TNAG-1910-FCO40-2714-Financial-assistance-from-the-UK-Government-to-Vietnamese-re-1989 — Page 32

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CC D Haswell Esq Hong Kong Department

FCO

BRITISH EMBASSY

THE HAGUE

25 July 1989

11

Mr PENOH, SEAD

Gundance telegram

NEEDED

Our first dusilly Collaboratur Efferb ?

27/7

Dear Charles,

VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE

1. There continues to be interest here in our problems over boat people in Hong Kong. We have been able to draw upon your telegram 440 to Paris and Luxembourg telno 212, and upon the Secretary of State's speeches in Hong Kong and to the Commons on 3 and 5 July. The suggestion, carried in the British press, that we have reached a secret agreement with the Vietnamese over the involuntary return of those 'screened out' is still strong here. We would find it useful to have further background on our bilateral contacts, how they fit into the general context of the Geneva agreement, and the exact nature and source of the financial assistance being offered to returnees (is it still coming from the UNHCR reintegration assistance programme?).

Yours ever,

Fran

BM Bennett