TNAG-1276-FCO40-1626-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 166

PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL

2.

3. My private guess is that Douglas has laid it down that the United States should not make any move to help Hong Kong until, as he put it "we have changed the status quo a little bit". He did not specify what that meant, but the principle seemed firm. If the discussion in the resettlement countries forum go as indicated, he may see this new international approach, with the UNHCR in the lead, and based less on unlimited resettlement and more on voluntary repatriation, as a vehicle through which HM Government might be persuaded to accept modest changes to its policy though he was at pains to stress that the achievement of any increase in ODP departures and acceptance of voluntary repatriation by Vietnam would take a lot of effort.

4. At least it is encouraging that, since our last meeting, Douglas' own thinking and that of others at Honolulu seems to have evolved to a point where our views on the range of options available are broadly similar (FCO telegram No 40 to Hanoi of 4 February) viz; further resettlement is domestically difficult; we should try to encourage more orderly departures via the ODP programme; we shall have to grasp the nettle of repatriation, but in a way which is consistent with our own humanitarian values. Perhaps we can build on this.

Yours ever,

Диа

Derek Thomas

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PERSONAL AND CONFIDENTIAL