TNAG-0888-FCO40-1098-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 137

GR 550

CONFIDENTIAL

DESK BY 11303Z

CONFIDENTIAL

HKK 2431

RECEIVED

886

849

FM BANGKOK 0111Z JUN

TO IMMEDIATE FCO

TEL NO 350 OF 1 JUNE

AND TO IMMEDIATE KUALA LUMPUR, SINGAPOR

DESK OFFI

•

PAKARTA MANILA RESU

INFO PRIORITY HONG KONG (FOR GOVERNOR), UKMTS NEW BORK! PD

UKMIS GENEVA, PEKING, MOSCOW, WASHINGTON, HANOI, MODUK (D14). SAVING TO CANBERRA, WELLINGTON, PARIS, BONN, UKREP BRUSSELS. YOUR TELEGRAM NO 120 TO KUALA LUMPUR: VIETNAMESE REFUGEES: ASEAN.

1. CALLED TODAY ON THE HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANISATION AT THE MFA, WHICH IS THE DEPARTMENT RESPONSIBLE

FOR CO-ORDINATING THE REFUGEE POLICY WITHIN THE INTERNATIONAL

TRAMEWORK.

2. STRESSING THAT I WAS SPEAKING ON INSTRUCTIONS, I SPOKE N TERMS OF YOUR TUR AND LEFT A BOUT DE PAPIER, TOGETHER WITH COPIES OF THE STATEMENT CALLING ON THE TAIWAN AUTHORITIES TO

RECONSIDER THEIR POLICY AND ALSO THE EXTRACTS FROM THE LORD PRIVY

SEAL'S SPEECH ON 30 MAY. I WAS ALSO ABLE TO HAND OVER THE TEXT

OF THE PRIME MINISTER'S REPLY TO THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL (YOUR

TELEGRAM NO 225 TO UKMIS NEW YORK). I ALSO MADE THE POINT THAT

HMG HAS A LOCUS STANDI IN THE MATTER BECAUSE OF ITS RESPONSIBILITY

FOR HONG KONG AND THE PLIGHT OF THE 43,000 REFUGEES THERE. 3. BIRABHONGSE SAID THAT HE HAD NOT YET RECEIVED ANY REPORT FROM THE THAI AMBASSADOR IN LONDON ABOUT THE MEETING WITH CORTAZZI ON 30 MAY. HOWEVER, HE CONSIDERED THAT THE LINE BEING TAKEN BY

HMG WAS REFRESHING AND IT WAS GOOD TO HEAR A SPADE BEING CALLED

A SPADE. AS WE WOULD KNOW, THE THAI GOVERNMENT WAS REVIEWING ITS POLICY TOWARDS VIETNAM BUT THIS MIGHT TAKE SOME TIME. THAILAND

HAD NOT BEEN ONE OF THE 52 COUNTRIES APPROACHED BY THE UN

SECRETARY-GENERAL, WHICH WAS NOT SURPRISING, BUT THE MFA HAD OF

COURSE SEEN THE TEXT. BIRABHONGSE WENT ON TO SAY THAT IT WAS

DIFFICULT NOT TO BE SKEPTICAL ABOUT THE PROSPECTS OF RAISING THE

REFUGEE ISSUE THROUGH THE UN. THE DECEMBER, 1978 MEETING IN

GENEVA AND THE RECENT MEETING IN JAKARTA HAD NOT PRODUCED

VERY MUCH IN THE WAY OF POSITIVE RESULTS. THERE WAS A REAL DANGER

THAT IF THE VIETNAMESE WERE ALLOWED TO DESPATCH, SAY, 10,000

PEOPLE A MONTH DIRECT FROM VIETNAM THEN THE INTERESTS OF THOSE

REFUGEES AND OTHER EXPULSEES IN COUNTRIES SUCH AS THAILAND MIGHT

BE IGNORED. WALDHEIM'S RECENT VISIT TO THAILAND HAD RAISED HIGH

EXPECTATIONS WHICH DID NOT SEEM TO HAVE BEEN REALISED IN THE

EVENT, THE THAIS WONDERED, THEREFORE, WHETHER THE UN WAS A

CONFIDENTIAL

/PROPER