THE COMMUNIST STATES
8.
China has indicated support for the conference but has said that she could participate only if political as well as humanitarian aspects were discussed, She has given no pledges of assistance, perhaps because she has already accepted nearly a quarter of a million refugees. The USSR has given no formal reply to the UNHCR so far. But they have made it clear that they are not prepared to intervene with the Vietnamese. They have taken the line (eg Mr Kosygin to Mrs Thatcher on 26 June) that Vietnam was justified in expelling her Chinese population which "consisted largely of spies, blackmarketeers and drug addicts" and that certain bourgeois elements wanted to leave anyhow. This argument has been echoed by other Communist states eg Cuba and Czechoslovakia, the latter adding that the solution lay in helping with the reconstruction of the Vietnamese economy.
9. Vietnam's argument has been to deny that there has been any policy of coercion or connivance over the exodus of ; refugees or that the Government allowed officials to accept payments from refugees (although corrupt officers may have done' so). The Government claim to have cooperated with the UNHCR over the 7-point programme for the orderly departure of refugees announced on 30 May. This provides for the authorised exit as quickly as
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possible of people who wish to join their families abroad; the solution of such people to be on the basis of lists prepared by the Vietnamese Government and the receiving countries; the enlisting of support by the UNHCR amongst the receiving countries; the appointment by both the Vietnamese Government and the UNHCR of personnel 19 cooperate in implementing the programme; such people to,. operate in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and elsewhere as necessary; exit operations to be affected at regular intervals by appropriate transport; the Vietnamese Government to provider. the UNHCR and the receiving countries with facilities to implement the programme. Any intention of using the refugees to undermine the security or the stability of the countries of South East Asia is firmly denied. It cannot be excluded, however, that the Vietnamese might offer to cooperate over the refugee crisis in return for political gains eg recognition of
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