NETHERLANDS/EU/ASEM: BURMESE ATTENDANCE;

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 002512

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR AND NEA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2014
TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM BU NL
SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS/EU/ASEM: BURMESE ATTENDANCE;
DUTCH/LUXEMBOURG LOGISTICS; SANCTIONS

REF: THE HAGUE 2480

Classified By: POL Counselor Andrew Schofer for reasons 1.4 (b/d)


1. (C) Eric Verwaal, Head of Southeast Asia and Oceania
Division (and Special Assistant to EU Envoy Hans van den
Broek),told poloff October 1 that the Vietnamese had
informed him the Burmese participant at ASEM will be: U Tin
Winn, identified as "Minister in the Office of Prime
Minister." Verwaal believed this individual does not rank
higher than the level of Foreign Minister. Further, he
clarified that the agreement with the Asians had been that
the Burmese "would not attend at head-of-state or
head-of-government level." Therefore, he believed that this
level of attendance would not prompt a potential walkout
scenario as reported reftel. Verwaal speculated that the
reason for sending Winn could be that the newly appointed
Foreign Minister perhaps "has no clue" about foreign
relations, whereas Winn at least has a diplomatic background.

Luxembourg Temporarily Assumes EU Presidency Role
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2. (C) In preparation for the Luxembourg PM stepping into the
role of the EU Presidency during the ASEM meeting, Verwaal
will depart for Hanoi on Wednesday together with Luxembourg
PM Juncker so that he can provide a full briefing on the
plane. Verwaal also confirmed that Luxembourg had appointed
a working-level official to the coordinating committee, as
predicted in reftel. Separately, we were informed by
Balkenende's office that only a junior staff member from the
Dutch PM's office would attend the summits, and that the
Dutch MFA would staff Juncker's EU presidency meetings.

Additional Sanctions: Awaiting Trigger
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3. (C) Poloff pointed out the apparent lack of progress on
the part of Burma toward meeting the three conditions laid
out at the September EU GAERC meeting, and asked whether the
EU was prepared to put in place the sanctions announced at
that meeting. Verwaal confirmed his belief that if the
Burmese do not "surprise us" then the EU Ministers will
indeed sign off on the sanctions. He said Burmese inaction
would "trigger a decision already made." He qualified,
however, that "you never know in politics, but this is the
agreement." He also repeated previous statements that the
Asians would "have until the last moment" to come through,
although he appeared to accept that this seemed unlikely.
SOBEL