TNAG-1797-FCO40-2557-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-repatriation--including-Opera-1988 — Page 313

CONFIDENTIAL

which were leaked to the rights groups in the US.

press.

They have been taken up by human

The Hong Kong Government have conducted an

internal inquiry which has fou. 1 no evidence to support the allegations.

The Governor of Hong Kong has now appointed two JP's, one of whom is a QC and the other a senior medical doctor, to hear the complaints about ill-treatment and to make an independent assessment as to whether there is any substance in them. They have been asked to report to the Governor by 30 September. Their findings will be made public.

Resettlement in the UK

12.

Since 1975, Britain has accepted over 13,000 Vietnamese boat people from Hong Kong. Our current resettlement commitment is for 468 Vietnamese boat people from Hong Kong over 2 years from May 1987. The Secretary of State has agreed that we should make the case to Ministers for a new resettlement commitment of about 1,000 over the next 2-3 years. Progress on this is not likely to be fast, as it is a contentious area and the talks with Vietnam have a higher priority.

Proposed International Conference on Indo-Chinese Refugees

13.

We

ASEAN have called for an international conference in early 1989 at Ministerial level under the auspices of the UN Secretary-General to consider ways of dealing with the problem of Indo-China refugees. The Malaysians have offered to host a

preparatory ASEAN Senior Officials meeting at the end of 1988. have an open (if sceptical) mind on the value of such a conference. Any multilateral approach should work alongside, not replace, our own bilateral efforts to persuade the Vietnamese to deal with the problem in Hong Kong. If such a conference is convened there is a strong possibility that it would be side tracked down the twisting alleyways of Indo Chinese politics.

CONFIDENTIAL