TNAG-1031-FCO40-1281-Visits-by-Sir-Murray-MacLehose--Governor-of-Hong-Kong--to-th-1981 — Page 34

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3.5

CONFIDENTIAL

CALL ON MR RIDLEY BY THE GOVERNOR OF HONG KONG : 22 JUNE 1981

Present:

Mr Nicholas Ridley MP

Mr RJT McLaren

Mr R D Clift

Mr K D Temple

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES

1.

Sir Murray MacLehose GBE KCMG KCVO

Sir M MacLehose said that he did not expect the refugee situation to become as bad this year as in 1979 but the figures were already up, with 1,400 entries into Hong Kong in June. There were problems over Vietnamese refugees coming via China, whether through Macao or directly. They had to be detained before return to China. They were not treated badly on return.

Although Chinese bureaucracy moved very slowly on this subject, cooperation was much better than in the past.

2.

3.

Overall Sir M MacLehose said that there was not a very fast net rundown of the remaining 16,000 refugees. He had discussed the matter with the US Secretary of State, Mr Haig, who had said that he hoped to keep the American programme going. Mr Haig had not reproached the UK for its attitude on its own quota as had some Americans in the past.

3. Sir M MacLehose said if the total offtake from Hong Kong dropped below the number of arrivals, pressure for further action would grow in the Territory. He understood the political problems in the UK. He saw no alternative to waiting until the situation grew more serious, eg:

4.

a) a more awkward American attitude;

b) a much larger number of arrivals from Vietnam;

c) the total exhaustion of the British 10,000 quota.

Mr Ridley agreed that the public attitude in Britain could only be moved to accept further action if a new situation with a humanitarian angle clearly arose. The problem was to be seen clearly to be dealing with Hong Kong's refugee issue without raising fears about increased immigration from other sources.

5. Mr Ridley said that the main problem remained the very

The ASEAN considerable pressure of refugee outflow from Vietnam. Conference on Kampuchea in July in New York might provide an opportunity for coordination of attitudes towards Vietnam.

CONFIDENTIAL

DISTRIBUTION

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