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Mr Waddington's visit to the Man Kam To control point was covered by the two English papers as well as Sing Pao and Tin Tin Daily News. During

the visit, Mr Waddington told the IK Standard that he was interested to see in particular how the police and the army managed to actually police the fence and were able to find out whether there was any tampering with the fence and immediately go and investigate any incident which occurred.

Appearing on ATV-English's "Newsline" on September 26, Mr Waddington reiterated that repatriation was a long-term solution to the problem of Vietnamese refugees.

Mr Waddington's departure press conference was accorded good coverage by the electronic media and the English papers. The media generally highlighted his remarks on the VR problem. He was quoted as saying that the British Government would do its best to ensure that the new BNO passport would be accepted by third countries.

Sing Pao quoted him as saying that repatriation was a possible solution to the VR problem and that dialogue with the Vietnamese Government on the issue was necessary.

Distribution List:

CS

SASI (Attn: Mr Ho Wing-him) (3 copies)

APS (GH)

D

DD

AR

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