TNAG-1800-FCO40-2560-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-principle-of-first-asylum-1988 — Page 318

CONFIDENTIAL

FM FCO

TO PRIORITY HONG KONG

TELNO 701

OF 111650Z MARCH 88

HUD 243/1

CONFIDENTIAL

TOP COPY Q DIST ?

005101

MDLOAN 5434

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES FIRST ASYLUM: YOUR TELNOS 1031, 1052

PARA 6 OF BERMAN'S MINUTE OF 11 FEBRUARY REFERS TO THE

POSSIBLE LEGAL SIGNIFICANCE OF THE GOVERNOR'S STATEMENT AT THE

1979 GENEVA CONFERENCE.

1.

2.

WE ARE SEARCHING OUR FILES FOR A RECORD OF WHAT THE GOVERNOR SAID, BUT THIS MAY TAKE SOME TIME AS WE ARE GOING BACK 9 YEARS. IT WOULD BE MOST HELPFUL IF YOU COULD SEND US A COPY OF THE GOVERNOR'S STATEMENT IF READILY AVAILABLE ON YOUR FILES.

3. ONCE WE HAVE A COPY OF THE GOVERNOR'S STATEMENT WE CAN SEEK

LEGAL ADVISER'S FURTHER VIEWS ON THAT POINT. ON THE MORE

GENERAL QUESTION WE HAVE SOME DIFFICULTY IN SEEKING THEIR FIRM

VIEWS: IT IS EASIER TO PROVIDE ADVICE ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF

SPECIFIC PROPOSED ACTIONS. IT WOULD BE HELPFUL IF YOU CAN

PROVIDE CLEARER GUIDANCE: IF, AS WE SUSPECT, THAT IS NOT POSSIBLE,

WE WILL DO OUR BEST ON THE BASIS OF THE THOUGHTS SET OUT IN PARA

6 OF FIRST TUR.

HOWE

YYYY

DISTRIBUTION

121

ΜΑΙΝ

118

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES IN HK

ECD (E)

LIMITED

SPD

HKD

FED

SEAD

UND

LEGAL ADVISERS

WED

SED

PUSD

ECD (I)

NEWS

PS/LORD GLENARTHUR

PS MR EGGAR

PS/PUS

MR GILLMORE

MR SLATER

MR MCLAREN

ADDITIONAL

3