TNAG-0899-FCO40-1109-Refugees-from-Vietnam-in-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-boat-people-1979 — Page 45

RP Flower Esq

SEAD FCO

CONFIDENTIAL

HKK 240/1

T RERVED

fA (1869

British Embassy

Lange Voorhout 10 2514 ED The Hague

---21 November 1979

2 2 NOV 1979

IND:

A

NIR.

1856

ستن

LILA,

VIETNAMĖSE REFUGEES: RESETTLEMENT FROM HONG KONG

1.

1802

May I refer to Ian Orr's letter of 9 November to stitt and our telephone conversation on 20 November.

2.

As I was seeing Italianer, the Secretary-General of the MFA on other business yesterday I took the opportunity of leaving with him a Speaking Note (copy enclosed) based on Orr's letter under reference. In drafting this we purposely did not go into detail, given the level at which the Speaking Note was aimed and the need for the principal point to emerge clearly: the desirability of the Netherlands Government increasing in the future their intake of refugees from Hong Kong.

3. For the present the Netherlands quota for Vietnamese refugees is heavily oversubscribed, in large part because of the number of boat people picked up by Dutch vessels at sea. As you know, in such cases the Netherlands Government regard themselves, responsible for resettling eventually those rescued. In this connection we were somewhat surprised by the figure of 734 refugees accepted by the Netherlands from Indo China, quoted in Annex A, Column A of Iain Orr's letter. As you will have seen from Mallinson's letter of 2 November, the correct total for the Netherlands so far this year is 2,607.

4.

Italianer took note of the request in the Speaking Note and undertook to see what he could do. He repeated the point that the Netherlands attitude was based on the recommendations of the UNHCR. As you know, this is an aspect to which we have drawn attention before. I hope UKMis Geneva, to whom we are copying this letter, will feel able to have another go at the Commission on Hong Kong's behalf. Pressure from here is only likely to stand any chance of success if accompanied by renewed representations in Geneva.

5. We shall be replying separately to the request for detailed information about the origins of refugees contained in para 3 of Iain Orr's letter of 12 November to Peter Boon.

Enc.

-Lowa

مشتری

RBR Hervey

cc: DR Snoxell Esq, UKMis GENEVA

I C Orr Esq, Assistant Political Adviser, HONG KONG

PJ Williams Esq, HKAGD, FCO ✓

CORETENTIAL

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