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4.
It would have been preferable to proceed directly from
ORP I to ORP II. Nevertheless a trial programme would achieve our main purpose of putting pressure on the camp population to volunteer. It would also provide a suitable means of returning new arrivals (who have been too few to warrant a further ORP I flight) and criminal offenders whom the Vietnamese are now insisting must be returned in groups. It would also lead to a financial commitment from Hong Kong to help kick-start a full-scale ORP II.
could
5. We shall of course need to carry out the ORP II repatriations with sensitivity and avoid adverse publicity which might provoke a protest from the Americans.
(JK1ADP)
G W Hewitt
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