CAMBODIA ON U.S. SANCTIONS AGAINST BURMA

C O N F I D E N T I A L PHNOM PENH 001341 SIPDIS SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP PDAS SCOT MARCIEL, EAP/MLS FOR AARON COPE E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/26/2017 TAGS: PREL PGOV PHUM CVIS ETRD BM SUBJECT: CAMBODIA ON U.S. SANCTIONS AGAINST BURMA REF: A. STATE 148530 ¶B. STATE 146862 ¶C. PHNOM PENH 1277 ¶D. PHNOM PENH 1247 Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission Piper Campbell for Reasons 1.4 ( b, d) ¶1. (C) DCM October 25 delivered demarche (Ref B) to MFA Secretary of State Ouch Borith noting newly imposed USG SIPDIS sanctions and inquiring about what steps the Royal Government of Cambodia was taking to put pressure on the Burmese leadership to release political prisoners and move toward genuine political dialogue. Ouch Borith noted that the RGC was working closely with ASEAN to find a peaceful way to push for democratization. He reiterated Prime Minister Hun Sen's earlier call to deploy an ASEAN Troika delegation to Burma (Ref C),noting that other ASEAN states may not be interested in pursuing the Cambodian proposal at this time. Remarking on the larger difficulties that would emerge if the problem were not addressed, Ouch Borith supported the "roadmap" and "elections" as the way forward. ¶2. (C) Commenting on Burma's diverse ethnic composition and noting the disintegration of the former Soviet Union and the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, Ouch Borith said that the Burmese would have to create a peaceful solution to "keep Myanmar as a whole nation." The problem affected not just Burma itself, but all of ASEAN he noted. That's why ASEAN was unhappy. Expressing uncertainty about Burma going into the ASEAN summit in November, he remarked that a Vietnamese embassy counterpart had told him Vietnam recently postponed one informal ministerial to be held in Hanoi to avoid tackling the question of Burmese representation. He also noted that the EU troika was coming in to the MFA October 29 to speak about Burma and the upcoming EU-ASEAN summit. ¶3. (C) The DCM remarked that some ASEAN countries continued military-to-military visits. This undercut ASEAN's repeated calls for the Burmese regime to release prisoners and begin a genuine dialogue. Ouch Borith replied that Cambodia did not have extensive military bilateral relations. He could not recall the last time there had been a military visit either way. He expressed dismay with an "all-military" form of government and reiterated PM Hun Sen's proposal to have the ASEAN Troika become engaged. When pressed about the RGC doing more to put pressure on Burma's military leaders, although he noted disapprovingly a situation resulting in demonstrations by more than 10,000 monks, he referred to ASEAN's policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other nations. In the meantime, he said, Cambodia would continue to rely on the leading ASEAN nations to reach a consensus on Burma. (COMMENT: The RGC appears consistent in backing the Singapore ASEAN presidency on Burma. We expect Cambodia to continue this position. END COMMENT.) MUSSOMELI