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CONFIDENTIAL
14.15
FROM: D H Gillmore
Private Secretary
Mr Seme, & 198
монаршей
CC:
/w/12/
VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE: REPATRIATION
1.
W37 270 2156
11 August 1989 PS/Sir J Fretwell1 Mr Paul, HKD
mr Godson, SEAD
Before despatch of the telegram reporting Ministers' decision to delay mandatory repatriation of Vietnamese boat people, I spoke, as agreed, to Sir D Wilson, currently on leave in Scotland.
2.
He
As you would expect, Sir D Wilson expressed disappointment. asked how long the delay was likely to be. I said that there was no decision on this. We would have to see how things developed. Sir D Wilson said that, if it was a matter of two weeks or so, he did not foresee any major problem. But if the delay was anything much longer, by which I think he means into the second half of September, we should not be under any illusion that, in Hong Kong terms, the situation could worsen considerably. Hong Kong people would suspect that we were under pressure from the Americans and had given way. The boat people would find encouragement that, by resisting they could defeat our purposes; and the pressure on us to delay repatriation for a further month until the next Steering Committee meeting could prove irresistible.
3. I said that Ministers had considered all these matters in the round but they were firmly of the view that everything had to be done to ensure that the first repatriation exercise should be a success; failure would be a disaster, not only in terms of UK public opinion, but for Hong Kong. Sir D Wilson said he understood this, but efforts to improve monitoring and, above all, to persuade UNHCR to change its mind, were bound to take time. And, in his view, time, beyond a couple of weeks, was bound to work to our disadvantage.
4. Sir D Wilson nonetheless thanked me for having let him know what instructions were being sent to Hong Kong. He had apparently talked to Sir D Ford earlier this morning to warn him that something of this kind might be in the wind.
Infortun
D H Gillmore
CONFIDENTIAL