TNAG-1796-FCO40-2556-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 230

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CONFIDENTIAL

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24318.

TOP

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016077

MDHIAN 1393

CONFIDENTIAL

FM HANOI

TO IMMEDIATE FCO

TELNO 296

OF 26050OZ AUGUST 88

AND TO IMMEDIATE HONG KONG

N

INFO PRIORITY UKMIS GENEVA, PEKING, WASHINGTON, BANGKOK INFO PRIORITY KUALA LUMPUR, TOKYO

FCO TELNO 2180: VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE IN HONG KONG

1. DESPITE NOT HAVING FROM HONG KONG THE LATEST DETAILS

/

ON THE TREND OF ARRIVALS I THOUGH IT WORTH TALKING TO THE VIETNAMESE

BEFORE THEY GET TIED UP WITH THE MALAYSIANS (DUE TODAY) AND SO YESTERDAY AFTERNOON I CALLED ON HOANG QUOC TIN, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, CONSULAR DEPARTMENT, MFA, AND SPOKE AS INSTRUCTED IN PARA 6 OF

TUR.

2. ON THE QUESTION OF TAKING STEPS TO LIMIT DEPARTURES, TIN SAID

THAT AFTER THE FIRST ROUND OF TALKS THE LOCAL AUTHORITIES HAD

BEEN ENCOURAGED TO TAKE (UNSPECIFIED) STEPS TO CONTROL FURTHER THE

OUTFLOW. HE ALSO POINTED OUT THAT THE RESULTS OF THE FIRST ROUND

OF TALKS HAD BEEN PUBLICIZED (MY TELNO 286 OF 10 AUGUST REFERS)

AND THAT THE VIETNAMESE PEOPLE THEREFORE KNEW THAT REPATRIATION

ETC HAD BEEN DISCUSSED. THIS HAD HAD A DETERRENT EFFECT AND HE

UNDERSTOOD THAT ARRIVALS HAD BEEN REDUCED. I REPLIED THAT EVEN IF THE FLOW HAS BEEN SLIGHTLY REDUCEDC, BOAT PEOPLE ARE STILL

ARRIVING IN HONG KONG IN LARGE NUMBERS I ADDED THAT I WOULD

FORWARD THE LATEST STATISTICS WHEN I RECEIVED THEM.

•

3. TIN AGREED THAT ONE OF THE BEST DETERRENTS WOULD BE THE

PHYSICAL EXAMPLE OF THE RETURN OF VII'S AND I MADE THE POINT ABOUT THE RETURN OF THE 100 OR SO CURRENT VOLUNTEERS. I STRESSED THAT

WE SAW THE RETURN OF THIS BATCH AS ONLY PART OF A PROCESS THAT WOULD

EVENTUALLY INVOLVE ALL SCREENED OUT VII'S AND THAT WE HAD NOT

ACCEPTED THE PREVIOUS VIETNAMESE LINE ON VOLUNTARISM. TIN WELCOMED

THE FACT THAT VOLUNTEERS ARE COMING FORWARD AND SAID THAT VIETNAM

IS PREPARED TO TAKE THEM BACK. HE ASKED IF DETAILS COULD BE QUICKLY PASSED ON VIA UNHCR. HE ACCEPTED THAT THIS WOULD ONLY BE A FIRST BATCH AND HE MADE NO REFERENCE TO RESETTLEMENT ASSISTANCE. I ALSO

STEERED CLEAR OF THE SUBJECT.

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CONFIDENTIAL