2004 AIT-TECRO JSCCNC - SIDE MEETINGS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003675

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/RSP/TC, NE/NP: ALEX BURKART
UNVIE FOR HILLIARD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2014
TAGS: KNNP TRGY ENRG TW
SUBJECT: 2004 AIT-TECRO JSCCNC - SIDE MEETINGS


Classified By: DIR Doug Paal for reasons 1.4 (b,d,and f)


1. (C) Summary. AIT and TECRO held bilateral discussions on
the margins of the 20th annual Joint Standing Committee on
Civil Nuclear Cooperation in Seattle (JSCCNC) (Nov 4-5). The
two sides discussed: UN Security Council resolution 1540,
environmental samplings from the 1980s, the International
Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Additional Protocol and the
implications for Taiwan's Atomic Energy Council (AEC) and the
Institute for Nuclear Research (INER) of the reorganization
of Taiwan,s government.

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PARTICIPANTS
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2. (U) AIT and TECRO held bilateral discussion on the margins
of the JSCCNC in Seattle (Nov 4-5). State/NP/NE Deputy
Director Alex Burkart, AIT ESTOFF Erica Thomas and AIT Joint
Standing Committee Principal Coordinator Harold Bengelsdorf
represented AIT. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Minister
Ouyang Min-shen, TECRO Washington Science Attache Dr. Chen
Shih-kuei, AEC Director of Planning Dr. David Yao, and AEC
International Affairs Chief Dr. Gone Jec-kong represented
TECRO.

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RESOLUTION 1540
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3. (U) Burkart noted the fact that the UN Security Council
passed resolution 1540, which states that all states should
refrain from any kind of support of any development of
weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by non-state actors, that
they should adopt laws that prohibit activities that could
enable non-state actors to access WMD and that they should
establish domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of
WMD. He noted that the Resolution established a process for
States to report on the steps they have taken to implement
the provisions of the Resolution. Burkart acknowledged that
Taiwan, due to its unique status, is not formally part of the
Resolution's reporting process, which is intended to ensure
that states have the means to implement their
non-proliferation obligations. He emphasized the fact that
1540 does not impose any new obligations, but simply is
intended to ensure that the legal infrastructure is in place
to enforce existing treaty obligations.


4. (U) Burkart conveyed the U.S. interest in Taiwan preparing
a report consistent with 1540 that could be exchanged
bilaterally with the U.S. To that end, Burkart provided
Taiwan with a copy of Resolution 1540, a copy of the
guidelines for the report and a copy of the UK report as an
example. He suggested that the UK approach might be easier
to follow as it is only 14 pages compared to the U.S. report,
which is 60 pages. Burkart recognized that 1540 goes beyond
just nuclear issues and that Taiwan,s response to this
request would require approval beyond AEC.

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ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL
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5. (U) Burkart addressed the International Atomic Energy
Agency,s (IAEA) Additional Protocol. He emphasized the USG
commitment to seeing the successful implementation of the
Protocol. To that end, he noted that the USG has promised to
open up its facilities in the same way it wants other
countries to open up their facilities, exempting only those
related to activities of direct national security
significance. He further informed Ouyang that, as soon as
the implementing legislation is in place, the USG will ratify
the Additional Protocol. AEC,s International Affairs Chief
Dr. Gone Jec-kong noted that Taiwan signed the Protocol in
1998 and that it has already had 3 IAEA inspections. He
believed that the IAEA would replace its routine inspections
of Taiwan,s nuclear plants with monitoring under integrated
safeguards procedures.


6. (C) Burkart commented that IAEA,s evaluation of Taiwan
with respect to the history of its nuclear program had not
been completed. Dr. Yao revealed that the reason for this is
that INER has not been able to provide satisfactory answers
regarding some environmental samplings suggesting possible
nuclear activities may have occurred during the 1980s. He
indicated that AEC and INER are still working on explaining
the sampling results, but that it is difficult to recreate
history, particularly because some of the people privy to the
relevant information have since died. Yao was hopeful that
the IAEA was sympathetic to all of the effort AEC has put in
to date with respect to IAEA inspections.

7 (C) Burkart emphasized the importance of explaining the
findings and offered assistance in sharing some of his
records from the past 30 years to help reconstruct history.
He also asked if AEC has been working with Chungshan
Institute to answer the questions. Yao claimed that
Chungshan has been very cooperative and informed AIT that AEC
will meet with Chungshan again next month to try to address
the outstanding questions. Yao said he would contact AIT
ESTOFF if he had questions regarding information he thought
Burkart might have. Burkart once again impressed upon the
TECRO side the extreme importance of making sure the
evaluation is completed. Burkart noted that it is critical
to understand the past in order to understand the present
situation. Burkart expressed satisfaction that cooperation
is ongoing and urged its continuance to ensure the matter is
resolved quickly.

8. (U) Minister Ouyang spoke to the current Administration's
stand on nuclear issues. He assured AIT that the Chen
Administration has no interest in non-peaceful uses of
nuclear materials. He emphasized that Taiwan,s top nuclear
priority is power generation. He noted that Taiwan is also
very committed to nuclear safety and economically efficient
and productive technologies. Ouyang further expressed an
interest in helping Mainland China to ensure its plants are
safe if a way to cooperate could be found. (Comment. The Chen
Administration has not softened its anti-nuclear rhetoric,
including on nuclear energy. It is not clear whether
Minister Ouyang's interpretation of nuclear power generation
being a priority is his personal goal or one shared more
widely within the Administration. End Comment).

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JSCCNC
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9. (U) Lastly, Burkart noted that the AIT-TECRO agreement
covering the operation of the JSCCNC had renewed
automatically by its terms at the end of the previous month.
He suggested, however, that it is out of date and both sides
might consider updating its terms. There is no requirement
that it be revised, but he encouraged the TECRO delegation to
look it over. This could be particularly important if the
JSCCNC is to begin to incorporate non-nuclear energy
activities as proposed by INER on several occasions.


10. (U) Ouyang welcomed the suggestion, but he noted that the
Taiwan government is planning a massive reorganization that
will likely move AEC from being an independent body to a
subsidiary agency within an upgraded Ministry of the
Environment. Both sides agreed that it would make sense to
wait until after the reorganization to review the JSCCNC
terms.


11. (C) Comment. AIT was surprised and encouraged by Yao's
openess in revealing the problems it is encountering with
respect to environmental samplings taken by the IAEA.
Unfortunately, there was no indication that AEC is close to
being able to provide satisfactory answers to the IAEA.
Another item of potential concern is the fact that, under the
proposed restructuring of Taiwan,s government, AEC would
become part of the new Ministry of the Environment. It is
important that AEC continue to maintain its independent
regulatory oversight role after the reorganization. To
ensure that this is the case, this issue may warrant follow
up with TECRO contacts. In addition, as AEC's current
mandate is limited to oversight of nuclear safety, it would
be useful to determine which agency will have oversight of
the alternative energy programs planned for INER after the
government reorganization takes place. End Comment.

(This cable has been cleared by State/NP/NE Deputy Director
Alex Burkart).
PAAL