SCO CHIEF DISCUSSES IRAN, MILITARY EXERCISES,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 024302 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA, EAP/CM AND INR NSC FOR WILDER, TONG AND SHRIER E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/04/2016 TAGS: PREL PTER ENRG ZK IR CH RS SUBJECT: SCO CHIEF DISCUSSES IRAN, MILITARY EXERCISES, ENERGY, AID, ASEAN AND COLOR REVOLUTIONS WITH AMBASSADOR REF: A. BEIJING 23354 ¶B. BEIJING 11758 Classified By: Ambassador Clark T. Randt, Jr. Reasons 1.4 (b/d). ¶1. (C) Summary: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has "no current plans" for expansion or to allow observers, including Iran, to become full members, SCO Secretary General Zhang Deguang told the Ambassador December 4. Zhang denied reports that the SCO and some non-SCO former Soviet republics will join together for military exercises in Russia next year. The United States does not want to see the SCO interfere with Coalition efforts in Afghanistan and would be concerned if the SCO sought to exclude the United States from Central Asia, the Ambassador stressed. The SCO has no anti-U.S. agenda, Zhang said. Some SCO members are seeking greater coordination on energy and aid, but most projects outside the transport sector exist in name only. The SCO launched its first activity with ASEAN today in Jakarta in advance of the upcoming ASEAN meetings in the Philippines. The Ambassador corrected Zhang's misimpressions about "American-sponsored color revolutions." Zhang said he would encourage his successor, Kazakhstan's current Ambassador to Japan Bolat Nurgaliyev, to continue frank discussions with the Ambassador after Zhang steps down as SCO Secretary General at year's end. End Summary. No Immediate Plan To Expand and Include Iran -------------- ¶2. (C) The Ambassador asked Zhang about reports that the SCO would invite Iran to become a full member in 2007 (ref A). Zhang said the SCO has no current plan to absorb new members or to allow current observer members Iran, India, Mongolia and Pakistan to become full SCO members. Recalling the Ambassador's strong warning that the SCO should not give Iran a platform during the June SCO Summit in Shanghai (ref A), Zhang said that he, along with Chinese and Russian diplomats, had made sure Iran did not use its observer membership in the SCO as a platform for anti-American statements or to defend its nuclear program. Asked recently by reporters about the SCO position on Iran's nuclear program, Zhang said he told the press that the SCO has no involvement with the issue and hopes that the nuclear problem can be resolved through negotiations. ¶3. (C) Zhang said coordination among current members has to be strengthened before the SCO will be in a position to invite new members or observers. The SCO requires all decisions to be made by consensus, which blocks swift action. The SCO has just begun implementing a few projects in member countries. Not only has it not begun any project in an observer country, but Zhang lacks instructions to even discuss specific projects in member states with observer members. Word has gotten out that the SCO will not expand quickly and is not accepting applications for new observer members, he said. Afghanistan Relationship Unchanged -------------- ¶4. (C) Zhang said he does not anticipate any change in the SCO's special "contact group" relationship with Afghanistan. Responding to the Ambassador's questions, Zhang said the SCO agrees with continued United States' counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan and believes that helping Afghanistan establish stability and develop economically will benefit all parties in the region. SCO members have different views about the Coalition military presence in Afghanistan, he acknowledged. The Ambassador emphasized that any attempt to push Coalition forces out of Afghanistan and Central Asia would strengthen the view that the SCO is an anti-U.S. organization. Military Exercises -------------- ¶5. (C) Western scholars who suggest that the SCO is a NATO-like military organization misunderstand the SCO's focus, Zhang told the Ambassador. The SCO will continue to BEIJING 00024302 002 OF 003 engage in combined counterterrorism exercises but has no formal relationship with the Collective Treaty Security Organization (CTSO),he said. Zhang said he had seen media reports that the 2007 combined SCO military exercise in Russia would involve the CTSO and its non-SCO members Belarus or Armenia. But he denied that non-SCO members would participate with the SCO in combined exercises and deflected the Ambassador's questions about details of the SCO's military exercises. Energy: Russia's Views Differ From Other SCO Members -------------- -------------- ¶6. (C) The Ambassador asked whether Russia's proposal to form an SCO energy club constituted a prelude to efforts to limit the United States' participation in energy development in Central Asia. The SCO has no interest in establishing an exclusive sphere of interest that the United States or the European Union cannot enter, Zhang said. Even those who might want to minimize outside influence in Central Asia canno do so, he said, pointing to the United States' position as the largest investor in Kazakhstan's energy sector. Zhang said he personally believes Central Asia should be open to development by all, but recognizes that Russian interests with respect to the SCO and specifically energy are not necessarily the same as those of other SCO members. During Soviet times, the USSR kept Central Asia isolated and some in Russia today cannot adjust to a more open Central Asia, he said, adding that this is his personal opinion as a long-time observer of Russia. Economic Aid Moving Slowly, Bilaterally -------------- ¶7. (C) The United States welcomes development aid to Central Asia, the Ambassador said, but would be concerned if such aid were given in an attempt to build a political relationship that excludes the United States. Most economic aid remains bilateral and the vast majority of SCO-backed economic projects exist in name only, as no actual work has begun on energy, pipeline or most other infrastructure projects, Zhang said. Road work on a transport corridor has begun with funding from an SCO-backed banking consortium. Transport improvements are well-suited to multilateral support because they require setting common standards in customs, border defense and other fields. During the September SCO Leaders' Meeting, members agreed to accelerate work on an Asian Development Bank-funded project to build a transport corridor from China's Pacific coast to Europe via Kazakhstan and Turkey or via Russia. ASEAN-SCO Academic Forum Opens In Jakarta -------------- ¶8. (C) In advance of upcoming ASEAN meetings in the Philippines, the SCO and ASEAN opened an expert-level academic forum December 4 in Jakarta to discuss how the two regional organizations might better coordinate their activities, Zhang said. The forum is the first activity conducted under a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the SCO and ASEAN. The SCO has no relationship with other ASEAN-related organizations, including ASEAN-Plus-Three or the East Asia Summit, he said. Questions About American Policy, "Color Revolutions" -------------- -------------- ¶9. (C) Zhang asked several questions about American policy on Central Asia and about "color revolutions." Many in Central Asia and even in China adhered to the view that USG-backed non-government organizations, including organized religious groups, are intentionally fomenting color revolutions in Central Asia, Zhang said. Based on his contact with American officials and his review of the September Congressional hearing at which SCA A/S Boucher testified, Zhang said he personally believes the United States' view is more balanced, including economic, security and democracy goals in Central Asia. The Ambassador emphasized that the United States supports democracy and stability in Central Asia. The USG does not direct NGOs or religious groups. BEIJING 00024302 003 OF 003 New Secretary General and Institutional Changes -------------- -- ¶10. (C) Kazakhstan's Ambassador to Japan Bolat Nurgaliyev will succeed Zhang as SCO Secretary General effective January ¶1. The SCO succession sequence is China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, which Zhang said is alphabetical according to the Russian alphabet. Each SCO Secretary General serves a three-year non-renewable term, he said. A former Chinese Vice Foreign Minister, Zhang will remain affiliated with China's MFA after he departs from the SCO but will likely work on research projects. SCO Secretariat staff will remain unchanged, he said, although SIPDIS the Secretariat has expanded to include five officials of Deputy Secretary General rank. The Deputy Secretary Generals will be responsible for, respectively, politics, economics and culture, news and analysis, law and administration and the Tashkent-based SCO Counterterrorism Center. Zhang noted grumpily that, formerly, the Director of the SCO Counterterrorism Center held the same rank as the Secretary General. This anomaly had been cured, he assured the Ambassador. ¶11. (C) Comment: Zhang requested the meeting to thank the Ambassador for his past hospitality and frank exchanges, especially at a lunch meeting just before the SCO's June Summit at which Iran's participation was a significant concern. Zhang spoke candidly about divergence of views among SCO members, Iran and other topics in the initial part of the meeting, which included only Chinese staff of the SCO. He became noticeably more cautious in his comments when we shifted into the lunch part of the meeting, which included SCO staff members from Russia and Kyrgyzstan. ¶12. (SBU) This message was resent to add addressees omitted from the original message Beijing 24273. ¶13. (U) Minimize considered. Randt