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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
Telephone 01- 233 5073
Your reference
6255
PF Ricketts Esq
WASHINGTON
Dew Ricketts
LAST PAPER NUTK 213/
VI MAGISTRY
VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
19 NOV 1986
"FICER
R
PA
SIPY
Laken
Our reference
Date
30 October 1986
ree intex 24,319
mex 5/12
CC
Ukx243\! Dal
1. Thank you for copying to SEAD your letter of 22 October to Clinton Leeks reporting on your contacts with the Americans on refugee issues.
•
2. In paragraph 4 of your letter, you touch on the resettlement of Indo-Chinese refugees currently in camps in South East Asia. Your line that we naturally take an interest in the problems faced by other countries in the region as well as by Hong Kong is quite correct. Indeed, we are keen to stress this as the "Honolulu Group" and other concerned countries are less likely to give favourable consideration to our views if they suspect that our only interest concerns our own problems in Hong Kong.
3. A useful pointer to our concern over the problems faced by other countries is the part of the SCORRI undertaking which includes the acceptance for resettlement under the extended family criteria of some 60 Indo-Chinese refugees from camps in South East Asia. The Home Office are currently implementing this undertaking in conjunction with the resettlement agencies (although this has been delayed by a parallel problem to that faced over the SCORRI undertaking on Hong Kong refugees, namely that the numbers submitted as qualifying under the relaxed criteria exceed by 4 times the places originally pledged). The number of places is not great, but in your future contact with the Americans you might wish to refer to this as an indication that our concerns are not limited to the problems faced by Hong Kong.
Your's
Robert Cont
RV Court
South East Asian Department
cc:
Mr Leeks, HKD
Mr Moss, UKMis Geneva
Mr Wyatt, Bangkok
Mr Woodhouse, Security Branch Hong Kong
SEAABC
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