TNAG-1794-FCO40-2554-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 48

NOTE

Meeting with Sir Geoffrey Howe, Foreign Secretary

19 May 1988

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Sir Geoffrey Howe

Virginia Bottomley, MP PPS

Alan Paul, HK Dept.

Bob Pierce, Private Secretary

At BRC's Executive Council meeting 10 May;.

Lord Chitnis

Nicholas Hinton.

Martin Barber

the Chairman had been asked

to ask for a meeting with the Foreign Secretary before he visited Hong Kong on 29 May. In the event the meeting was agreed at very short notice.

Lord Chitnis said that BRC was very concerned at the situation in Hong Kong. The recent sharp increase in the number of arrivals from Vietnam has led to calls in Hong Kong to end the policy of first asylum. The BRC was totally opposed tosuch a move. At the same time there were more and more reports suggesting that people were leaving Vietnam for basically economic reasons. The agencies would not therefore necessarily be opposed to the introduction of some form of screening of Vietnamese arriving in Hong Kong, as is already done with Lao arriving in Thailand, provided that it was carried out with suitable guarantees and that other conditions were met. The BRC was aware that there were links with Britain's policy towards Vietnam and the problem of Cambodia. The agencies were particualrly concerned that the departure of Vietnamese troops from Cambodia might lead to the return of the Khmer Rouge.

Since the Foreign Secretary was going to Hong Kong, the BRC hoped that he would consider these points when deciding what to do about the refugee situation.

Sir Geoffrey said that the idea of screening had been raised at the recent EC/ASEAN meeting in Dusseldorf. It was very much on the table. He was very concerned at the present situation in Vietnam which he raised in contacts with the USSR. He felt that present internal dissatisfaction in Vietnam resulted largely from the war in Cambodia and internal economic policy. However, some people were detecting signs of change in Vietnam, which was, of course, hopeful. Regarding Kampuchea, nobody wished to promote the Khmer Rouge. However, it was essential for the Vietnamese to withdraw

their troops.

Nicholas Hinton (SCF) said that his agency worked in Hong Kong, Britain and in Vietnam. Staff who worked in Hong Kong would undoubtedly find it very hard to work with screened-out' Vietnamese. However, he would support the idea of screening provided it was introduced as part of a package to address the problem as a whole. First and foremost, he felt it should be used as a way of obtaining additional places from countries such as the States and Canada, and Britain would also need to make a significant contribution. Secondly, he wondered/the Government would consider funding certain voluntary/projetts in Vietnam with ODA money. Thirdly, he understood that part of the concern in Hong Kong over the refugee situation related to the high cost of maintaining the people in the closed camps and he wondered whether the British Government would be able to make a contribution towards this.

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Sir Geoffrey replied that one of the reasons for screening procedures was, of course, to convince those who had no case to stay put. It was therefore inevitable that some rejected people would feel depressed. He said that the Government had not taken a decision to change its policy on aid to Vietnam.