תי
TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 1988
IT'S
NO
ARE
STUART PALLISTER, FROM ASIA TELEVISION: WOULD YOU SAY LONGER APPROPRIATE THEN THAT ALL BOAT PEOPLE WHO COME HERE TREATED AS REFUGEES?
H.E. THAT'S PART OF THE PROBLEM THAT WE'RE FACING. AS I SAID WHEN WE STARTED THIS IN 1979, THERE WAS AN UNDERSTANDING THAT THOSE LEAVING VIETNAM BY BOAT WOULD ALL BE TREATED AS THOUGH THEY WERE REFUGEES. THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT UNDERSTANDING WAS THAT PEOPLE WHO WERE TAKEN IN BY PLACES OF FIRST ASYLUM WOULD ALSO HAVE A CHANCE ΤΟ BE RESETTLED ELSEWHERE. YOU HAVE TO HAVE BOTH SIDES TO THAT. 80 IN CONSIDERING OUR FUTURE POLICY, WE HAVE TO LOOK ΤΟ SEE WHETHER THAT ARRANGEMENT IS STILL WORKING EFFECTIVELY.
STUART PALLISTER: BUT WOULD YOU SAY IT WAS NO LONGER
APPROPRIATE?
H.E.: IT ONLY BECOMES NOT APPROPRIATE WHEN YOU HAVE DECIDED TO CHANGE THE POLICY. I'VE TRIED TO SET OUT THE BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM AND TO SAY ALSO THAT WE HAVE NOT MADE THE DECISION TO CHANGE POLICY AT THE MOMENT. WE ARE LOOKING AT THE VARIOUS OPTIONS. AND I WOULD LIKE TO EMPHASISE AGAIN THAT NONE OF THESE OPTIONS ARE EASY OPTIONS.
DAVID DODWELL, FROM FINANCIAL TIMES: I'D LIKE TO RAISE A POINT THAT YOU TOUCHED ON WITH VIETNAMESE REFUGEES A MOMENT AGO. I JUST CAME BACK THIS MORNING FROM CHI MA WAN AND EVIDENTLY THE INFLUX FROM VIETNAM OVER THE LAST MONTH HAS BEEN VERY HEAVILY SKEWED BACK IN THE DIRECTION OF SOUTH VIETNAMESE. THOSE IN QUARANTINE WERE 160 OUT OF 174 ACTUALLY FROM SOUTH VIETNAM AND AS AT EXFLAINING WHY THIS REVERSAL HAD OCCURRED, THEY WHETHER IT WASN'T BECAUSE NEWS HAD GOT BACK TO POSSIBILITY OF A REDEFINITION OF REFUGEES AND THAT THAT IN THE NEAR FUTURE THEY ARE GOING то BE CALLED ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS OR DISPLACED PERSONS AND TO BE RETURNED GENERATING A RAPID EXODUS TO TRY AND BEAT THE GUILLOTINE.
THIS MORNING PEOPLE GROPED WERE WONDERING VIETNAM OF THE THE POSSIBILITY
IS ACTUALLY
H.E.: YOU ARE MORE UP TO DATE ON SOME OF THE DETAILS THAN I AM.
IF YOU HAVE JUST BEEN BACK FROM CHI MA WAN, COULD I ASK YOU, WERE ANY OF THE PEOPLE SAYING THAT THE REASON FOR LEAVING WAS THAT THEY WERE TRYING TO BEAT SOME SUPPOSED BAN?
DAVID DODWELL:
THIS WAS SIMPLY PEOPLE TRYING TO MUSE OVER WHAT THE REASONS WERE, BUT IT WOULD SUGGEST THAT IF THERE IS GOING TO BE A CHANGE IN THE DEFINITION, THEN THAT DECISION OUGHT TO BE TAKEN QUICKLY RATHER THAN TO DRIFT AROUND, MUSING AND CONSULTING.
/H.E.: