CZECH RESPONSE TO JULY 18 GAERC DEMARCHE

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRAGUE 001059

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2015
TAGS: PREL EZ EUN
SUBJECT: CZECH RESPONSE TO JULY 18 GAERC DEMARCHE

REF: STATE 12486

Classified By: Classified by CDA Mike Dodman for reasons 1.4 B and D


1. (C) On July 14 we delivered reftel demarche to Mr. Petr
Kaiser, the new Director of the Common Foreign and Security
Policy Department at the Czech MFA. Kaiser offered the
following views on items that will be on the agenda of the
July 18-19 GAERC meeting:


A. Turkey: Kaiser was reluctant to discuss Turkey, terming
it an issue in the competence of his colleagues dealing with
internal EU matters. We explained USG view that Turkish
accession has an important strategic element and reiterated
reftel point that we hoped negotiations would begin in
October, assuming preconditions are met.


B. Uzbekistan: Kaiser noted, without elaboration, that there
is frustration within the EU over current efforts to promote
reform in Belarus, and he thought this was shaping the EU
position on Uzbekistan. He said the Czechs support an
international inquiry of events in Andijon as the starting
point for developing any policy. He suggested an
international organization would be best to conduct this
review, with the OSCE the most likely candidate. Recalling
the discussion EU Political Directors had with A/S Fried at
the previous day's lunch, Kaiser suggested Uzbekistan was a
good candidate for practical US-EU foreign policy
cooperation. In terms of the GAERC discussion, Kaiser could
not predict where EU Foreign Ministers would end up, noting
only the need to strike a "critical balance" between
maintaining contact with Uzbekistan and upholding principles.



C. Syria and Lebanon: Kaiser indicated that the Council's
draft conclusions call for full implementation of UNSCR 1559,
and that the Czech government strongly supports this position.


D. China arms embargo: With Kaiser, and in discussion the
same day with the MFA Political Director, Martin Povejsil, we
emphasized continued sensitivity of China arms embargo,
drawing attention to pending US legislation that could impose
sanctions on entities selling arms to China. Kaiser did not
expect any GAERC decision on China. Both Kaiser and Povejsil
stressed no change in Czech policy: an eventual lifting of
the embargo depended on an effective strategic dialogue with
EU partners, including the US, and expressed confidence that
the toolbox and Code of Conduct would be more effective than
the current embargo. Kaiser stressed that Czech policy would
continue to prohibit the export of any material to China that
might be used for repression (e.g. guns),or any advanced
technology or other goods that could increase or advance
China's capabilities; he noted their position is similar to
the UK's. (Note: past discussions at the Czech MFA have
also stressed the need for Chinese human rights improvement
as a prerequisite for lifting the embargo; omission from
these discussions was likely an oversight, but we will
follow-up.)
DODMAN