Easterners who have gone into the Federal Republic and yet the
demand for change has not got any less. The demands are for such
basic human freedoms and rights that every new born baby is another
recruit to the army of those wanting change in Eastern Germany.
Q: So it's a brain drain in effect, putting pressure on the East
Germans?
A: Yes, they're going to have great difficulty I think soon with maintaining that economy, which relatively in Eastern European terms
has been one of the stronger ones, if this goes one and it's just
yet another sign that Communist centralised state economies do not
work, they will almost literally fall to pieces, as they have in
Poland, if they go on trying to maintain them.
Q: If there are more East Germans who come across, will there be
welcome in Britain?
A: They will be once settled in the Federal Republic citizens of the
European Community and they will have the same rights as any other
citizen of the European Community. I suspect that the Germany
economy which is very hungry for labour will keep most of them
there.
Q: Isn't there something rather inconsistent in Britain welcoming
these people escaping from Communism in Eastern Europe and yet we
don't take a very positive attitude to the Vietnamese Boat People or
indeed the Hong Kong Chinese who want to come to this country?
A: There are two separate issues there. Those Vietnamese Boat
People who are genuine refugees we have taken a very considerable
share of and other refugees from around the world. The Hong Kong situation is not comparable I think except in so far as people don't
want to live under Communist rule. Afterall, ever since 1962 when
we were winding-up the Empire, we had to say that former imperial territories - millions, billions of people didn't have a right to stay in Britain. What we've got to do is to secure a safe future
for those people in Hong Kong which the efforts of Sir Geoffrey Howe
and now John Major are aimed at doing.
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