TNAG-0556-FCO40-651-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-into-othe-1975 — Page 44

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1.

CONFIDENTIAL

76)

Mr Male

HONG KONG:

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES

Hong Kong telno. 476 raises the awkward issue of 103 South Vietnamese refugees aboard the American ship "Oregon" which is due in Hong Kong late tomorrow or early on 16 May.

2.

It would clearly be impossible for Hong Kong to accept these refugees, having refused permission to land in the case of the 27 on the Swedish ship MS Japan. However, there seems no objection to giving temporary facilities subject to satisfactory guarantees from the Americans that the 103 will proceed onwards to Guam or the US. I think we can rely on the US Consul-General in Hong Kong properly to report the reasons why the Hong Kong Government cannot go further; but in view of the domestic political difficulty in accepting Vietnamese refugees in the United States, there seems advantage in asking HM Embassy Washington to explain the circumstances. The decision is defensible here since the Hong Kong Government have, as usual, indicated they will allow ashore anyone requiring hospitalisation or to whom exceptional humanitarian reasons apply.

3.

I attach a draft with which NAD and SEAD concur.

Mellallo

PL O'Keeffe

Hong Kong & Indian Ocean Dept.

14 May 1975

сс

PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts

CONFIDENTIAL

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