Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07BEIJING6976
2007-11-05 10:43:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beijing
Cable title:  

CHINA/RUSSIA/INDIA: PRC TALKS UP TRILATERAL

Tags:  PREL PARM PBTS CH IN RU 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHBJ #6976/01 3091043
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 051043Z NOV 07 ZDK
FM AMEMBASSY BEIJING
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3253
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 8836
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 4461
C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 006976 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/05/2027
TAGS: PREL PARM PBTS CH IN RU
SUBJECT: CHINA/RUSSIA/INDIA: PRC TALKS UP TRILATERAL
PROCESS, EVEN AS SUBSTANCE REMAINS UNCLEAR

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Aubrey Carlson.
Reasons 1.4 (b,d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIJING 006976

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/05/2027
TAGS: PREL PARM PBTS CH IN RU
SUBJECT: CHINA/RUSSIA/INDIA: PRC TALKS UP TRILATERAL
PROCESS, EVEN AS SUBSTANCE REMAINS UNCLEAR

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Aubrey Carlson.
Reasons 1.4 (b,d).


1. (C) Summary: Foreign Ministers from China, Russia and
India met in Harbin October 24 for the seventh in their
series of trilateral meetings. The role of the UN in the
Asia-Pacific region was a key issue in talks, as well as
climate change, counter-terrorism and scientific and academic
exchanges. The discussion on economic cooperation will
continue with a mid-December trilateral economic forum in New
Delhi, including discussions on energy cooperation. Russia
and China played up the increasingly structured framework,
while an Indian Embassy contact suggested it is still a
talk-shop. Based on Chinese comments on the meeting, for
China the trilateral gathering serves more as a vehicle to
emphasize multilateral diplomacy than as a forum to achieve
substantive results. Separately, Chinese and Indian
officials described India Congress Party President Sonia
Gandhi's October 25-29 visit to China as "concentrating on
atmospherics." End summary.


2. (U) The Foreign Ministers of Russia, China and India met
in the northeastern Chinese city of Harbin (Heilongjiang
Province) October 24 for the seventh in a series of
trilateral meetings. The three FMs issued a Joint Communique
which outlined the major points of discussion as follows:

-- the "international situation" and a reaffirmation of the
central role of the UN, including the need to "promote"
democratization of international relations,"

-- the need to strengthen and reform the UN, with China and
Russia "reiterating" the importance of India in the world and
their support for "India's aspirations to play a greater role
in the UN,"

-- development of the three countries and its importance for
the development of "global multi-polarity,"

-- the need to "safeguard diversity of the world
civilization,"

-- the importance of "multilateralism and collective action"
in addressing global issues, and that "drawing lines on the
grounds of ideologies" will not help "solve the various

global issues facing the international community,"

-- the importance of "common but differentiated
responsibilities" in international efforts to confront
climate change,

-- general discussion on terrorism, Asian regional peace and
security, and economic and cultural interactions.


3. (U) The FMs also used the Harbin meeting to establish
Working Groups at the Director General level to enhance
cooperation on technical issues touching on agriculture,
disaster management, health and other issues.


4. (C) According to Russian Embassy Poloff Denis Agafonov,
discussion on economic cooperation will continue with a
mid-December trilateral economic forum in New Delhi and will
include discussions on energy cooperation.

China, Russia: Meetings are "Structured" and "Systematized"
-------------- --------------


5. (C) Chinese and Russian officials both played up the
trilateral talks, stressing that the informal meetings have
evolved over the years into a forum for discussing
increasingly concrete issues, despite the lack of specific
deliverables at the Harbin meeting. Liu Yang, First
Secretary in the MFA Department of Eurasian Affairs, told

SIPDIS
Poloff that the trilateral meetings had become "regularized"
and "systematized," as evidenced by the establishment of the
Working Groups to facilitate coordination ahead of the
ministerial meetings. Liu emphasized the importance of the
Joint Communique as a statement of common interest between
the three countries, and pointed particularly to problems
such as UN reform, stability in Afghanistan,
counter-terrorism and the need to coordinate on "developments
in the international system." Liu pointed to the development
of "mutual understanding" between the Foreign Ministers since
the inception of the trilateral process as a key outcome of
the talks. MFA public statements echoed the emphasis on the
increasingly formal structure of the trilateral meetings.
Liu acknowledged there was significant overlap with the SCO,
with the notable exception that security measures, beyond
general discussion on counter-terrorism measures, are not on
the trilateral agenda.

BEIJING 00006976 002 OF 003




6. (C) MFA Eurasia Department Russian Affairs Division
Director Wu Xiaoying, currently on loan to the Research
Institute for Petroleum Exploration and Development, also
told Poloff the forum is useful for coordination on issues of
mutual interest to all three parties. Such issues, while not
abundant, do exist, she said, especially economic cooperation
on energy and Central Asian pipelines. Still, Wu pointed to
the SCO as the primary forum for Sino-Russian interaction on
these and other issues. Both Wu and Liu underscored that the
trilateral meetings should not be interpreted as an anti-U.S.
platform.


7. (C) Russian Emboff Agafonov said that the Harbin Joint
Communique calls for the three countries to consolidate
Ministerial efforts with a follow-on forum at the
Director-General level. Agafonov said the Working Group
meetings would form a "more structured forum for
coordination" among the three countries. He added that
because the order of meetings dictates that Russia host the
follow-on meeting, Russia has the "presidency" of the group
until then. He stressed that the recent trilateral was not
only the seventh such meeting, but was the third time the
meeting was held as a free-standing event.

Promoting Multilateral and Multi-polar Solutions
-------------- ---


8. (C) MFA-affiliated China Institute of International
Studies (CIIS) scholar Chen Yurong noted to Poloff that China
was not initially interested in joining the trilateral forum
when it was proposed by Russian Premier Primakov in the late
1990s, but that the trilateral talks are now seen primarily
as a useful vehicle. Chen noted that China now emphasizes
whenever possible the importance of multilateral frameworks
for solving international problems. FM Yang, in his public
statement after the trilateral meeting, pointed to "promoting
the multi-polarization of the world" as an important role of
the cooperation between the three countries, suggesting the
Chinese view the forum as another vehicle to emphasize
multilateral diplomacy and present to the West a unified
consensus on their multi-polar worldview.

India: "No Harm in Talking to People"
--------------


9. (C) By contrast, an Indian Embassy contact played down the
significance of the latest trilateral meeting in Harbin,
observing that little of substance came from the meeting.
Though the Chinese and, to a lesser degree, the Russians are
interested in the Director-General "consultation mechanisms"
in the foreign and other ministries as a means of
institutionalizing the trilateral dialogue, our Indian
contact expressed skepticism that these channels would amount
to more than "smaller talking shops under larger talking
shops." He explained, however, that the Indians will
continue to participate in these meetings, stating "there's
no harm in talking to people."

India-China Bilateral Meeting "Nothing Special"
-------------- ---


10. (C) MFA Asia Department India Division Deputy Director
Zhao Lijian and our Indian Embassy contact minimized the
significance of the brief bilateral meeting between Chinese
FM Yang Jiechi and Indian External Affairs Minister Mukherjee
immediately following the trilateral meetings. Deputy
Director Zhao described the bilateral meeting as routine and
"nothing special." He lent no particular significance to the
formation of a working group on the border issues, one of the
outcomes of the 11th round of the Special Representative
Mechanism. Our Indian Embassy contact concurred, saying the
working group, still to be formed, represents an effort by
both sides to show continuing progress on the slow-moving
border discussions. Both interlocutors agreed that FM Yang's
call for "an early agreement" on the border dispute is simply
repetition of China's previous statements on the issue.

Sonia Gandhi's Visit Mainly "Atmospheric"
--------------


11. (C) Separately and on a related issue, Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) International Department North American Affairs
Division Deputy Director Wang Yingchun on November 2 told us
that India Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi's October
25-29 visit "strengthened ties" between the two parties and
between India and China, but admitted that discussions on
economic development, party building and poverty reduction
did not yield any substantive agreements or practical
initiatives. Similarly, an Indian Embassy contact told us

BEIJING 00006976 003 OF 003


that since Sonia Gandhi has no state role in bilateral
affairs, her visit concentrated on "atmospherics."

Randt