DSR 11 (Revised)
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FROM:
PS
CONFIDENTIAL
minute/letter/teleletter/despatch/note
DEPARTMENT:
SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
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BG Cartledge Esq 10 Downing Street LONDON SW1
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• Reference
TYPE: Draft/Final 1+
rozet
FA 243/1
1300 he
Your Reference
1.
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..In Confidence
CAVEAT.
on past farm,
Enclosures-flag(s).....
SUBJECT:
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES ON BOARD BRITISH VESSEL
The owners of the salvage vessel mv Ashford have
sought advice urgently about 30 Vietnamese refugees picked
up yesterday in the South China Sea.
!
T
The master is attempting to repair the craft from which
the refugees were rescued. If he succeeds, he will
wil
A
1
replenish it and escort it, with the refugees aboard, to
about 12 miles from the nearest land. But he is unclear
whether he will be able to make the vessel seaworthy.
The mv Ashford's next port of call is Singapore. We think that the Singapore Government will be unwilling
for the refugees to be landed unless they
receive an assurance from the British Government and
the UNHCR that the refugees will be maintained in
Singapore and will be removed within two or three months. Our High Commissioner, Mr Hennings, has been consulted and
considers that Mr Lee waüld be unwilling to make
an exception in the case of the mv Ashford to his
Government's customary practice.
However, as Mr Lee will be calling on the Prime
AMas Thatcher may like to Minister tomorrow, 20 June, I thought I should let you
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.