNED TO VIETNAM: THAT WOULD SIMPLY ENCOURAGE THE SCREENED-OUT TO REFUSE. GILLMORE STRESSED THAT IF THE UNHCR WAS READY TO HELP IN POST-REPATRATION MONITORING, NO ONE WOULD BE MORE CONTENT THAT THE UK. THE IDEA, APPARTENLTY ABROAD IN WASHINGTON, THAT WE WERE IN SOME WAY DISCOURAGING THE UNHCR COULD NOT BE WIDER OF THE MARK. ZOELLICK SAID HE HAD FOUND THIS EXPLANATION EXTREMELY HELPFUL. IT HAD CLEARED UP A NUMBER OF MISUNDERSTANDINGS, ON HIS PART AT LEAST. HE UNDERTOOK TO SPEAK TO EAGLEBURGER AND SELIN ON RETURN.
7. WE HOPE THAT THIS FRANK BUT NECESSARY EXCHANGE WILL HAVE HELPED TO BRING HOME TO THE AMERICANS, AT THE HIGHEST OFFICIAL LEVEL, THE COMPLEXITY OF THE BOAD PEOPLE ISSUE, THE SERIOUSNESS OF OUR APPROACH TO DEALING WITH IT AND THE DIFFICULT POSITION WHICH THE AMERICANS THEMSELVES WILL SHORTLY FACE OVER IMPLEMENTING THE CPA, LESS WITH HONG KONG THAN WITH MALAYSIA AND THAILAND. IF BAKER CAN BE PERSUADED THAT WE HAVE A JOINT INTEREST IN HANDLING THIS WHOLE PROBELM IN AN ORDERLY FASHION, WE MAY BE ABLE TO MOVE OUT OF THE PRESENT PERIOD OF CONTRONTATION INTO ONE OF AT LEAST MUTUAL COMPREHENSION AND HOPEFULLY EVEN COOPERATION.
FERGUSSON
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