TNAG-0883-FCO40-1093-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 24

From The Minister of State

The Rt Hon The Lord Goronwy-Robert-s

Sear

Munay,

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London

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9 April 1979

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Mr Williams

. a.

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES

Thank you for your letter of 19 March.

We remain very

conscious of the serious problems you face and will continue to do what we can to help. We are keeping up the pressure on potential host countries to take more Vietnamese refugees

- from Hong Kong, and we remain in touch with the United Nations

High Commissioner for Refugees over his efforts to persuade the Vietnamese Government to bring some order into the arrangements for those who wish to leave Vietnam. That apart, the Secretary of State and I have made it clear to the Vietnamese Ambassador that we expect his Government to stop exporting unwanted people to neighbouring countries and put an end to the organised trafficking in refugees.

As regards the proposal for a regional "processing centre,' you will have seen Jakarta telegram No Misc 21 of 2 April to Geneva reporting on the Latest Indonesian offer of possible sites, and the UNHCR reaction. There are still formidable obstacles to be overcome before such a centre could be brought into operation and I am not sure that it will come to anything. If it does, we will do everything we can to ensure that the scheme covers refugees in Hong Kong.

ever,

Yours

ি

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Sir Murray MacLehose GBE KCMG KCVO Governor and Commander-in-Chief Flagstaff House

Hong Kong