THE SECRETARY,S MARCH 22 MEETING WITH INDONESIAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 JAKARTA 000767 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/16/2017 TAGS: PREL MASS MARR ID SUBJECT: THE SECRETARY,S MARCH 22 MEETING WITH INDONESIAN FM WIRAJUDA REF: A. JAKARTA 406 ¶B. JAKARTA 253 Classified By: Classified by CDA John A. Heffern, Reasons: 1.4 (b) and (d). Summary -------------- ¶1. (C) Foreign Minister Wirajuda appreciates the Secretary's invitation to meet with her in Washington and looks forward to the opportunity to exchange views on the Middle East and UNSC issues. FM Wirajuda is the GOI point man behind Indonesia's recent activism on Israel-Palestinian issues and Sunni-Shia reconciliation. The GOI has done little, so far, to operationalize the Iraq conversations that the Secretary had with Wirajuda in Vietnam and President Bush had with President Yudhoyono here in November. On UNSC issues, we have pushed the GOI to show more leadership by taking a stand on sensitive issues where the Council is split. We recommend that the Secretary impress upon Wirajuda the importance we attach to UNSC action on Iran and Kosovo, since the GOI's current instincts are to oppose sanctions on Iran and any Kosovo solution that is not accepted in Belgrade. The Secretary will want to remind Wirajuda of Jakarta's duty to SIPDIS play an important role in the Human Rights Council on Burma and, time permitting, of the need to resolve the avian influenza sample sharing issue. End Summary. Modest Attempts at Middle East Activism -------------- ¶2. (C) Foreign Minister Wirajuda's visit comes at a time when Indonesia has increasingly expressed a desire to contribute to Middle East peace and help solve other thorny issues. Wirajuda visited Syria, Lebanon and Jordan in January and the GOI is now attempting to organize a conference that would bring Hamas, Fatah, Europeans and private Americans to somehow convince Hamas that it needs to be more positively engaged in the wider world. Separately, the GOI is sponsoring efforts by mass Islamic organizations here to organize a Sunni-Shia clerical conference with the stated goal of alleviating tensions between those two branches of Islam. As noted in ref B, however, we do not expect any sustained Indonesian engagement within the Middle East region, but the Secretary's input will help keep the Foreign Minister channeled in productive directions. Iraq -------------- ¶3. (C) President Yudhoyono floated a rather ill-defined "three-prong" proposal on Iraq to President Bush last November. In real terms, despite occasional meetings with USG officials, the Indonesians have not fleshed out their ideas and seem to be waiting for some type of U.S. response. We have seen no signs that Jakarta has broached its ideas to other countries or attempted to move them forward in any practical way. Curiously, Foreign Minister Wirajuda publicly took credit in the Indonesian press for the recent regional conference in Baghdad as reflecting Indonesian ideas on how to move forward. Iran -------------- ¶4. (C) The timing of Wirajuda's visit is ideal from the perspective of pinning him down with respect to the GOI position on Iran. The successful negotiation of a P-5 consensus was a major step forward that definitely improves the possibility that Jakarta will vote in favor. The natural reflex action here is to oppose resolutions that criticize third countries (except Israel),and the GOI normally opposes sanctions. At the same time, P-5 consensus may make the Indonesians reluctant to hang out alone or with only a few other non-permanent members. In any case, the meeting is a great opportunity to make clear to Wirajuda the importance that we attach to consensus support for this resolution. Kosovo -------------- ¶5. (C) Indonesia's strong views on sovereignty and territorial integrity and Yugoslavia's history as a founding member of the NAM will present obstacles to Indonesian support for future UN Security Council action on Kosovo. Indonesian officials have publicly expressed strong reservations about supporting any resolution that would grant Kosovo independence in the face of objections from Belgrade. The visit represents an important opportunity to lay down JAKARTA 00000767 002 OF 002 strong markers about our expectations in this area, since Jakarta will try to hide behind the Russians on this issue. Burma -------------- ¶6. (C) While the Indonesians acknowledge Burmese poor human rights record, they abstained during the Security Council vote. They argued that the issue should be addressed by the Human Rights Council. It would be useful to remind Wirajuda that the U.S. will be watching Indonesian behavior in the HRC and that we expect them to honor their commitment to work in favor of a Burma resolution there. Avian Influenza and Sample Sharing -------------- ¶7. (C) Time permitting, we recommend that the Secretary press Wirajuda on the need for Indonesia to resume sharing AI virus samples with WHO laboratories. It would be useful to emphasize to Wirajuda that, of all countries, Indonesia has the most to gain from the rapid analysis of new AI case samples by international laboratories because it consistently reports the most human AI cases, and that a pandemic would be most devastating for the Indonesian people. HEFFERN