TNAG-1544-FCO40-2108-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-Intergovernmental-Consultativ-1987 — Page 44

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in the US to take urging those Vietnamese now settled out naturalisation so as to be in a position to bring in relatives from South East Asia as immigrants (this was the idea mentioned to us by Purcell when Michael Jenkins

our telno 1665);

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iv]

launching another international effort to tackle the long- stayer problem. The US would need to have assurances that other countries would do more as well in order to persuade Congress that the US should participate;

v] making an effort to encourage the countries of first asylum State to absorb more of the refugee population themselves. recognise that this is a highly sensitive subject, but believe that some local integration will have to form part of an overall settlement of the refugee problem;

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consider "screening" refugee arrivals at some future stage. This bland formula of course masks the unpalatable possibility of forcible repatriation. Again, Whittlesey believed that something on these lines could well have to form part of an overall solution.

Whittlesey

Whittlesey said that the State Department were still working

There was no on how such a package might be fitted together. particular deadline and not all elements listed above would necessarily figure in it. To some extent it was a question of the timing of the various steps. They would welcome continuing close consulations with us: and any fresh ideas we had. threw out as an example the idea that we might perhaps be able to help with resettling some refugees from elsewhere in South East Asia who did not fit US criteria in return for more US help with refugees in Hong Kong. I said that Hong Kong would inevitably remain our primary concern, although we naturally had an interest in the problems faced by other countries in the region as well (I am not clear whether this was an off the cuff suggestion, or whether it is something of which we shall hear more.)

5.

All this suggests that the State Department are nowhere near a decision to launch an initiative to tackle the long-stayer problem. They will I am sure consult more widely as their thinking clarifies: not least because they will want others, including ourselves, to contribute.

6.

I also took the opportunity to ask Whittlesey about the discussions in the "Honolulu group" in the margins of the Geneva meeting. Whittlesey said that the lunch given by the

He added that at the British side had been much appreciated. Group's subsequent informal meeting, there had been some general discussion about the Indochinese refugee problem, but no specific proposals for action. On our interest in joining the group, he

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