14
Registry No.
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Top Secret.
To:-
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted.
Unclassified.
PRIVACY MARKING
In Confidence
DRAFT LETTER
Neil Kinnock Esq MP House of Commons
Type 1 +
FROM
Lord Goronwy-Roberts
Telephone No, Ext.
Department
Thank you for your letter of 3 July to Jim
Callaghan about the repatriation of the party of
South Vietnamese of Chinese origin recently detained
in Hong Kong.
Except for one man who was born in Hong Kong,
all the 119 were returned to South Vietnam on 17 June
following specific assurances to us from the South
Vietnamese Government that nothing serious would
happen to members of the group who were victims of
the syndicate which had smuggled them out of South
Vietnam.
When the Foreign Minister of South Vietnam
called at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office during
his recent visit to Britain, Roy Hattersley took the
opportunity to remind him of the assurances that had
been given. Mr Bac confirmed that cases of violation
of the immigration/emigration laws would be tried in
open court and would not lead to harsh punishment.
He added that women and draft-dodgers in particular
would be lightly treated.
I hope these assurances will help to put your
mind at rest. I am returning the copies of BBC
Monitoring Service reports which you sent with your
letter.
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