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4.
a
Following my talk with the Australians, David .Wyatt and I called on Khun Kobsak Chutikul, Director of the relevant division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Kobsak confirmed the Australian briefing on what had happened at Cha-am and handed over copy of the official
Kobsak was at summary of the Seminar (copy enclosed). pains to emphasise the informal nature of the meeting, and that those present had spoken on a personal rather than official basis. Nevertheless, Kobsak went on to say that the broad agreement on a course of action, as represented by the package of proposals which emerged from the discussions, represented an important step forward. Subsequent to the Seminar, the ASEAN officials Working Group which met on 30 and 31 May, had considered the proposals and submitted them to the ASEAN Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) (held on 1 and 2 June) for consideration and amendment before they in turn went up for consideration by ASEAN Foreign Ministers during their meeting here on 4 and 5 July.
5.
Kobsak said that there was general agreement amongst ASEAN countries that the 1979 Geneva conference agreements were no longer working, and a new Geneva style conference was needed. The ASEAN SOM envisaged that their Foreign Ministers would endorse the call for a conference to implement the broad outline of the package promulgated in Cha-am. The situation was, Kobsak said, getting worse and urgent action was needed to address the concerns of
If the First Asylum countries.
a conference failed to
materialise then Thailand, and the other First Asylum countries, would have to reflect on the significance of the recent Malaysian announcement that they would terminate First Asylum for Vietnamese refugees, and close their refugee
definite There was thus a camps, in the summer of 1989. timescale for action to be taken to avoid the prospect of ASEAN countries universally refusing to accept more Vietnamese.
6.
an international In referring to the need for conference, Kobsak commented that the US had an extremely important role. He understood that the Americans were wary of such a conference because of their concern that it might fail, and of what this would mean for the US • The US maintained that there should be First Asylum but if the other resettlement countries declined to commit themselves to set quotas for resettlement, the US might
In any see themselves as being left with the problem.
still not sure whether case, Kobsak said that ASEAN was such a conference would be best at the end of the current
US Administration, or at the very beginning of the next.
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