EMBASSY DILI RESPONSE ON GREAT WHITE FLEET COMMEMORATION

UNCLAS DILI 000358 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS FOR EAP/MTS AND EAP/PD - MCLOUGHLIN PACOM FOR POLADS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO MARR MASS TT SUBJECT: EMBASSY DILI RESPONSE ON GREAT WHITE FLEET COMMEMORATION REF: STATE 00152754 ¶1. (SBU) Embassy Dili is strongly engaged with USPACOM in developing a robust schedule of ship visits to Timor-Leste. In conversation with Ambassador, GOTL leaders have recalled U.S. ship visits in the pre-independence era, and have requested our help in reviving Dili's status as a regular port of call for U.S. vessels. We are therefore now in dialogue with Pacific Command to identify opportunities for ship visits that can provide training missions to Timor-Leste's own armed forces, undertake community outreach projects, and extend humanitarian assistance. ¶2. (SBU) These are important priorities for us. We do not, however, see a natural or comfortable association with the commemoration of the 1908 Great White Fleet circumnavigation. As important as that historic event was to other countries in the region, it is not relevant in our local context. The fleet did not call in Portuguese Timor. We would instead encourage an approach to Timor-Leste that leads to the strengthening of its engagement with the U.S. Navy based on its present and future relationship with the U.S. KLEMM