A
For information
18.10.88)
ANNEX A TO XCC(89)7
NOTE FOR EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
XCCI(88)80 Copy No.
•
TALKS IN LONDON ON VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE
OCTOBER 1988
INTRODUCTION
On 11-12 October 1988, Mr Robin McLaren, Assistant Under-Secretary of State at the FCO led a joint UK/HK delegation in talks with Vietnamese officials in London on repatriation of Vietnamese
of Vietnamese Boat People (VBP) from Hong Kong. Also in the delegation were the Political Adviser (Mr R D Clift), the Secretary for Security (Mr G T Barnes), the head of the South-East Asian Department, FCO (Mr D Colvin), and First Secretary at the British Embassy in Hanoi (Mr C Partridge). The Vietnamese side was led by Vu Khoan, an Assistant Minister at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
2
The background to this round of talks and the outline of the UK/HK negotiation objectives were reported to Members in Memorandum XCC (88)75 at Annex A.
BACKGROUND
Objectives
3
(a)
(b)
(c)
Our objectives for the second round of talks were to
persuade the Vietnamese to agree to receive back the volunteers as early as possible;
press the Vietnamese to take further action to prevent departures,
including
their co-operation in getting the deterrent message across in Vietnam;
obtain the Vietnamese agreement in principle that all those who were not screened in as refugees should return to Vietnam;
(d) make clear that reintegration assistance could only be discussed as part of an overall understanding on the problem as a whole, based on acceptance of point (c) above.
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