TNAG-1792-FCO40-2552-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 172

CONFIDENTIAL

Implications for the Secretary of State's visit to Hong Kong

8.

The Vietnamese refugee issue is very likely to dominate the

visit. The Secretary of State will come under strong pressure to demonstrate that he is sensitive and responsive to the scale and seriousness of the present crisis. He must expect detailed questioning from the media and from members of ExCo and LegCo. He will not be able to foreshadow a decision on a change of policy.

But at the very least he will need to deploy, both in private and in public, a supportive form of words which:

acknowledges the gravity of the crisis facing Hong Kong;

states that we are consulting very closely with the Hong Kong

Government on the way forward;

gives an undertaking that we shall do all we can to help

[m] Hong Kong in every way possible? ??

Cre

9.

The Secretary of State is likely to be asked to provide specific answers to the following questions:

i) HMG's views on the possible abandonment by Hong Kong of the

first asylum policy and the introduction of screening on

arrival;

ii)

HMG's readiness to make a new resettlement commitment (and to

encourage others to make new commitments) in response to the

influx of arrivals;

iii) HMG's readiness to make an increased financial contribution to

help Hong Kong with its increased refugee burden.

On i) the Secretary of State might say that he understands why OMELCO and the Hong Kong Government feel that they need to review existing policy and consider whether it is still appropriate to

treat all arrivals from Vietnam automatically as refugees. He

could add that this is one of the matters he is discussing with the Hong Kong Government during his visit and that he will need to report to colleagues on his return to London.

CONFIDENTIAL