FRENCH URGE DELAY ON BURMA VOTE: NOT ENOUGH TIME

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 000126 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/11/2017 TAGS: PARM FR SUBJECT: FRENCH URGE DELAY ON BURMA VOTE: NOT ENOUGH TIME TO CONVINCE INDONESIA REF: STATE 1060 Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt for reasons 1.4 b and d. (C) Poloff delivered reftel demarche to Benoit Guide, desk officer for ?? in the MFA,s International Organizations bureau on January 11. He said the MFA was gratified to see that some of the GOF's proposed changes were incorporated into the most recent UNSCR text -- in particular, the removal of &condemn8 (PP7) and the toning down of the language in PP11 that could read as intending to make possible invoking Chapter VII. Guide suggested that the revised text is less likely to elicit a Chinese veto and more likely to garner Indonesia,s support. (C) The MFA is concerned about the timing of the vote. Guide said the like-minded countries would need more time to convince Indonesia. He said the French impression is that Indonesia does recognize that Burma poses a threat to regional security and is not, in principle, opposed to the text. To force the resolution to a vote prior to the ASEAN Summit in Cebu on January 13 would put the Indonesians in the difficult position of having to immediately justify an affirmative vote to its neighbors. If the like-minded countries cannot convince Indonesia to vote in favor of the resolution before tomorrow, then the UNSC will have passed a resolution without any support from Asian countries which are the most directly concerned, a position Guide characterized as &ambiguous at best and at worst very weak.8 Guide urged the U.S. to consider postponing a vote until after the ASEAN Summit, by which time Indonesia will be subject to less peer pressure and might more easily be brought on board. Please visit Paris' Classified Website at: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm STAPLETON