TNAG-0888-FCO40-1098-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 19

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THIS IS A GOPY THE ORIGINAL HAS BEEN

CLOSED UNTIL

UNDER FOI EXEMPTION NO 27.....

7. I SAID THAT I DID NOT THINK WE WERE ANY MORE STARRY EYED ABOUT THE VIETNAMESE THAN HE WAS. BUT IF HE WAS RIGHT, THE VIETNAMESE WOULD NOT BE DETERRED FROM THEIR POLICY BY A REFUSAL OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO DO ANYTHING ABOUT THE REFUGEES, AND TO DO NOTHING WOULD PLAY MORE EASILY INTO THEIR HANDS BY CREATING THAT MUCH MORE INSTABILITY IN NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES. SOMETHING MUST BE DONE TO CONTAIN THE THREAT TO STABILITY WHICH THE MULTITUDE OF REFUGEES POSED, WHILE AT THE SAME TIME TRYÎNG TO SHAME THE VIETNAMESE INTO ABANDONING THE POLICY OF DELIBERATE EXPULSION, IT WAS NOT ANSWER FOR HIM TO SAY THAT IF MORE COUNTRIES TOOK MORE REFUGEES IT WOULD ONLY MEAN THAT THE VIETNAMESE WOULD PUSH MORE OUT. ON HIS OWN ANALYSIS OF THEIR POLICY THEY WOULD

DO THIS ANYWAY.

8. LEE SAID HE ADMIRED THE ROBUST ATTITUDE OF HMG AND WAS

IT WAS MOST REFRESHING, IMPRESSED BY THE MOUNTING EVIDENCE OF IT: HE SAW THE FORCE OF MY ARGUMENT, BUT I HAD NOT CONVINCED HIM THAT THE REST OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY WOULD BE ANYTHING LIKE SO ROBUST I SAID THAT, AS WE AT LEAST WERE BEINGCDOBUST, I THOUGHT THAT HE MIGHT FEEL THAT WE WERE ENTITLED TO THE HELP WE WERE ASKING OF HIM. HE SHIFTED GROUND, AND ASKED WHAT THERE WAS IN IT FOR THE TAIWANESE. 1 SAID PROBABLY NOT MUCH MORE THAN THE FEW HUNDRED REFUGEES THEY WERE BEING ASKED TO TAKE IN (HE TOOK THE POINT WITH A GRIN) BUT I THOUGHT THAT THEY MIGHT SEE THE ADVANTAGE OF CONTRASTING A HUMANE ATTITUDE .. WITH THE CRUELTY

LEE DID NOT AND CALCULATING INHUMANITY OF A COMMUNIST REGIME. THINK THAT WOULD STRIKE THEM: THEY DID NOT FEEL THAT THEY OWED THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY MUCH.

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