TNAG-1534-FCO40-2098-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation-1986 — Page 56

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CONFIDENTIAL

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IND

HKK 243/2

- 9 SEP 1986

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FROM: CW Adams cow

DATE: 3 September 1986

CC: Mr Court, Dr Carter o/r

SEAD

Mr Whitehead, Research Dept Mr Wood, Hanoi

Mr Ham

Repaticna.

Hong Kong Dept

ATTITUDE OF THE VIETNAMESE GOVERNMENT TO RETURN OF REFUGEES

1. At a lunch on 30 July which Mr Nash and Mr Court had with Mr Pham Binh Man, Third Secretary and Charge d'Affaires of the Vietnamese Embassy, the subject of voluntary repatriation came up. Mr Man claimed that there were many cases of Vietnamese emigrants choosing to return to Vietnam, including from the Vietnamese community in the UK. Those who chose to return were well treated and experienced no discrimination, for example, in the search for employment. Mr Man even claimed that they would be welcome in official jobs.

2. When Mr Nash and I again had lunch with Mr Man on 1 September, he mentioned that he was currently handling applications from ten Vietnamese who wished to return to Vietnam. He said that repatriation was often inhibited by the reluctance of the applicants'family in Vietnam to see them return. The normal procedure is apparently for the local administration to consult the family to ensure that they can be resettled without difficulty and, presumably, without financial support from the State. The principal reason for a family's reluctance to welcome back a refugee is their concern that this will mean an end to foreign exchange remittances from the individual in question.

3. I asked Mr Man about verification that returned refugees had experienced no adverse discrimination. Mr Man beamed and said that videos showing happy resettled refugees were available and already being used in Canada. I questioned whether this would satisfy the more discriminating and asked whether interested foreigners might be allowed to pay visits to see for their own eyes the treatment that was accorded; I was assured that there would be no objection.

4. We obviously have to be wary about becoming too involved in discussion with the Vietnamese about repatriation of refugees but it is useful to have these pointers as to how they might react if approached more formally. The point about reluctant families will be important to bear in mind in any discussion with resettlement countries. We obviously want to avoid a situation arising where

CONFIDENTIAL