CONFIDENTIAL
Background
3.
The latest developments are described in Hong Kong telnos
A B C 1350, 1355 and 1386. These reports have been supplemented by
a telephone call from the Governor to Mr McLaren earlier today.
It is now clear that the situation has become a very acute crisis
indeed. The key facts are:
over 1,600 boat people have arrived in Hong Kong in the last
week, including 640 today alone;
the number of arrivals so far this year stands at almost 4,000
(double the number over the corresponding period in 1988);
the total boat people population in Hong Kong now stands at
over 30,000.
The Governor has also warned that several thousand more boat people
are reportedly in transit along the South China coast; and he has
drawn our attention to evidence that some groups of "boat people"
are now crossing the land border from Vietnam into China and making
their way overland to points close to Hong Kong, where they are
acquiring boats for the final stage of their journey.
4.
The Governor has recommended that early demarches in Hanoi and
Peking should be made in response to these latest developments.
D The Secretary of State has strongly endorsed this recommendation.
E
It is
5. These latest reports suggest that, despite the assurances
which the Vietnamese authorities have given us of measures to stem
the exodus from Vietnam, no effective action has been taken.
all the more disturbing that this should be happening only weeks
after Lord Glenarthur's visit to Vietnam, during which he was given personal assurances by Vietnamese Ministers. HMA Hanoi has
already taken action with the first Deputy Foreign Minister (Hanoi
telno 226). But it would still be worth asking him to revert to
CONF IDENTIAL
/the
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.