TNAG-1538-FCO40-2102-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-resettlement-in-third-countri-1986 — Page 52

A3

CE Leeks Esq

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BRITISH EMBASSY

3100 Massachusetts Avenue NW Washington DC 20008

Telex Domestic USA 89-2370/89-2384

Telex International 64224(WUI)/440015(ITT)

Telephone (202) 462-1340

Hong Kong Department 043/9.

FCO

RECLIVE'

- € NOV 1986

Your reference

Our reference

Date

To them cele (MN DuftontoR)

Av.useful lette

tla 24/10

then PA 243/9

22 October 1986

Yes

Dear Clinton,

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES

叭

MATHY

the faken

Mek

I ca "Mandula

Mandel Hampt

1. Many thanks for your letter of 16 October about the problem of "long-stayers" in Hong Kong. This was very timely: it arrived the day before I was due to have lunch with David Whittlesey who is responsible for policy coordination in the Bureau of Refugees Programmes at State.

2. Whittlesey confirmed that the Administration have the problem of long-stayers in Hong Kong very much in mind. But as we said in our telno 2483, they want to consider the problems of the region in a coordinated way. In particular they are concerned to avoid taking action on one aspect of the problem which makes it more difficult to achieve their objectives in other areas. In the case of long-stayers, they are worried that an international effort focussed on this issue alone might simply prompt another wave of emigration from Vietnam.

3.

Whittlesey said that State had been trying for some time to construct a strategy which would deal with the South East Asian problem as a whole. They were considering the following elements for a package:

i encouraging the UNHCR to get back into the lead. They were

pleased to see that at the recent Geneva meeting, Hocké took a close interest in the Indochina problems;

ii] continuing the shift in US policy away from refugee programmes

towards immigration, as recommended in the Ray Panel Report. State see this as one way of discouraging economic migrants from Vietnam (incidentally, with reference to para 2 of your letter, this conscious change of policy is as much a cause of the lower US off-take in FY87 as shortage of eligible refugees);

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