DUTCH ON PARTICIPATION BY CHINA AND TAIWAN IN THE

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000964 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR PREL AORG TW CH NL SUBJECT: DUTCH ON PARTICIPATION BY CHINA AND TAIWAN IN THE WORLD ORGANIZATION FOR ANIMAL HEALTH REF: STATE 67444 This message is sensitive but unclassified. Not for internet dissemination. ¶1. (SBU) On May 22, Econoff and Poloff delivered reftel points to Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials Adrian Palm, Head of the East Asia Division, and Pim van Gemeren, China Policy Officer, East Asia Division. Palm said the GONL agreed that the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) was not the proper forum for discussing or resolving China-Taiwan policy. The GONL supported the original EU Presidency position of preventing the resolution from being tabled, he noted, as the Chinese resolution was far beyond the EU's one China policy. ¶2. (SBU) Van Gemeren said the German EU Presidency was in contact with the Director-General and President of the OIE, but the resolution would probably come to a vote despite EU and U.S. opposition. Palm added that the EU was still exploring a fallback position, but that an EU consensus had not yet been reached. He commented that technical fora, such as the OIE, were primarily composed of subject experts who tended not to discuss geopolitical issues such as China-Taiwan relations. Palm believed the Chinese would continue to bring up similar resolutions in other international fora, as the Chinese were pressing hard lately on the Taiwan issue. ARNALL