TNAG-0881-FCO40-1091-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 94

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(374

(Why haven

o.r.

I spoke to N Orr, who told me that (as requested in No Murray's telegram on Friday) they are preparing a form of words whind

court caser - Hong Kong. After

PS/Lord Goronwy-Roberts discussion with

N Morgan (UND)

cc PS/Mr Luard Mr Leahy

Mr Simpson-Orlebar

Quantrilly

and No Smill (SCAD), I spoke to N Jones and told him that we would give him a form of words tomorrow as soon as we received Hon Mr Quant: Kong's mygested text. No Jones was content will

diis.

W. E. Chantill 17/2.

HOUSE OF LORDS: UNSTARRED QUESTION: INDO-CHINA REFUGEE PROBLEM

1. I have just seen Mr Simpson-Orlebar's submission of

8 February about Lord Elton's unstarred question on Indo-China refugees for answer on 14 February.

2.

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376

I am

My own view is that the penultimate page of the draft winding-up speech is not tough enough. I think the Minister of State could draw a distinction between small boat refugees who

flee from Vietnam, frequently with the connivance of Vietnamese

agencies, and the export of refugees by big ships. The latter is a cynical practice by the Vietnamese Government in dumping its unwanted population on the rest of the world; there are now many indications amounting to circumstantial proof that the Vietnamese Government itself is arranging not just conniving at this practice; and it is to this racket that the Secretary of State referred when he saw the Vietnamese Ambassador last month. pretty sure that the Minister will be asked about the excellent articles in the Sunday Observer and Telegraph, describing how these people mostly ethnic Chinese are collected together by the Vietnamese Government and put into tramp steamers produced by entrepreneurs, the people themselves having been fleeced of gold and possessions. It would be as well for HKGD and UND to give you the text of these articles with a firm line to take on their credibility. The journalists appear to have been fed a very good story (I suspect from Hong Kong) and though the Minister of State should be careful about confirming explicit details (because the Hong Kong Government do not wish explicit details in the press to prejudice their prosecution cases against the Master of the 'Huey Fong' and others) the Departments should give you a form of words indicating that the articles give a good impression of what

is going on.

-

HKK 243/,

12 February 1979

D F Murray

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IVD

frq.2.

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