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Chinese seemed insecure because of the slipping grasp of the Communist Party in China. Sir J Coles agreed, citing for example, repeated Chinese warnings against using Hong
Kong as a base for subversion. Herr Schlagintweit
commented that the Governor's recent visit to Bonn had
been very successful and valuable. Hong Kong was important and Germany wanted it to succeed.
Vietnamese Migrants
6. Sir J Coles explained that there were still som e 57,000 Vietnamese migrants (MMs) in camps in Hong Kong. This was a great burden on the Hong Kong Government; public opinion was very negative towards Ws and there
was serious tension in the camps with occasional outbreaks of violence. We had made progress in attempting to get Viet nam to take back all non-refugees. An agreement was signed last October. The announcement
had had a dramatic effect; only seven arrivals during
this year and the number of volunteer returnees had risen
sharply. Fine so far. Now we needed a second agreement to repatriate all non-refugees who had arrived in Hong Kong before last October's agreement. The Vietnamese were amenable in principle but needed Aid to resettle the
returnees. The United Nations High Commissioner for refugees had appealed for more funds for the
Comprehensive Plan of Action (CPA). There was also an EC reintegration programme. Sir J Coles hoped that Germany
might consider contributing to these.
7. Herr Schlagintweit said that the subject had been discussed by Herr Zeller and Mr Burns in Bonn last week.
It was good that the returnee problem was now out of the media. Germany's attitudes to the asylum problem were now changing. There was no longer a problem with public
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