TNAG-1795-FCO40-2555-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 309

7

UNCLASSIFIED

TOP COPY O DIST ?

нка 24318

RE

542

075253

MDLIAN 4281

UNCLASSIFIED

FM HONG KONG

TO PRIORITY FCO

TELNO 2792

OF 210845Z JULY 88

AND TO PRIORITY HANOI

2 JUL 1988

~

INFO PRIORITY SINGAPORE, MANILA, JAKARTA, BADAR SERI BEGAWAN INFO PRIORITY WASHINGTON, CANBERRA, OTTAWA, TOKYO, PEKING INFO PRIORITY UKMIS GENEVA, KUALA LUMPUR, BANGKOK

MIPT: VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE

1.

FOLLOWING IS THE TEXT OF EXTRACT FROM SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST

OF 20 JULY:

-

VIETNAM WILL AGREE TO TAKE BACK ITS BOAT PEOPLE IN THE COMING TALKS

WITH SENIOR HONGKONG OFFICIALS IN HANOI BUT IT WANTS TO SCREEN THEM FIRST.

VIETNAMESE SOURCES IN BANGKOK SAY THE TALKS, WHICH ARE STILL AWAITING CONFIRMATION FROM HANOI, ARE EXPECTED TO REACH A POSITIVE RESULT IN THE FIRST ROUND.

THE SOURCES SAID THERE WOULD BE MORE ROUNDS AFTER THE INITIAL MEETING INDICATING THAT VIETNAM WAS PREPARED TO GO THE WHOLE WAY WITH THE DISCUSSIONS.

HANOI HAS APPARENTLY ALREADY FINALISED A LIKELY FORMAT FOR THE TALKS, WHICH WOULD OPEN WITH HONGKONG SETTING OUT ITS VIEWS ON REPATRIATION

AND THE PROBLEM OF THE BOAT PEOPLE.

THIS WOULD BE FOLLOWED BY AN EXCHANGE OF POSSIBLE NAMES FOR REPATRIATION. HOWEVER THE SOURCES SAID VIETNAM WOULD INSIST UPON

SCREENING THOSE REFUGEES ON HONGKONG'S LIST EVEN IF THEY HAD

ALREADY BEEN SUBJECTED TO A SIMILAR PROCESS BY HONGKONG.

-

ONE POSSIBILITY IS THAT HONGKONG AND VIETNAM COULD FORM A JOINT GROUP TO SCREEN ALL REFUGEES

ONE OF THE SOURCES SAID.

/

IN MID-JUNE, HONGKONG INTRODUCED A NEW SCREENING POLICY FOR BOAT

PEOLE WHERE ALL THOSE FOUND TO BE EONOMIC REFUGEES WOULD BE DETAINED

PENDING REPATRIATION. ONLY POLITICAL REFQGEES WOULD BE RESETTLED TO

A THIRD COUNTRY.

FORD

YYYY

1

PAGE

UNCLASSIFIED