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Tho five ASEAN States were the principal participants in a meeting in Jakarta on 15 and 16 May (also attended by representatives of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland the United States and Vietnam), when Indonesia offered the island of Galang for development as a processing centre for up to 10,000 refugees and the Philippines also offered an island. The meeting emphasised, however, that the problem had to become international and that third countries bust make firm commitments to taking refugees from the processing centres and offering financial aid.
The UN Secretary-General, Dr Waldheim, toured South-East Asia in April and May 1979, and in an appeal to governments on 24 May he referred to the refugee burden on countries in the area, declaring that good intentions elsewhere must be turned into action. He called especially for more resettlement places and financial contributions for the UNHCR's efforts.
In her reply of 31 May the British Prime Minister welcomed the appeal. Mrs Thatcher said the UNHCR deserved praise for his efforts but noted that the majority of UN member States were doing little to help, although many had the capacity to resettle and give new hope to the unhappy people from Indochina. Proposing a special UN Conference to deal with the grave situation arising from Vietnam's inhuman actions, she promised Dr Waldheim full support for such a conference to translate his appeal into action.
Vietnamese reactions
The Vietnamese Deputy Prime Minister, Nguyen Duy Trinh, undertook in a statement of 12 January 1979 to discuss with the UNHCR methods of solving the problem satisfactorily. He said that his government would allow Vietnamese, wishing to go abroad, to rejoin their families, but claimed that a number of refugees had been instigated by "imperialists" and "international reactionaries" or had refused to adapt themselves to difficult post-war conditions. The Vietnamese representative at the meeting in Jakarta in May took the same line, adding that Vietnam would send about 10,000 refugees a month abroad if the UNHCR could guarantee places of reception. He informed the press that, under the new system, there would no longer be problems of refugees leaving illegally.
On 2 June the Vietnamese News Agency announced that the Vietnamese Government had agreed with the UNHCR on a programme to permit the orderly departure of persons who wished to leave Vietnam for countries of new residence. Authority would cover family reunion and other humanitarian cases. Selection would be made on the basis of lists prepared by the Vietnamese Government and receiving countries, persons whose names appeared on both lists being qualified for exit. The cases of persons on only one list would be discussed between the UNHCR and the Vietnamese Government or the governments of receiving countries. The numbers would depend on the volume of applicants and on receiving countries' ability to issue entry visas.
The proposal appears to cover only people who have offers of resettlement places because they have links with relatives abroad. Moreover, an estimate of those who meet the conditions suggests it would be limited to less than 30,000, which equals about two weeks' flow of boat people.
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