TNAG-0557-FCO40-652-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-into-othe-1975 — Page 6

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Mr Male

No Wilford (axyys

PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts

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MP'S LETTER ABOUT VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG

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Sir Frederic Bennett (Torbay, Conservative) wrote to the Secretary of State on 24 May, asking how we view our responsibilities in regard to refugees from Vietnam landed in Hong Kong.

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As Sir Frederic's letter indicates, he has already raised the question of HMG's attitude towards Vietnamese refugees.

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did so in the course of the Spring Adjournment Debate on 13 May, and I attach a copy of the relevant passage from Hansard. The Lord President of the Council, in reply to Sir Frederic, said he would pass the latter's suggestion on to the Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary. Subsequently, on 21 May, the Secretary of State wrote to Sir Frederic Bennett saying that the Home Office took the view that the matter he had raised was primarily for them and that the Home Secretary considered he had answered Sir Frederic's points already. It appears that Sir Frederic's latest letter is a response to the Secretary of State's letter to him of 21 May.

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I submit a draft reply to Sir Frederic Bennett's letter of 24 May, based on the reply to a recent P on the question of Vietnamese refugees in Hong Kong, on a contribution the FCO made to a letter sent by the Home Secretary to Mr Denis Canavan MP, and on a press release about HMG's contribution of £20,000 to help Hong Kong with the costs of the refugees there.

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In the last sentence of his letter of 24 May, Sir Frederic Bennett refers to his desire to answer a constituent who, he says, "has already waited far too long, i.e. since 5th May". Neither we nor the Home Office have any trace of a letter from Sir Frederic Bennett around that time enclosing a constituent's letter about

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