TNAG-1795-FCO40-2555-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 113

на поруку спрят

Thomas

RC Indochina Resource Action Center SEA

1118 Twenty Second Street, NW. Suite 300 Washington, DC 20037 • (202) 223-8866,

Mr Ricketts O'Brien altached

August 1, 1988

H.E. Sir Anthony Acland, G.C.M.G., K.C.V.O. British Ambassador to the United States

надо

British Embassy

3100 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008

Dear Ambassador:

Teleletter

650BS/

Could you report 650 B5/18 teleletter please? I 'Hank it might be better fo dedine te invitation al- 'X' So as to avoid identifient

basic

Q318

We convey to you our gratitude for the earnest participation mit He end of the United Kingdom in the conference on first asylum in South resull.. East Asia which we sponsored in Washington, D.C. last month. We

But we new especially acknowledge the contribution of Mr. Peter K.C. Thomas of the Foreign Office, Southeast Asian Department, and the valuablet assistance of the Hon. Rita Fan and the Hon. Hui Yin-Fat, members Fro/HKG of the Hong Kong Legislative Council. We appreciate Mr. Thomas' recent assurance of the United Kingdom's continuing commitment to maintaining the principle of first asylum for Vietnamese refugees.

Pursuant to our organizational mandate to act on behalf of the Indochinese-American community, we, the Indochina Resource Action Center (IRAC), are in the process of conducting a factual study of the present situation of Vietnamese asylum-seekers in Hong Kong. To facilitate our study, an IRAC representative, Janelle M. Diller, is planning to visit Hong Kong from September 7 to September 15, 1988. We would like to arrange visits to all camps housing Vietnamese and all screening centers. Concomitantly we would like to arrange meetings with asylum-seekers as well as Hong Kong Government officials who are involved in the new screening procedures or working in the camps. We are planning to include in our Hong Kong visit meetings with members of the Legislative Council and Government Secretariat knowledgeable in Vietnamese refugee affairs.

Our study will result in a written report and recommendations. We extend to you the opportunity to review the draft report several weeks prior to publication and provide comments for inclusion in the report.

We look forward to the opportunity to cooperate with you in this urgent matter.

Most respectfully

Cemarkha

Le Xuan Khoa President

cc.

Mr. Peter K.C. Thomas

The Hon. Rita Fan

The Hon. Hui Yin-Fat

IRAC's Honorary Advisory Council