TNAG-1424-FCO40-1907-Vietnamese-refugees-in-Hong-Kong-general-1985 — Page 91

CONFIDENTIAL

HKK 243/5

RECEIVET

1

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recalled, inter alia, his talks in Vietnam in 1984, when

in answer to his question about whether voluntary

repatriation would be acceptable, one Minister had replied

"Never, only possibly on a case by case basis" while

another had said "Yes, but not until we can work on it

on a case by case basis". Mr Hartling confirmed his

conclusion that there was anyway no prospect of the

Vietnamese accepting voluntary repatriates for a year or

or even ten years or more. In passing, he spoke of

what he clearly saw as the unacceptable possibility of

involuntary repatriation, saying that he very much hoped

HMG would never contemplate it and speaking of the reaction

which there would be in our media and public opinion. As to

the argument that the closed camp policy had slowed down the

inflow of Vietnamese refugees to Hong Kong, Mr Hartling

contested that there was a cause and effect relationship,

two

3.

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Mr Luce indicated that HMG might find it necessary

themselves, through HM Ambassador, to raise the question of

repatriation possibilities with the Vietnamese government

direct. Mr Hartling welcomed this suggestion as

supplementing his repeated questioning of the Vietnamese,

whose response was negative even though he had confined his

enquiry to voluntary repatriation.

[Note: Given Mr Hartling's reaction, the Minister did not

specifically say that we might wish to explore Vietnamese

views on involuntary repatriation].

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