TNAG-0972-FCO40-1191-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-1980 — Page 32

CONFIDENTIAL

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Macau Police Launch Towing Refugees to Hong Kong

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Having heard on the news that morning that a Macau police launch had arrived in Hong Kong the previous night towing a refugee boat, I told the Governor that I knew only what was on the news, had been very surprised and feared it was just the sort of incident which would arouse public interest and antagonism. Could he tell me what had happened? The Governor said he had heard nothing about it. He would. get a report immediately and let me know before I left Macau, (The Portugese Consul-General later read me the police report. The essentials were that the police launch when about 3 miles out of Macau towing a boat had been ordered to return because of bad weather. It was unable to do so. The refugee boat had broken its rudder and its engine had failed. It could not therefore leave the refugee boat. Nor could it return to Macau because the seas were such that the refugee boat could not turn against them. It had therefore gone on to Hong Kong as the only option. They had been unable to maintain contact with Macàu because their radio could only receive and not transmit. I told the Consul-General that I was very surprised that (a) a police launch should tow a boat for 3 miles towards Hong Kong and (b) that it would take out a boat in what seemed to be such a bad state of repair in bad weather. I would not comment properly before knowing the facts from our end, but I would probably say to him on Monday that we would like assurances that refugee boats would not be towed towards Hong Kong).

Constitutional Reforms

4.

I asked the Governor what was happening on the reform of the Organic Law. He said the matter was temporarily at an impasse. He thought nothing would happen for a while. In answer to a question, he said that the visit to Portugal starting that day of a group including Ke Zhengping, the unofficial Chinese representative and Ho Yin, the figurehead leader of the Chinese community, had nothing to do with the constitutional problem. He did not think they would raise the issue, although some of those they saw might (separately I was told by Dr. D'Assumpcao, President of the Assembly, and Mr. Lobo, both of ADIM, that there was still a great deal of bad feeling about the way the reform proposals had been treated. They thought the Governor had reacted against them because he saw a threat to his own power; that had not been the intention of the reform. In answer to a question about why they had produced proposals giving the majority to directly elected members, Dr. D'Assumpcao said that had been due to views in Lisbon. He himself was now thinking of a solution by which there would be 21 members of the Assembly. 8 would be directly elected and 8 indirectly. The remaining 5 would be nominated by a two/third majority of the 16, or, failing agreement, by the Governor).

CONFIDENTIAL