TNAG-1794-FCO40-2554-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 208

行政司

布政司署

香港下亞厘畢道

PA438

Secretary for Administrative Services and Information

GOVERNMENT SECRETARIAT,

LOWER ALBERT ROAD, HONG KONG.

21 June 1988

Mr. C.0. Hum,

Foreign & Commonwealth Office,

FCO Whitehall,

SW1 - (WH),

London, ENGLAND

Moklyn

or

HKD 243/8

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Mr Foormar plspeck

Dear Chris

W 27/6.

Press Leaks on the Change of Policy

on Vietnamese Boat People

see 440

As you are aware, there were quite a number of leaks in the press about the revised policy on Vietnamese boat people, both here and

and in London, during the period between the final decision being made by Ministers and the actual announcement on 15 June 1988 by David Ford in the Legislative Council. On Friday 17th, I spoke with Bill Dickson of the News Department and we both came to the conclusion that it would not be a particularly profitable exercise to try to trace where all the leaks originated. Bill had said to me that a number of journalists had approached the News Department but they were all turned away empty handed. Only the BBC man was given a confidential and embargoed briefing.

I pointed out to Bill that it was the BBC which was responsible for one of the earliest reports in their world news bulletins. Bill assured me that if BBC had used the piece, they must have

have obtained the information from other sources. However, I have since obtained copies of various texts used by the BBC. One entitled "Far Eastern Topical Talk" contained a note dated 14 June to the effect that the embargo had been dropped (copy of the first page is attached). The exact timing is not clear and it would not be right to

to say that this report was necessarily the trigger for the flood of media reports here on 15 June a.m. though it could have been.

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If I may make another point: not only was the BBC one of the first runners, the item was carried not as speculation but as fact in fairly forthright terms: "Under the new policy to be implemented from 16 June, all Vietnamese boat people arriving in Hong Kong will be screened

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/Cont'd