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Mr Rifkind: Well, I note in your remarks you didn't actually provide any explanation as to why it should be seen as the direct responsibility of the British Government. The policy on Vietnamese boat people has been a policy pursued with considerable success but not total achievement yet by the Hong Kong Government. It is a Hong Kong problem, if I may say so it comes within the concept of autonomy and this is a problem of Hong Kong. We are very willing to play our part in assisting the Hong Kong Government, as we have done and as we continue to do, but to suggest that this is primarily the responsibility of the British Government, I'm afraid is to be reconciled neither with constitutional principle nor practice over the last few years.
Mrs Selina Chow: I'm afraid I have to remind you, Foreign Secretary, that the dealings with Vietnam is undertaken by the British Government, not the Hong Kong Government direct because this is on an international level.
Mr Rifkind: Of course, if there are representations that need to be made, we make representations on behalf of the Hong Kong Government. That does not mean that Britain has the responsibility to solve the problem. It does mean that if there are international representations that need to be made up to the 30th of June of next year, of course, we have the obligation and will fulfil that obligation, as we have done in the past. But, please I'm sure you know perfectly well that it is incorrect to interpret that obligation as an obligation to solve the problem. It is an issue which comes under the responsibility of the Hong Kong Government, that has been true since the beginning of this problem and no one has seriously suggested that the constitutional arrangements imply otherwise.
Mr Allen Lee: Chairman, I'm sorry I disagree with you Foreign Secretary because at the time, in 1979, I was a member of LegCo. The decision of taking those people, the three thousand who came on "Huey Fong" was under the direction of the British. Government and the British Government, go back to your Foreign Office files, the British Government had ordered the Hong Kong Government to take those boat people and to declare that this is the first port of asylum and I was there.
Mr Rifkind: Well, no doubt that is the view which you hold. It's not what I understand to be the historical situation but I shall happily go back to the files.
Mr Martin Lee: Constitutionally, foreign relations is never within the autonomy of a colony.
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