Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06SUVA55
2006-02-14 22:59:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Suva
Cable title:  

PLANS FOR PRC-SPONSORED CONFERENCE, ECONOMIC

Tags:  PREL EAID ETRD EFIS ECIN CH FJ PP TW 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7395
PP RUEHPB
DE RUEHSV #0055/01 0452259
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 142259Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY SUVA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 2895
INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0172
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 1136
RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 0765
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0082
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0931
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHHJJAA/JICPAC HONOLULU HI
RHHMUNA/HQ USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0138
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SUVA 000055 

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FOR EAP/ANP AND EAP/CM
STATE PASS USTR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/08/2016
TAGS: PREL EAID ETRD EFIS ECIN CH FJ PP TW
SUBJECT: PLANS FOR PRC-SPONSORED CONFERENCE, ECONOMIC
COOPERATION DOCUMENT STIR CONTROVERSY IN THE PACIFIC

REF: A. SUVA 021

B. 05 PORT MORESBY 388

Classified By: Ambassador Larry Dinger Per 1.4 (B) and (D)

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 SUVA 000055

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FOR EAP/ANP AND EAP/CM
STATE PASS USTR

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/08/2016
TAGS: PREL EAID ETRD EFIS ECIN CH FJ PP TW
SUBJECT: PLANS FOR PRC-SPONSORED CONFERENCE, ECONOMIC
COOPERATION DOCUMENT STIR CONTROVERSY IN THE PACIFIC

REF: A. SUVA 021

B. 05 PORT MORESBY 388

Classified By: Ambassador Larry Dinger Per 1.4 (B) and (D)


1. (C) Summary. The PRC has launched an ambitious, high
profile outreach to the Pacific Island nations through a
large-scale regional development conference and trade fair it
is sponsoring in Fiji April 5-6. Premier Wen Jiabao will
come to Fiji to open the conference, to which Ministers (and
some heads of state) from all sixteen Pacific Island Forum
(PIF) members are being invited through the auspices of the
PIF Secretariat. In addition, the PRC hopes all Pacific
states with which it has diplomatic relations will initial a
draft "Guiding Framework" on China-Pacific Island economic
cooperation prior to the conference. Four countries, Fiji,
Tonga, Cook Islands, and Samoa, have already agreed to do so.
According to its High Commissioner in Fiji, Papua New
Guinea, the current chair of the PIF, has not initialed
because it believes many aspects of the Framework should be
handled via bilateral agreements. Papua New Guinea
circulated an alternate, and far more general, text to PIF
members in late January, but the PRC continues to press in
favor of its original proposal. Because of concerns about
the Framework and China/Taiwan sensibilities, the PIF
Secretariat has decided not to co-host the regional

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development conference as originally planned. Instead, China
and Fiji will co-host. In response to the PRC-sponsored
conference, Taiwan is organizing a separate conference later
this year in Palau. The regional conference and Wen's visit
indicate that China is pressing to increase its role and
influence in the Pacific. End Summary.

A Very Ambitious Economic Cooperation Proposal
-------------- -


2. (C) Embassy has obtained from the Australian High
Commission in Suva copies of a PRC-drafted economic

cooperation document the Pacific Island Forum (PIF)
Secretariat circulated to PIF member countries in November,

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along with some proposed revisions drafted by the PIF. We
have also obtained a counter-proposal circulated by PIF Chair
Papua New Guinea in late January. Embassy will fax and
e-mail these documents to EAP/ANP. The PRC-drafted "Guiding
Framework" for China-Pacific Island cooperation is a very
ambitious document. It calls for increased numbers of
high-level visits and exchanges between China and the Pacific
countries. It envisions enhanced cooperation between China
and Pacific Island states in trade, investment, agriculture,
fisheries, tourism, transportation, finance, infrastructure
development, natural resources, and human resource
development. The document suggests that China and the
Pacific Island states should coordinate positions, wherever
possible, in the WTO and other multilateral trade fora and
"actively implement bilateral trade agreements." It calls
for the signing of bilateral investment and taxation
agreements. Finally, the draft document seeks to promote
PRC-Pacific Island joint ventures in agriculture, fisheries,
tourism, financial services, etc. The PRC has proposed that
all PIF members with which it has diplomatic relations
initial the draft Guiding Framework in conjunction with the
Beijing-sponsored "China-Pacific Island Countries Economic
Development and Cooperation Forum Ministerial Conference
2006" to be held in Nadi, Fiji April 5-6. Premier Wen Jiabao
will open the conference as part of his state visit to Fiji
(Ref A).

Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Cook Islands Initial Document
-------------- --------------


3. (C) Isikeli Mataitoga, CEO of the Fiji Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, told the Ambassador and visiting EAP/ANP
Director Krawitz February 14 that Fiji will co-host the
Conference in Nadi, and will initial the PRC-drafted Guiding
Framework text. The Australian High Commissioner in Fiji,
Jennifer Rawson, reports that Fiji MFA declined to initial
the document on its own authority and passed it to the
Cabinet for a decision. The Papua New Guinea High
Commissioner to Fiji, Peter Eafeare (protect),told us he was
aware of three other countries that had initialed the text -

SUVA 00000055 002 OF 003


Tonga, Samoa, and Cook Islands. Rawson and New Zealand High
Commissioner Michael Green have informed us that Australia
and New Zealand will not initial the text, and have not
decided whether to attend the conference.

Fiji Downplays "Guiding Framework," Says Wen Visit is Key
-------------- --------------


4. (C) Mataitoga insisted to us that initialing the
framework document was no problem for Fiji, "since it's a
nothing document" that gives leaders and ministers something
to announce at the April conference. It has no legal
standing and says little of real substance. Mataitoga
suggested that follow-on steps China might take after the
April conference are far more worrisome, such as trying to
convince Pacific countries to use the Guiding Framework as a
basis for developing a full-fledged economic cooperation
agreement with Pacific states. Fiji MFA has already sent the
PRC a proposal for a bilateral "Economic Partnership
Agreement" it hopes will help forestall any notion that Fiji
would be involved in a broad China-Pacific arrangement.
(Comment: We disagree with the characterization of the
Guiding Framework as a "nothing document." While
non-binding, the document is quite ambitious in scope and
will signal governments' intent to engage in cooperation
activities with China. Moreover, as Mataitoga noted, the
PRC may attempt to use the document as a starting point for
negotiating future MOUs or agreements. End comment.)


5. (C) Joji Kotobalavu, CEO of the Fiji Prime Minister's
Office, also expressed some skepticism about the "Guiding
Framework," stating that the Pacific has been afflicted with
"too many MOUs and too little follow up." Kotobalavu
admitted the conference is causing "difficulties" for the
Government of Fiji, and said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
"has been roped into" co-hosting the event in Nadi. He hopes
the conference and the "Guiding Framework" will not merely
reflect the competing interests of China and Taiwan in the
Pacific, but will help generate real economic links between
China and the region. Kotobalavu said the conference takes a
backseat, in Fiji's view, to the visit of Premier Wen, which
will underline Fiji's commitment to a one-China policy and
reflects the reality that China is now a very big player in
the Pacific. It can only be ignored at one's peril.

PNG Seeks Alternatives to PRC-drafted MOU,
But PRC Keeps the Pressure On
--------------


6. (C) PNG High Commissioner Eafeare told us February 9 and
again on February 13 that he hopes a revised, and far more
general, alternative "Framework Agreement" put forward by PNG
as PIF Chair will replace the PRC-drafted document at the
April conference. The PRC-drafted Guiding Framework, he
said, covers many areas of cooperation that should be handled
bilaterally, not in a regional forum. The Guiding Framework
is also divisive, he said, in that it treats some PIF members
(those who recognize the PRC) differently than others (those
that recognize Taiwan). Eafeare said PIF members have
requested that the PRC review the three documents now
circulating - the original PRC text, the PRC text with PIF
amendments, and the PNG text - and present its views for
consideration by PIF members. To date, said Eafeare, the PRC
has not responded.


7. (C) According to Eafeare, the PRC has stepped up its
efforts to get PNG to initial the PRC text in recent weeks.
The PRC also hopes Prime Minister Somare will attend the Nadi
conference. The PRC has offered to pay airfare and all
expenses for the PM, four PNG ministers, and other delegation
members to attend. It is offering to pay for only one
minister plus an additional invitee for most other
participants. Eafeare said he has advised his government
that "under no circumstances" should the PNG initial the text
or have the PM accept the invitation to what is, after all, a
ministerial-level conference. Eafeare noted, however, that
PNG's Ambassador to Beijing has been lobbying Port Moresby to
accept the Chinese invitation. (Comment: In light of Fiji's
decision to initial the PRC-drafted text, we would expect the
PRC to step up the pressure on PNG and other Pacific states

SUVA 00000055 003 OF 003


with which Beijing has diplomatic relations to sign on. End
Comment.)

PIF Secretariat Hopes to Distance Itself
From Conference and "Guiding Framework"
--------------


8. (C) Andie Fong Toy, Director of the Political,
International and Legal Affairs Division of the PIF
Secretariat, said the PRC-drafted Guiding Framework is

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problematic for the PIF. The draft is far more detailed and
ambitious than a typical regional MOU, she said, and the
document's calls for region-wide cooperation in agriculture
and fisheries would be difficult for some countries to
accept. The revised text circulated by PNG, on the other
hand, assumes issues such as investment, taxation, tourism,
and fisheries will be handled via bilateral agreements. Fong
Toy said the PRC has told the Secretariat that since the
Guiding Framework is non-binding and has no legal standing,
it should not be viewed with concern by the Secretariat or by
countries unwilling or ineligible to sign it.


9. (C) Like Eafeare, Fong Toy believes the PRC draft is an
attempt by the PRC to divide PIF members, several of which
have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The PIF Secretariat
decided not to co-host the regional development conference in
April, she said, but did agree to send conference invitations
to PIF members that do not have relations with the PRC
(Kiribati, Nauru, Tuvalu, the Solomon Islands, Palau, and the
Marshall Islands). She doubted if any of those countries
would attend the conference, since Taiwan is sure to urge
them not to. Fong Toy's comments echoed those of Greg Urwin,
Secretary General of the PIF Secretariat, who told visiting

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Congressional Staffer Christopher Topik on January 25 the
Secretariat hopes to distance itself from the regional

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conference because it has become too politicized.

Taiwan Gets Into the Act - Plans its Own Regional Conference
-------------- --------------


10. (C) Ludwig Keke, the Nauru High Commissioner to Fiji,
told the Ambassador and Krawitz that Taiwan was very unhappy
with the PIF Secretariat for helping to facilitate the
conference through circulating draft texts, sending out
invitation circulars, etc. In Taiwan's view, he said, the
PIF Secretariat should not be involved in any aspect of the
conference. Mack Kaminaga, Ambassador of the Republic of
Marshall Islands to Fiji, said he had been instructed by his
government (which has diplomatic relations with Taiwan) "not
to even think about" attending the conference. Australian
High Commissioner Rawson noted that, predictably, Taiwan is
now organizing its own conference, tentatively planned for
Palau in July. Taiwan has asked the PIF Secretariat to
"facilitate" its conference by sending invitations to all PIF
members, just as the Secretariat is doing for the
PRC-sponsored conference. Foreign Ministry CEO Mataitoga
also mentioned the planned Taiwan-sponsored conference in
Palau during his meeting with the Ambassador and Krawitz
February 14.

Comment: This Is Not Just About Taiwan
--------------


11. (C) China's gamesmanship with Taiwan is certainly one
key aspect of the April conference and the planned visit by
Premier Wen, but it forms only part of the picture. The
conference will be significant both for the high-level and
the breadth of expected Chinese representation, with hundreds
of Chinese officials and businessmen expected to attend.
China clearly believes it should play a prominent role in the
Pacific region and is acting accordingly, through trade, aid,
and high-level visits. End comment.


12. (U) This message was coordinated with, and cleared by
Embassy Port Moresby.

DINGER