SENATOR FEINGOLD'S MEETING WITH ASEAN SECRETARY

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 003560

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/20/2016
TAGS: ASEAN OREP PREL PGOV AORC CH BM ID
SUBJECT: SENATOR FEINGOLD'S MEETING WITH ASEAN SECRETARY
GENERAL ONG KENG YONG


Classified By: B. Lynn Pascoe, Ambassador. Reason: 1.5 (b) and (d)


1. (SBU) In a wide-ranging discussion on February 23, ASEAN
General Secretary Ong Keng Yong outlined ASEAN's priorities
and challenges for U.S. Senator Russell Feingold. He praised
the U.S.-ASEAN Enhanced Partnership, noting that it reaffirms
a critical relationship sometimes taken for granted in the
region. He explained that despite an outward display of
comity, ASEAN had in fact exerted strong pressure on the
Burmese regime behind the scenes. Despite this, the SPDC
continues stubbornly to pursue its own course, much to the
chagrin of its ASEAN neighbors. Ong described China's role
in the region. He noted that despite ASEAN's efforts to
engage and direct its growing economic influence, ASEAN
member states' differing degrees of dependency on commercial
ties to China sometimes lead to frictions within the
organization. End summary.


2. (SBU) On February 23, Senator Russell Feingold,
accompanied by professional staff members Grey Frandsen and
Evan Gottesman and Embassy political officer, met with ASEAN
Secretary General Ong Keng Yong. Ong was accompanied by

SIPDIS
Dhannanjaya Sunoto, Director for External Program
Coordination and External Relations.


3. (SBU) Senator Feingold said that as a member of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee and its Subcommittee on East and
Asia and the Pacific, he wanted to underscore the importance
of ASEAN and its relations with the U.S. He invited Ong to
provide an overview of ASEAN's current priorities.

ASEAN Priorities and Challenges
--------------

4. (SBU) Ong characterized ASEAN's major project - economic
integration of its ten members - as a long-term goal fraught
with difficulties and often sidetracked by "distractions" and
regional crises. The disparity in development of ASEAN's
member states was a challenge to economic integration,
particularly in an age of rapid globalization. He cited as
one example ASEAN-wide implementation of rules of origin
regulations. By the time ASEAN had gotten all of its members
on board, including economically weaker states such as Laos,
the WTO agreed to a whole new regime, making the rendering
the previous system obsolete. On free trade, Ong noted that
ASEAN's project of creating a single market was complicated
by its members' ongoing individual efforts to negotiate
bilateral trade agreements with major countries such as
Japan, South Korea, and China.


5. (SBU) The rise of Chinese economic power, Ong said, was
also a challenge. Rather than standing by passively, Ong
said, ASEAN had tried to engage China in order to channel the
relationship and avoid being dominated. This collective
approach was however undermined by competition among ASEAN
members for Chinese investment. Moreover, ASEAN had to deal
with concerns about China's ascent on the part of Japan,
which presents itself as a well-established friend of the
region, and India, a new partner and emerging power.


6. (SBU) Ong explained that ASEAN's leaders had in recent
years been confronted by pressing matters which had
distracted them from the economic integration projects. One
was terrorism. Another was "viruses:" avian flu and SARS.
Finally, member state politics were sometimes in a challenge.
Given the history of some of its member states, Ong said,
ASEAN "has nothing against military governments per se," but
the repressive Burmese regime had become highly problematic.

Burma
--------------

7. (C) Senator Feingold asked how ASEAN deals with the
problem of Burma given its doctrine of non-interference in
the politics of member states. Secretary General Ong replied
that while ASEAN governments maintain an appearance of comity
to the outside world, they have in reality exerted strong
pressure on the Burmese government behind the scenes. At the
last ASEAN summit in Kuala Lumpur, one ASEAN Minister had
called the SPDC's actions a "slap in the face" of the
organization. Ministers had also charged that the Myanmar
problem was "taking up too much time" in ASEAN's external
relations. ASEAN, Ong said, had also been dismayed by
Burma's surprise decision to move its capital.


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8. (C) Most of all, ASEAN states had been angered by the
SPDC's refuse to receive Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah
Badawi as ASEAN envoy, Ong said. The Burmese Foreign
Minister, he said, had initially agreed to this. The SPDC,
he continued, had then turned off the visit on the pretext
that it was "too busy" with other matters, but ASEAN had
noted that the regime was apparently not too busy to send
Prime Minister Soe Win on an official visit to China. This
showed that the Foreign Minister was only empowered to
consider ASEAN proposal but that commitments could only be
made by General Than Shwe, who never attends ASEAN events,
Ong explained. He commented that it was difficult to engage
the Burmese because their envoys frequently use rhetoric
replete with references to openness and democracy that seems
to express accommodation of ASEAN's concerns. This
impression, Ong said, is always dispelled by the SPDC's
subsequent actions.

US-ASEAN Partnership
--------------

9. (SBU) Senator Feingold thanked Ong for his comments and
commended ASEAN's efforts to effect positive change in Burma.
He stressed the importance of the US-ASEAN Enhanced
Partnership. Ong agreed, noting that it highlights the
importance of ASEAN's ties with the U.S. at a time when the
relationship is sometimes taken for granted because of the
region's seeming preoccupation with countries such as China
and India. Ong said he was pleased that President Bush met
with seven ASEAN leaders at the APEC meeting in Korea to
launch the agreement. He stressed that ASEAN accepts that
the U.S. role in the region was critical, and in more than
just a military sense. The US-ASEAN Enhanced Partnership, he
said, demonstrates that the relationship was on a sound
footing moving forward in spite of the Burma issue.

China's Role
--------------

10. (SBU) Senator Feingold ask for the Secretary General's
assessment of China's role in the region. Ong said that
Chinese influence was growing rapidly and that its effects
were "not all positive." ASEAN, he noted, adhered to a
doctrine of "balance and parity" in its relations with
outside powers. China, he said, finds it difficult to accept
this, believing that it does not reflect economic reality.
Economic and commercial ties to China vary among member ASEAN
member states, Ong pointed out, and this proves problematic
in countries with strong links to China such as Cambodia,
Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. For these countries, their
relations with China sometimes take priority over their ties
to smaller, more distant fellow ASEAN members. Despite ASEAN
programs designed to counter this, this dynamic is becoming a
problem. The more deeply China becomes involved in the
region, the more disruptive it becomes, Ong said. He noted
that the current chill in Chinese-Japanese relations was also
perceptible in an ASEAN context.


11. (SBU) Ong also mentioned the Chinese role in the East
Asia Summit. Since China had failed in its bid to dominate
the event, he said, it was now in "listening" mode on the
process, and would see how it developed further. During
talks on summit modalities, Ong said, ASEAN had discreetly
urged China to "back off" because its overbearing manner was
intimidating other members. In the end, Ong said, ASEAN had
taken the lead at the first East Asia Summit.
PASCOE