TNAG-0890-FCO40-1100-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 40

CONFIDENTIAL

refugees, and in the end the resolution was adopted unanimously. Wolff hopes to bring it before the full committee very quickly with a view to early adoption by the House.

HOLBROOKE'S TESTIMONY

3. Holbrooke did not read out his prepared statement, but chose instead to highlight the four aspects of the situation in Indo-China which were of most concern to the Administration:

a.

Fox

Refugees: This was in Holbrooke's view the most pressing ? problem. In May 1979, 412' refugees had arrived in countries of first

asylum as compared with a monthly average in 1978 of 7,500. Butterfield's article in the New York Times of 12 June (our telegram No 1465) was essentially correct in that it was the inhumane policies of the Vietnamese authorities that were at the root of the exodus. He did not reject the analogy which had been drawn by a member of the sub-committee between the refugee exodus and the Holocaust. He drew attention to the fact that the refugees landing in countries of first asylum were only part of the problem; he estimated that between 1/3 and 60% of those who set out did not make it. (His prepared statement said 40 and 70%). He welcomed the evidence of the sub-committee's concern for the refugees but pointed out that the US was being hampered in its efforts to maintain even their current resettlement programme because of the failure of Congress to act on the supplemental request for funds. Holbrooke also said, that other nations could do more to assist. He drew attention to the fact that the Japanese had so far taken only three refugees; their agreement to take another 500 was indeed a welcome development, but it was clear there was scope for them to do a great deal more. President Carter would certainly raise the problem both during his bilateral talks with the Japanese authorities and at the summit itself in Tokyo. The UK and other European countries had done much less than he would have hoped and he drew particular attention to the disappointing response of the Scandinavians. He also criticised the slow moving bureaucracy of the UNHCR which had failed to measure up to the dimensions of the problem.

b. Cambodia: The continuing fighting in Cambodia contained the seeds of a very serious political problem. Apart from the suffering of the people of Cambodia, the fighting was a major source of political instability for the whole region and it was the major cause of continuing tension between China and Vietnam. He did not exclude the possibility of further fighting between the latter. It might not happen this year, but he was not prepared to make any predictions beyond then.

C.

Thailand: The country most seriously affected by the fighting in Cambodia was Thailand. The refugee flow had caused an immense political and economic problem for the Thai Government and there was a risk that the large concentrations of Cambodians in the immediate vicinity of the Thai/Cambodian border could become a provocation for the Vietnamese to send forces into Thailand. said that this was a matter of grave concern to the US, because

Holbrooke

/Thailand

CONETHENTIC