ESSENTIAL FACTS
Vietnamese Boat People in Hong Kong
1.
There are now 25,000 Vietnamese boat people in Hong Kong compared with 9,000 a year ago. About 9,500 have arrived since the new policy introduced on 16 June. The number of arrivals fell during the first weeks of September which is encouraging but may be due to the weather conditions rather than Vietnamese measures.
2. The Secretary of State raised the issue with Foreign Minister Thach in June. The Vietnamese subsequently offered bilateral talks with HMG/HKG and the first round took place in Hanoi on 3/4 August. The Vietnamese insisted on voluntary returns only and suggested reintegration assistance for returnees. We pressed for effective measures to stop the outflow and for the return of all those screened out as illegal immigrants.
3. Ministers have now agreed in principle that we should be prepared to contribute to a UNHCR programme for modest reintegration assistance to returnees and their immediate communities as part of a comprehensive repatriation scheme.
4. ASEAN countries are keen to convene an International Conference in early 1989 on the whole question of Indo Chinese refugees. Vietnam has agreed to attend. The Secretary of State told the Malaysian Foreign Minister recently that the UK would be represented but that we had not yet decided on the level of our representation. We have told ASEAN that the conference must be well prepared and should not be side-tracked into other issues.
Cambodia
5. The available evidence (some from sensitive sources) suggests that the Vietnamese will not meet their self-appointed target of withdrawing 50,000 troops from Cambodia by the end of 1988. They have pledged unilaterally to withdraw completely and unconditionally by the end of 1990. At the Jakarta Informal Meeting (JIM) in July,
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