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CONFIDENTIAL
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ING STREET From the Private Secretary
THE
20 June
1979
PRIME MINISTER'S DISCUSSION WITH THE PRIME MINISTER OF SINGAPORE,
MR. LEE KUAN YEW, AT 10 DOWNING STREET ON 20 JUNE 1979:
SOUTH EAST ASIA AND THE VIETNAMESE REFUGEES
The P r i m e M i n i s t e r ' s t e t e - a - t e t e d i s c u s s i o n w i t h Mr. Lee Kuan
Yew at No. 10 t h i s m o r n i n g , w h i c h l a s t e d f o r one h o u r , c o n c e n t r a t e d
m a i n l y on o i l / M i d d l e E a s t and on the p r o b l e m of the V i e t n a m e s e
refugees. I have summarised t h e exchanges on o i l and the
M i d d l e E a s t i n a s e p a r a t e l e t t e r to P a u l L e v e r . The f o l l o w i n g
i s a summary of the main p o i n t s which a r o s e d u r i n g t h e d i s c u s s i o n
o f S o u t h E a s t A s i a and the Vietnamese r e f u g e e s .
Mr. Lee Kuan Yew gave t h e Prime M i n i s t e r a s u b s t a n t i a l s u r v e y
o f t h e o r i g i n s and u n d e r l y i n g causes of the p r o b l e m o f the V i e t n a m e s e
refugees. F o r o v e r e i g h t y e a r s , Mr. Lee s a i d , t h e S o v i e t U n i o n ' s
p r o p a g a n d a o r g a n s had been s a t u r a t i n g South E a s t A s i a w i t h w a r n i n g s
o f t h e t h r e a t w h i c h was b e i n g cx-eated t o many g o v e r n m e n t s i n S o u t h
E a s t A s i a by t h e i r e t h n i c C h i n e s e m i n o r i t i e s . The R u s s i a n s
d e p i c t e d t h e e t h n i c C h i n e s e t h r o u g h o u t South E a s t A s i a as a f i f t h
column, i n t e n t on c h a n g i n g t h e e s t a b l i s h e d o r d e r . Mr. Lee
r e c a l l e d t h a t at t h e Bandung C o n f e r e n c e i n 1955, C h i n a had a g r e e d
t o a l l o w the o v e r s e a s C h i n e s e t o choose between C h i n e s e n a t i o n a l i t y
and t h a t o f t h e i r c o u n t r y o f r e s i d e n c e . The I n d o n e s i a n s were
f i r m l y c o n v i n c e d t h a t the l a r g e e t h n i c C h i n e s e m i n o r i t y w h i c h
t h e y had a c q u i r e d as a r e s u l t o f t h i s d e c i s i o n had been s u b s t a n
t i a l l y i n v o l v e d i n t h e coup o f 1975 and had a c t i v e l y s u p p o r t e d
t h e Communist P a r t y o f I n d o n e s i a . Thousands o f e t h n i c C h i n e s e
had been b u t c h e r e d as a r e s u l t . There were s i m i l a r e t h n i c t e n s i o n s
i n M a l a y s i a and i n o t h e r South E a s t A s i a n c o u n t r i e s . Mr. Lee
p o i n t e d out t h a t t h e r e were a p p r o x i m a t e l y 400,000 Ethnic-Chinese i n North
Vietnam and 1,5 m i l l i o n i n South Vietnam.
Mr. Lee went on t o say t h a t d u r i n g the c u l t u r a l r e v o l u t i o n
i n P e k i n g , t h e Bandung u n d e r s t a n d i n g had been r e v e r s e d : the
Red Guards had demanded t h a t t h e o v e r s e a s C h i n e s e who had r e t a i n e d /Chinese n a t i o n a l i t y
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C h i n e s e n a t i o n a l i t y s h o u l d be disavowed. Those who had chosen
t o r e t u r n t o C h i n a had been i l l - t r e a t e d and h u m i l i a t e d . The
a r r e s t o f t h e Gang o f Four i n 1976 had been f o l l o w e d by a
f u r t h e r s w i t c h i n Chinese p o l i c y . Mr. Lee r e c a l l e d t h a t i n
J a n u a r y 1978, t h e P e k i n g D a i l y had p u b l i s h e d a major s t a t e m e n t
o f t h e C h i n e s e regime's a t t i t u d e towards the o v e r s e a s C h i n e s e ;
t h i s was a l o n g t h e l i n e s o f Bandung u n d e r s t a n d i n g but emphasis
had been p l a c e d on t h e f a c t t h a t p e o p l e of C h i n e s e d e s c e n t ,
i r r e s p e c t i v e o f t h e i r p r e s e n t n a t i o n a l i t y , r e t a i n e d an u n d e n i a b l e
a f f i n i t y with China. The s t a t e m e n t was a t h i n l y v e i l e d a p p e a l
t o t h e o v e r s e a s C h i n e s e t o a s s i s t i n the m o d e r n i s a t i o n o f C h i n a .
Mr. Lee s a i d t h a t , f o r him, the s t a t e m e n t amounted t o a d i r e c t
a p p e a l t o t h e C h i n e s e p o p u l a t i o n of S i n g a p o r e o v e r t h e heads
o f t h e S i n g a p o r e Government. About t h i s t i m e , Mr. Lee went on,
t h e r e were rumours o f p r o b l e m s , i n s p i r e d and encouraged by t h e
C h i n e s e Embassy, between the Vietnamese Government and t h e e t h n i c
Chinese. R e l a t i o n s between C h i n a and V i e t n a m had d e t e r i o r a t e d ;
t h e C h i n e s e had c u t o f f a i d t o V i e t n a m and V i e t n a m had j o i n e d COMECON.
V i e t n a m had t h e n embarked on the i n v a s i o n of Cambodia, i n t h e
f u l l knowledge t h a t , as a r e s u l t , C h i n a would do e v e r y t h i n g p o s s i b l e
t o s u b v e r t and d i s r u p t the c o u n t r i e s i n I n d o - C h i n a . T h i s had
l e d the V i e t n a m e s e regime t o the c o n c l u s i o n t h a t t h e y would be
c o m p e l l e d t o e x p e l from V i e t n a m the e n t i r e e t h n i c C h i n e s e p o p u l a t i o n
o f t h e c o u n t r y , t o g e t h e r w i t h everybody o f Vietnamese n a t i o n a l i t y
who was disaffected.
Mr. Lee t o l d t h e Prime M i n i s t e r t h a t the i m p l e m e n t a t i o n o f
t h i s p o l i c y amounted t o an attempt t o b l a c k m a i l the e n t i r e w o r l d .
The V i e t n a m e s e knew v e r y w e l l t h a t t h e expellees would cause
t r o u b l e w h e r e v e r t h e y went, by u p s e t t i n g t h e r a c i a l b a l a n c e o f
t h e c o u n t r i e s w h i c h gave them r e f u g e . The V i e t n a m e s e were
t r a n s p o r t i n g thousands of e t h n i c C h i n e s e every day a c r o s s Cambodia,
i n o r d e r t o dump them o v e r t h e b o r d e r i n t o T h a i l a n d . The
p u r p o s e o f t h i s was t o impose an u n a c c e p t a b l e s t r a i n on t h e T h a i
economy and on T h a i s o c i e t y i n o r d e r t o s u b v e r t t h e r e g i m e .
From a l l t h i s , t h e main g a i n e r was t h e S o v i e t U n i o n : e i g h t y e a r s
o f S o v i e t propaganda about the t h r e a t p r o p o s e d by t h e C h i n e s e
m i n o r i t i e s would have been p r o v e d up t o t h e h i l t . Moreover,
the f a t e o f t h e Vietnamese r e f u g e e s would e n a b l e t h e R u s s i a n s
t o expose P r e s i d e n t C a r t e r ' s human r i g h t s campaign as a sham;
China w o u l d be i s o l a t e d and S o u t h E a s t A s i a d e s t a b i l i s e d . The
V i e t n a m e s e , f o r t h e i r p a r t , w o u l d enhance t h e i r image as the t o r c h bearers o f r e v o l u t i o n i n t h e r e g i o n : t h e y were w i l l i n g t o commit
any a t r o c i t y i n t h e cause o f c r e a t i n g s o c i a l i s t man. Mr. Lee
n o t e d t h a t t h e Vietnamese were e x c e p t i o n a l l y p o l i s h e d i n t e r n a t i o n a l
a c t o r s , as t h e i r performance a t the Geneva C o n f e r e n c e on R e f u g e e s ,
i n December 1978, had shown.
Mr. Lee made t h e f u r t h e r comment t h a t t h e whole
problem of t h e e t h n i c C h i n e s e i n South East A s i a was g i v e n o n l y
very s p o r a d i c a t t e n t i o n by t h e media. I f i t would c a u s e no
embarrassment t o t h e Prime M i n i s t e r , he might use t h e o c c a s i o n
of h i s p r e s e n t v i s i t t o London t o t r y t o c o r r e c t t h i s . The
Prime M i n i s t e r made i t c l e a r t h a t she would have no o b j e c t i o n
/whatsoever
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w h a t s o e v e r i f Mr. Lee were t o do so. Mr. Lee s a i d t h a t t h e
p r o b l e m o f t h e Vietnamese r e f u g e e s had t o be l i n k e d t o t h e
a c t i v i t i e s o f t h e S o v i e t U n i o n , s i n c e o t h e r w i s e i t was incomprehen
sible.
The P r i m e M i n i s t e r t o l d Mr. Lee t h a t she had f e l t s t r o n g l y
t h a t Taiwan s h o u l d have agreed t o a c c e p t t h e r e f u g e e s from t h e
U n i t e d Kingdom s h i p Roachbank: she was g r a t e f u l f o r Mr. Lee's
agreement t o make an approach t o t h e Taiwan a u t h o r i t i e s but t h e
outcome had been d i s a p p o i n t i n g . Mr. Lee e x p l a i n e d t h a t , f o r
t h e Taiwanese as f o r h i m i n S i n g a p o r e , i t was n o t s i m p l y a l a c k
o f s p a c e a l t h o u g h p o p u l a t i o n d e n s i t y c o u l d not be i n c r e a s e d
indefinitely. The more s e r i o u s d i f f i c u l t y was t h e f a c t t h a t
t h e n o n - C h i n e s e m i n o r i t i e s would b i t t e r l y r e s e n t t h e t a k e - o v e r
o f any more l a n d by t h e e t h n i c C h i n e s e and t h a t t h i s would c r e a t e
p o l i t i c a l problems. The Taiwanese, f o r t h e i r p a r t , were
p r i m a r i l y c o n c e r n e d by t h e p o s s i b i l i t y o f s u b v e r s i v e i n f i l t r a t i o n
by C h i n e s e Communist agents p o s i n g as r e f u g e e s : t h e y h a d even
r e f u s e d t o t a k e back some o f t h e i r own G e n e r a l s who had been
i m p r i s o n e d i n Communist China, on t h e grounds t h a t t h e y would
have been b r a i n w a s h e d . Mr. Lee s a i d t h a t , i n h i s v i e w , t h e
b e s t s o l u t i o n would be f o r t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s t o p u r c h a s e one o r
more i s l a n d s , from I n d o n e s i a , M a l a y s i a o r t h e P h i l i p p i n e s , t o
w h i c h t h e r e f u g e e s c o u l d go. They were h a r d - w o r k i n g , t a l e n t e d
and p r o d u c t i v e p e o p l e and, g i v e n an i s l a n d and t w e n t y y e a r s ,
they could c r e a t e another Singapore. N e i t h e r he n o r , f o r example,
t h e I n d o n e s i a n s w o u l d welcome t h i s , b u t i t would s o l v e t h e p r o b l e m .
C o n c l u d i n g t h e d i s c u s s i o n , t h e Prime M i n i s t e r s a i d t h a t t h e
f r e e w o r l d would have t o f i n d a way o f p r o v i d i n g a r e f u g e f o r
t h o s e who f l e d from Communism, j u s t as t h e S o v i e t U n i o n i n v a r i a b l y
t o o k i n i t s own s y m p a t h i s e r s . I t would be e s s e n t i a l t o p u t
f o r w a r d p r a c t i c a l p r o p o s a l s a t t h e f o r t h c o m i n g c o n f e r e n c e which
t h e U n i t e d N a t i o n s H i g h Commissioner f o r Refugees had agreed t o
convene.
I am s e n d i n g c o p i e s o f t h i s l e t t e r t o Tony B u t l e r (Home
O f f i c e ) , Tom H a r r i s (Department o f T r a d e ) and M a r t i n V i l e ( C a b i n e t
Office).
J.S. W a l l , E s q . ,
F o r e i g n and Commonwealth O f f i c e .
