14
THE INDEPENDENT
40 CITY ROAD, LONDON EC1Y 2DB (telephone 01-253-1222; telex 9419611 INDPNT)
John Major and the boat people
THE repatriation of Cossacks to the Soviet Union at the end of the Second World War was one of the most shameful events in mod- ern British history. Although the forced re- patriation of boat people from Hong Kong to Vietnam would occur in a different part of the world, for different reasons, the parallels between the two cases are clear. Some of the Cossacks committed suicide rather than be sent back, and so would some of the boat people. The British Government would again be betraying people for whom it wished it had never become responsible, by returning them to a Communist regime whose exact intentions might be unclear, but whose lack of benevolence towards its re- turning subjects was not. The policy would again be carried out with the greatest possi- ble secrecy, in itself an admission that it stinks. And once again, respectable politi- cians would say they had no choice.
Sir Geoffrey Howe is just such a respect- able politician. He was in most ways an ex- cellent Foreign Secretary, but he swallowed the mistaken advice that there is nothing to be done with the boat people but send them back. Negotiations were begun with the Vietnamese government, to settle the terms on which the Hong Kong government could return thousands of "economic migrants". The Vietnamese government said it would have to be paid "re-integration assistance". The British government agreed. It is now ready, not to sell the boat people to the re- gime from which at mortal risk they fled, but to bribe that regime to take them back.
It seems that only an American threat to denounce this odious deal has delayed its implementation. The United States has es- tablished its right to comment: 830,000 Indo- Chinese refugees have been allowed to settle
there since 1975. But the British Govern- ment should be able to see for itself that for free countries to return people against their will to tyrannies is wrong, and should wher- ever practicable be avoided.
The question of practicality is thought by the advocates of forced repatriation to win the argument for them. They point out that while Hong Kong has accepted many Chi- nese refugees from Communism, it cannot take everyone, so it also sends many back. How can the Hong Kong Chinese be ex- pected to welcome the boat people, when their own cousins are turned away? Accord- ing to the Foreign Office, the boat people must be repatriated in order to restore confi- dence in the British administration of Hong Kong.
But the best way to restore confidence in the British would be to ensure that anyone in Hong Kong who wishes can leave before the Chinese take control. This is not the same as allowing millions of people to settle in Brit- ain. It means, rather, that the United King- dom must promote an agreement among the free countries of the world to accommodate the Hong Kong Chinese if necessary, and must be one of the states which promises ref- uge to a certain number. This is a more prac- tical policy than the present one, since it gives the incoming Chinese administration every incentive to prove its good faith. It cannot, however, work without wholeheart- ed British participation. Given that partici- pation (which recent polls suggest would be much less unpopular in Britain than some politicians believe), the free world can find room for the boat people too. John Major, the new Foreign Secretary, has the chance to prove himself at once principled and prag- matic.
The limits of legal discretion
THERE are two reasons for satisfaction at the outcome of the first appeal under the Criminal Justice Act, 1988, against a sen- ence which the Attorney-General believed
too lenient: first, the sentence as
Another idea, favoured by some academic lawyers, would involve the establishment of a statutory Sentencing Council with the power to draw up mandatory guidelines within which judges would be compelled to work
THE INDEP
The
wher
R
eactions to the
Department of and Industry reg to the Blue shares scandal fall into predictable camps. One an unholy alliance betwe money and old-school soc has been baying with glee told you the City is a ci paradise," they cry. "This tip of a huge iceberg."
From the City's ves ests there are cor
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.