HUD 243/8
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enarth
PS/Lord Genarthur
CONFIDENTIAL
From: RJT McLaren
Date: 29 April 1988
cc: PS/Mr Eggar Mr Gillmore
Mr Hum, HKD
Mr Adams, SEAD Mr Williams, UND
Mr Fifoot, Legal Adv.
VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE IN HONG KONG
1. The purpose of the attached submission is to obtain Ministers' preliminary reactions to a possible change of policy which would probably involve the screening of all new Vietnamese arrivals in Hong Kong and the indefinite detention, pending repatriation to Vietnam of those found not to be genuine refugees.
2. As the submission makes clear, the introduction of such a policy would be likely to provoke serious criticism in the United Kingdom and internationally. It might make the task
of resettling genuine refugees more difficult. It would also be a high risk policy for Hong Kong. There is little chance of getting the Vietnamese to take back people leaving Vietnam illegally in anything other than the long term. If the new policy failed to deter boat people from making for Hong Kong, therefore, the territory could be left with the problem of coping with an increasing population of detainees with little prospect of getting rid of them.
3. On the other hand, the political difficulties which Hong Kong faces are very real and there is very little prospect that a continuation of present policies will do much to contain the problem, still less to reduce it. In these circumstances, I hope that Ministers will at least be prepared to allow further work to be done on the implications and practical aspects of the proposed new policy.
29 APR 1988
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RJT McLaren
CONFIDENTIAL
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