216. Telegram From Secretary of State Vance’s Delegation to the Department of State1
Secto 6127. Subject: The Secretary’s Bilateral Meeting with Malaysian Foreign Minister Rithauddeen.
1. The Secretary met for half an hour with GOM Foreign Minister Rithauddeen prior to the opening of the US-ASEAN Dialogue afternoon July 2.
2. The Secretary and Rithauddeen agreed the Bali series of meetings were most timely in view of the situation in the region. The Secretary said we faced two hard issues: a) how to exert pressure on Vietnam with regard to refugees; and b) how to address the Kampuchea problem in order to bring about a lasting solution.
3. Rithaudddeen agreed and noted that the ASEAN communique called for action on three fronts on these issues.2 He said additionally Indonesian Foreign Minister Mochtar and he were willing to go separately to Hanoi for discussions if that would help. Rithauddeen said Malaysia was prepared to participate in the forthcoming UN conference in Geneva3 “with or without Vietnam.” The Secretary welcomed this, saying that if he could not go himself he would urge the Vice President to do so to demonstrate the importance we attach to resolving the refugee issue. The Secretary also said we favored a UN Security Council meeting shortly after the Geneva conference to deal with the political issues involved.
4. The remainder of the discussion focussed largely on Malaysia’s hardened refugee policy. The Secretary and Holbrooke repeatedly stressed the importance of first asylum countries meeting their humanitarian obligations. They emphasized this would be critical to obtaining congressional support for the President’s decision to double our program. The Secretary pointed out that some recent statements from ASEAN governments had had an adverse impact in the U.S. Rithauddeen described the increasingly difficult internal political situation the GOM faces, particularly from within its own major party (UMNO), which meets in General Assembly next week. He reiterated several [Page 717] times that the GOM greatly appreciates what the U.S. and other resettlement countries are doing to accelerate their programs, but that the GOM cannot change its policy until the refugee numbers decrease in Malaysia—something that has not happened in two years.
5. The Secretary raised the issue of setting up processing centers in the ASEAN region. Rithauddeen responded with ASEAN’s idea of such centers elsewhere, e.g., the U.S. the Secretary cited the adverse cost factors involved, and the fact that refugees brought to such centers would count against the U.S. numbers. He said processing centers in the ASEAN region would thus be much more cost effective and practicable. The Secretary also referred to new Korean contribution $5 million and the Japanese decision announced earlier in the day to double its contribution to the UNHCR, saying these funds should permit facilities to be established fairly rapidly.
6. Ambassador Clark noted we currently projected 10,000 resettlements from the region in July, 12,000 in August, hitting 14,000 in September. He added that we would take 4,100 from Malaysia alone in July. At the Secretary’s and Holbrooke’s suggestion, Ambassador Clark agreed to try to raise Malaysia’s quota for July to help the GOM before its UMNO assembly. In response to MFA Sec-Gen Zaharia’s observation that increased resettlements could lead to an increased outflow, Holbrooke and Clark firmly denied this, citing Hong Kong’s skyrocketing Indochinese refugee population despite only 400 departures per month to the U.S.
- Source: Department of State, Office of the Secretariat Staff, Records of Cyrus Vance, 1977–1980, Lot 84D241, Vance Exdis Memcons, 1979. Confidential; Immediate; Exdis. Sent for information to Bangkok, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Singapore, the Mission in Geneva, and USUN. Vance was in Bali July 1–3 to meet with the ASEAN Foreign Ministers after their Ministerial session June 28–30.↩
- See footnote 4, Document 176.↩
- See footnote 4, Document 136.↩