CONFIDENTIAL
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
R Amos Esq
DS 5a
Ministry of Defence
Main Building
Whitehall
LONDON
Telephone 01-233 5073
ト
f
..
Your reference
Our reference FA 243/1
Date
29 October 1982
SWIA 2HB ↓
HKK 243/1
Dear Amos
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No
M
Itips.
(277
1
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES : OPPOSED TOWING OF CRAFT
·265
Nic Bown has passed to me your letter D/DS5/5/4/1 of 21 October. I have also now seen Richard Hoare's letter to you of 25 October.
<< & T
1.
2. It seems quite clear that Hong Kong's consideration of this operation is entirely on a contingency or hypothetical basis. Nevertheless, if in any circumstances it had to be contemplated and the appropriate consultations' took place it might be useful to be able to refer directly to the correspondence generated two years ago when the Sultan of Brunei was considering turning away Vietnamese boat people and expected to be able to call on British Loan Service Personnel seconded to the Royal Brunei Malay Regiment.
3. LSP had apparently been involved in a move in January 1979 to prevent Vietnamese boat people from landing in Brunei but it never became widely known. However, it remained Brunei's policy not to let Vietnamese boat people land. Nevertheless Ministers decided that it would be quite unacceptable to allow British servicemen to be involved in such operations in future, and on 13 August 1980 Mr Blaker wrote to the Sultan expressing the hope that refugees would not be turned away and warning him that it would be unacceptable if British LSP were required to take part in the expulsion of refugees from Brunei.
4.
I think we can assume that this judgment would apply a fortiori to any consideration of turning boat people away from Hong Kong (as opposed to Brunei) and likewise a fortiori to any plans for such operations by the Royal Navy (as opposed to Loan Service Personnel).
sincerely you
Christophen Segar.
CM J Segar
South East Asian Department
cc: Mr Hoare
HKGD
Mr Warr Def Dept