TNAG-1276-FCO40-1626-Resettlement-of-Vietnamese-refugees-from-Hong-Kong-1983 — Page 208

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RECEIVED IN REGISTAY

16 AUG 1993

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INDEX

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Action Taken

103)

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FM WASHINGTON 2916OOZ JUL 63

TO IMMEDIATE FOO

TELEGRAM NUMBER 2143 OF 29 JULY

(98)

قبل

INFO IMMEDIATE CANBERRA, OTTAWA, PARIS, UKNIS GENEVA AND HONG KONG

YOUR TELNO 1269 : VIETNAMESE REFUGEES

So why when't

we asked?!

1. BRAITHWAITE SPOKE TO AMBASSADOR DOUGLAS AS INSTRUCTED IN YOUR

TELEGRAM UNDER REFERENCE. DOUGLAS WAS AS TOUGH AS HE HAD BEEN IN THE PREVIOUS EXCHANGE WITH THOMAS, AND SOMEWHAT LESS SYMPATHETIC.

HE SAID THAT HE HAD INDICATED SOME TIME AGO TO LORD SELSTEAD THAT

A MEETING WOULD BE HELD IN HONOLULU, AND HAD HINTED THAT IT WOULD BE GOOD FOR HMG TO PARTICIPATE. THIS HAD NOT BEEN A FORMAL INVITAT- ION, BUT HE SAID HE REGRETTED THAT HMG WOULD NOT BE REPRESENTED. THE MAJOR RESETTLEMENT STATES, INCLUDING THE UNITED STATES COULD

NOT BUT CONSIDER THAT HMG WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR CONTRIBUTING TO A

SOLUTION, EVEN IF IT WERE A COLLECTIVE ONE, TO THE PROBLEM OF VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HONG KONG. IF HMG CONTINUED TO DISTANCE

ITSELF, THE PRESENT SYMPATHY FOR HONG KONG'S PLIGHT WAS BOUND TO DIMINISH. IF HMG COULD NOT SEND SOMEONE TO HONOLULU EVEN AT THIS

VERY LATE STAGE, DOUGLAS HOPED TO PURSUE THESE ISSUES FURTHER IN LONDON IN THE AUTUMN.

2. THE PURPOSE OF THE HONOLULU MEETING, HE SAID, WAS NOT TO TAKE DECISIONS. IT WAS TO ENABLE THE RESETTLEMENT STATES TO EXCHANGE ASSESSMENTS ABOUT THE LIKELY RATE OF FLOW OF REFUGEES FROM VIETNAM, CHANGES IN THE POPULATION OF THE TRANSIT CAMPS IN THE COUNTRIES OF FIRST ASYLUM OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS, AND THE POLITICAL CONSIDERATIONS BOTH IN THE AREA AND IN THE RESETTLEMENT STATES THEMSELVES. THE IDEA WAS TO ARRIVE AT A COMMON ASSESSMENT OF HOW THE PROBLEM WOULD DEVELOP OVER THE NEXT TWO YEARS. EACH OF THE RESETTLEMENT STATES HAD DIFFICULTIES IN EXPLAINING THEIR POLICIES AT HOME, WHERE THEIR ELECTORS COULD SEE NO PRESENT END TO THE REFUGEE PROBLEM. IN THE LIGHT OF THIS COMMON ASSESSMENT, THE UNITED STATES WOULD NO DOUST BE TAKING ITS OWN DECISIONS OF POLICY OVER THE NEXT FEW MONTHS.

3. DOUGLAS ACCEPTED THAT HONG KONG COULD NOT ABSORB ANY MORE REFUGEES FOR RESETTLEMENT AND THAT THE REFUGEES IN THE TRANSIT CAMPS WERE A MAJOR PROBLEM. IT WAS TRUE THAT THE CEILING OF

64,000 REFUGEES IN THE USA WAS UNLIKELY TO BE MET THIS YEAR. BUT THIS WAS A CEILING, NOT A QUOTA. THE SHORTFALL WAS LIKELY TO

/BE

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