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4.
Dr Khoa was, however, prepared to give Fong Kong credit for having improved conditions in the camps. And he made clear that he had been given a number of assurances at his meeting with the Governor, including the fact that Hong Kong would not be paying the Vienamese Government in connection with the repatriation of boat people.
Dr
5. I spoke to emphasise Hong Kong's problems, and the fact that they were grappling with them in a spirit of great openness, as the access given to IRAC demonstrated. Khoa accepted this point. A number of the other interventions were helpful in recognising that if first asylum was to be preserved, there was no realistic alternative to screening/ repatriation, on the basis of clear commitments from the Vietnamese. Representatives of the Refugee Programmes Bureau at State were present; so this can only have been helpful.
6. I spoke privately to Dr Khoa after the meeting. He told me that he was very grateful for the reception he had been given in Hong Kong and also that he accepted (although could not say publicly) that Hong Kong treated its boat people much better than other countries in the region. I found him by no means wholly negative (the Governor mentioned to me in Hong Kong that he had had the same impression). I will make a point of offering Dr Khoa lunch in the New Year. It would be useful if Hong Kong could let us have copies of any new publicity material on the screening policy or conditions in the camps. We will ensure that this is passed to IRAC. It can do no harm to cultivate them.
CC: Michael Hansen
Refugee Coordinator Hong Kong
You ever
Peter Ricketts
PF Ricketts
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