TNAG-0891-FCO40-1101-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 126

CONFIDENTIAL

ANNEX

ATTITUDE OF MARITIME NATIONS TO VIETNAMESE BOAT REFUGEES

1.

The following 12 countries are now known to have given

commitments to accept for resettlement any refugees picked up by their

flag vessels:

Australia (on a case by case basis)

Belgium (refugees to be delivered to Belgium, not to

first port of call)

Canada (automatic acceptance)

Denmark (no public commitment)

France (automatic acceptance)

FRG (last resort)

Greece (no public commitment)

Italy (last resort)

Netherlands (automatic acceptance)

Norway (last resort)

2

Sweden (also meets cost of rescue)

2.

USA (last resort)

The position of Japan has not yet been ascertained, but the

Department of Trade are pressing them for a reply.

3. It is impossible to quantify the numbers of refugees whom

British ships might rescue over any given period, but the following

table of pick-up incidents in the first five months of 1979 (provided

in response to an enquiry by the Department of Trade) suggests that

sizeable rescues like that by the Sibonga may be statistically rare:

1

CONFIDENTIAL

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