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that the Secretary of State should summon the Vietnamese Ambassador. The Vietnamese Government have already been left in no doubt of our views on their human rights record. The UK has only a small bilateral aid programme in Vietnam; Dr Owen has instructed that our policy towards EEC aid for Vietnam should be reconsidered.
7. Although Sir James Murray has informed the UNHCR of our view that the UNHCR himself has a key role to play in encouraging the
Vietnamese Government to cooperate over an orderly outflow of people, Mr Hartling regards it as outside his mandate to try to stop or slow the flow. However, UNHCR have begun to solve family reunification cases, hoping in that way to make the flow more regular.
(c) A transit centre?
8. The Hong Kong authorities favour the idea of a transit centre being set up to cope with the increasing flow and to relieve the burden on ports. They have suggested Okinawa in Japan, on the
grounds that the Japanese might feel that they could gain political mileage with ASEAN by such an offer. FED, however, do not believe it would be effective were the UK to offer this suggestion to the
Japanese. No country has so far formally offered to house the centre,
though there has been a hint that the Indonesians might make one of
their islands available. We ourselves have doubts about the useful-
ness of the idea and it seems best to leave it to the UNHCR to
follow up the question with countries in the region of South-East Asia should he consider that appropriate (which he at present appears not to).
(d) ICEM - Taiwan
9. I see little chance of the UNHCR's being willing to establish a presence in Taiwan (though the UNHCR man in Hong Kong has suggested this to his headquarters: UKMIS Geneva are in close touch with the
UNHCR on the matter). But I see merit in the idea that the Inter-
governmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM) might be encouraged to do so. ICEM officials in South-East Asia were helpful
to us over the evacuation of the WELLPARK refugees from Taiwan last
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/October
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