1579A)
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J.22.8
BRITISH EMBASSY
R Brash Esq HMCG DUSSELDORF
Dear Bob,
HKK 243
RESETTLEMENT OF REFUGEES FROM HONG KONG
1.
BONN
16 August 1979
By now I hope you will have seen our telegrams no 445 to the FCO and no 4 to Hong Kong reporting the discussions that David Wilson, the Political Adviser Hong Kong, had with the Auswärtiges Amt and the Federal Ministry of the Interior during his visit to Bonn last week.
2. It became clear during Wilson's talks that in order to achieve the best possible offtake of refugees from Hong Kong to the FRG it would be necessary to persuade the Land Governments, private organisations and the media to express
Both the a preference for refugees from the colony. Auswärtiges Amt and, after some initial hesitation, the Federal Ministry of the Interior, said that it would be helpful for HICSG in the FRG to put Hong Kong's case direct to the Land Authorities and we therefore asked for, and have now obtained in Hong Kong telno 5 to Bonn (repeated to you), some background material to use for this purpose.
3. I realise that this is not the best time of year to mount an exercise of this sort, but the number of resettle- ment places offered by the Länder for Indo-Chinese refugees is small and the sooner we act the better. It is firm Ministerial policy that we should do what we can as quickly as we can to alleviate Hong Kong's position over the refugees. I should therefore be grateful if you, and the other recipients of this letter, would deploy Hong Kong's material with both official and unofficial contacts, bearing in mind the guidelines for its use, in Hong Kong telno 4 to Bonn. I also enclose some CID material (some of which is for the moment unfortunately only available in French) which, though slightly out of date, should also be useful.
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