CONFIDENTIAL
041176
11
MDHIAN
ALSO TAKE INTO ACCOUNT WHAT I HAD JUST SAID IN THEIR URGENT EXAMINATION OF THE MATTER. GUO COULD ASSURE ME THAT CHINA LAID GREAT STRESS ON COOPERATION WITH H M G IN SOLVING THE PROBLEM.
3. GUO SAID THAT THE MFA WERE FULLY AWARE THAT THE PROBLEM HAD BECOME EVEN MORE SERIOUS IN RECENT WEEKS AND THAT HONG KONG WAS BEARING AN EVEN HEAVIER BURDEN THAN BEFORE. HE THOUGHT THE ONLY REAL SOLUTION WOULD BE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO APPEAL TO THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT TO SHOULDER THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES. CHINA HOPED THAT H M G WOULD NEGOTIATE AND LIAISE WITH OTHER COUNTRIES WITH A VIEW TO EXERTING PRESSURE ON VIETNAM TO BEHAVE RESPONSIBLY. THE CHINESE AUTHORITIES HAD ALREADY TAKEN MEASURES TO TACKLE THE BOAT PEOPLE PROBLEM BUT, GUO REPEATED, THEY WOULD CONSIDER WHAT FURTHER MEASURES COULD BE TAKEN IN THE LIGHT OF THE POINTS MADE IN YOUR MESSAGE AND THOSE I HAD JUST MADE.
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I SAID THAT I WAS GRATEFUL FOR GUO'S REMARKS AND ENCOURAGED TO HEAR THAT THE FOREIGN MINISTER WAS GIVING SERIOUS CONSIDERATION TO THE MATTER. I THEN AGAIN REHEARSED THE POINT ABOUT VIETNAMESE WHO REACHED HONG KONG VIA THE VIETNAM LAND BORDER BEING ILLEGAL
IMMIGRANTS IN CHINA AND THAT THEY SHOULD BE TREATED AS SUCH. GUO UNDERSTOOD THE ARGUMENT BUT SAID THAT IT COULD CAUSE DIFFICULTIES FOR CHINA: VIETNAMESE LEAVING THEIR OWN COUNTRY DID NOT WANT TO SETTLE IN CHINA OR, FOR THAT MATTER, IN HONG KONG. THE DIFFICULTY WAS THAT SINCE 1979/80 CHINA HAD RESETTLED SOME 280,000 VIETNAMESE, MOSTLY ON FARMS: CHINA'S CAPACITY TO SETTLE EVEN MORE VIETNAMESE WAS VERY LIMITED. GUO ADDED THAT THESE WERE HIS PRELIMINARY THOUGHTS ON THE REMARKS I HAD MADE AND SAID THAT WE WOULD RECEIVE AN EARLY FORMAL RESPONSE TO THEM AND TO YOUR MESSAGE.
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I SHALL TAKE THE EARLIEST POSSIBLE OPPORTUNITY OF REINFORCING THESE POINTS WITH ZHOU NAN. I HAD ALREADY SPOKEN OF THE SERIOUSNESS OF THE SITUATION TO HEAD OF WEST EUROPEAN DEPARTMENT, JIANG EN ZHU, LAST WEEK. THE MFA CAN BE IN NO DOUBT NOW OF THE PRESSURES AND ANXIETIES IN HONG KONG AND LONDON.
DONALD.
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