TNAG-1802-FCO40-2562-Hong-Kong-Vietnamese-refugees-resettlement-in-the-UK-1988 — Page 5

Mrs BH Fair Home Office

Queen Anne's Gate

LONDON

SW1H 9AT

Да Den Da

اسما

VIETNAMESE REFUGEES AND THE ODP

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

London SW1A 2AH

181

23 December 1988

MKD 243/12

Thank you for your letter of 21 December asking for a progress report.

1.

2.

Since your meeting with Alan Paul there has been a continuing, if inconclusive, exchange of telegrams on this subject between ourselves and our Embassy in Hanoi. All of these have been copied to Tim Flesher, and we were under the impression that they would in due course reach

I am you. This has clearly not been the case. therefore enclosing a complete set of the telegrams, and will endeavour to ensure that any subsequent ones are copied to you direct.

3.

As you will see, we are continuing to encourage the Embassy to pursue the matter with UNHCR and the Vietnamese as vigourously as circumstances permit.

4~

However

In brief, the situation as described in the telegrams is as follows. After consulting the local UNHCR representative, HMA Hanoi concluded that it would be unwise at that juncture to raise the subject with the Vietnamese authorities for fear of jeopardising the UNHCR/Vietnam Memorandum of Understanding on repatriation, which was then delicately poised. since this time he has spoken to a Deputy Director in the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, who expressed understanding of the logistical problems involved (Hanoi telno 466 refers). We shall ensure that this point is followed up in due course, not least because of the separate indication reported in the same telegram that the overall ODP flow might be increased next year.

15. If