TNAG-1424-FCO40-1907-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-general-1985 — Page 29

CONFIDENTIAL

there

For

all these reasons

i s

will lead sooner or later to a

obtaining now.

a strong probabililty that inaction

very much worse situation than that

VI OPTIONS

14.

Following is an examination of options by which

options by which we might try to

(A) reduce the rate of

of arrival, (B)

Some of these options are more

increase the rate of departure.

theoretical than real and are

Some have been rejected by

included for the sake of completeness.

Ministers in the past.

A. Options designed to reduce the rate of arrival

15. (a) Tow newly arriving boats out to sea

Macau, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Brunei have all done this (though there have been few reports of such action recently). The

Hong Kong Government have contingency plans for towing vessels with

illegal immigrants or refugees outside the limits of Hong Kong's

waters in an emergency, but have never adopted such a policy in

respect of Vietnamese refugees. The only argument for such a course

is that it would undoubtedly act as an effective deterrent to

refugees making for Hong Kong. The arguments against are that it

would involve inflicting unacceptable risks on the occupants of the

boats and would be indefensible in terms of common humanity, and our

obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political

Rights. Ministers decided against adopting such a Course

in March

1984.

CONFIDENTIAL