TNAG-0888-FCO40-1098-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 135

CONFIDENTIAL

THE UNWISDOM OF THEIR CYNICAL EXPLOITATION OF THEIR OWN PEOPLE FOR

THE POLITICAL PURPOSE OF CAUSING INSTABILITY (A POINT THE SINGAPOREAB

HAD MADE TO WALDHEIME), AND OF THE RUSSIANS BEING SHAMED INTO TRYING TO MODERATE THEIR ALLY'S OBNOXIOUS BEHAVIOUR.

3. CERTAINLY SINGAPORS COULD SPEAK TO THE RUSSIANS BUT WHAT GOOD

WOULD IT DO IN THE ABSENCE OF SUCH A DETERMINATION BY THE INTERNAT-

IONAL COMMUNITY? IT DID NOT SEEM THAT WE HAD GOT MUCH CHANGE OUT OF

THEM. I YRKED IF MOCHTAR'S POLICY OF NOT CRITICISING VIETNAM AT THE

JAKARTA CONFERENCE WAS ASEAN POLICY: THE THAIS HAD TOLD ME THAT IN

BANGKOK THEY WERE UNHAPPY WITH IT. RAJARTHAM SAID IT WAS NOT. HE

WOULD BE SEEING MOCHTAR AT THE WEEKEND AND WOULD DISCUSS WITH HIM

WHETHER ASEAN SHOULD ISSUE A STATEMENT CONDEMNING VIETNAM'S ACTIONS:

MAYBE THE FOREIGN MINISTERS WOULD HAVE TO MEET ON THIS, THE STATEMENT

COULD BE MADE SINGLY OR JOINTLY. POSSIBLY THAILAND, BECAUSE IT WAS

THE MORE EXPOSED, WOULD PREFER AOWOINT ONE. NO ONE SHOULD DELUDE

THEMSELVES THAT THE PROBLEM WOULD GO AWAY SEMICOLON IT WOULD BE

WITH US FOR A LONG TIME BEFORE THE VIETNAMESE COULD BE PREVAILED

UPON TO MODERATE THEIR ACTIONS. IT WOULD REQUIRE SUSTAINED PRESE

FROM THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY,

RE

4. RAJARATNAM WAS SCORNFUL ABOUT THE INDONESIAN PROPOSAL FOR AN

ISLAND PROCESSING CENTRE. THE ISLAND THEY HAD NOW OFFERED WAS TOTALLY

UNDEVELOPED. THE SCHEME WAS PERHAPS LITTLE MORE THAN A DEVICE FOR

GETTING INTERNATIONAL AID FOR ITS DEVELOPMENT. WHEN THAT ISLAND

WAS FULL, ANOTHER WOULD BE OFFERED FOR SIMILAR UPLIFT. THE

PHILIPPINES HAD PERHAPS THE SAME IDEA.

5. ALTOGETHER A TYPICALLY HARD-NOSED SINGAPOEAN APPRO

PROACH,

6. I ALSO GAVE RAJARATHAM A COPY OF THE PRIME MINISTER'S MESSAGE TO

LEE KUAN YEW SEEKING HIS INTERVENTION WITH TAIWAN, HE SAID HE HAD

SEEN IT. SINGAPORE COULD DO NOTHING OVERTLY, BUT IT MIGHT JUST BE

FOSSIBLE TO SAY SOMETHING DISCREETLY AND QUIETLY. WERE

ME AS ING THAT THE TAIWANESE TAKE THESE PEOPLE FOR SETTLEMENT OR ONLY ACCEPT

THEM TEMPORARILY PENDING SETTLEMENT ELSEWHERE? I SAID THE FIRST WOULD

DE BY FAR THE BEST SOLUTION, BUT THE SECOND WOULD BE BETTER THAN NOTHING, AND WOULD AT LEAST MEAN THAT TAIWAN WOULD BE DOING WHAT OTHER COUNTRIES HAD ALREADY DONE, DHARABALAN ADDED THAT THE FACT THAT

MOST VIETNAMESE CHINESE WERE CANTONESE WAS A BIG STUMBLING BLOCK WITH THE TAIWANESE SEMICOLON THEY WERE INCOMPATIBLES.

CONFIDENTIAL

17.

Page 135Page 136