TNAG-0883-FCO40-1093-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 119

CONFIDENTIAL

Soos

A

ہے

B

D C Wilson Esq Government Secretariat Lower Albert Road

HONG KONG

Dear

Wilson,

POLICY ON REFUGEES

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London S.W.1

23 March 1979

RANKO ZE ERSTRY NO. 5; 2 & MAR 1979

INDEX

PA

по

Js63

༢༢

fu 123/ Mrwamion J23.3

1. Many thanks for your letter of 14 March. I fully appreciate the concern that this problem is causing you and do assure you that your interests are very much in the forefront of our minds here.

2. As for your two specific questions, I cannot do better than enclose a copy of my minute of 21 March to Hugh Cortazzi about our diplomatic action in support of long Kong, together with a copy of my letter of 20 March to the Home Office about the Island Processing Centre. Please treat these with discretion.

3. I shall keep you informed as our thinking develops here.

I was, incidentally, very glad to see there seems a good chance that the Tomi Maru II will turn out to be a non-problem.

4.

We

We are also keeping up the pressure on the Vietnamese. have left them in no doubt of our abhorrence of their human rights record. The Secretary of State told the Vietnamese Ambassador on 23 January how much we deplore the practice of putting people on boats against payment of money in the hope that other countries

in the area would take them in, and Lord Goronwy-Roberts and Hugh Cortazzi have since rubbed this in.

CC

Mr McLaren, HK&GD Mr Simons, SEAD

mis ein

yous

Michael Smipsa

Smipsmockens

MK O Simpson-Orlebar UN Department

CONFIDENTIAL