TNAG-0892-FCO40-1102-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 265

DRAFT REPLY FROM THE PRIME MINISTER

The Lord Inverforth

The Bank Line Limited

Baltic Exchange Buildings 21 Bury Street

London, EC3A 5AU

Thank you for your letter of 6 June. I am of course

conscious of the frustrations which faced your Company

and the Master and Crew of the Roachbank in the past few

weeks. You will be aware from your knowledge of the

region that it is not easy to establish a line of

communication between ourselves and the Taiwanese Authorities,

thus efforts to persuade them to give at least temporary

asylum to the refugees on the Roachbank have been fraught

with difficulty.

I can assure you, however, that every endeavour was made

to persuade the Taiwanese to accept their responsibilities,

or to allow transit facilities, and it now appears that most

of our difficulties have been overcome. As you will know

arrangements are now in hand for the refugees to be flown

to the United Kingdom.

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