Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07VIENNA2722
2007-10-31 09:44:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Vienna
Cable title:
AUSTRIAN MFA ON BURMA AT EU-ASEAN SUMMIT
how-toVZCZCXRO3891 RR RUEHAG RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH RUEHROV DE RUEHVI #2722 3040944 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 310944Z OCT 07 FM AMEMBASSY VIENNA TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 8899 INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENNA 002722
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2022
TAGS: PHUM PGOV BM AU
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MFA ON BURMA AT EU-ASEAN SUMMIT
REF: STATE 148528
Classified By: Econ/Pol Couns Dean Yap. Reason: 1.4(b) and (d)
Econ/Pol Couns reviewed discussed reftel requests Oct. 31
with Bernhard Zimburg, Austrian MFA Acting Director for Asian
Affairs. Zimburg reported that EU members had not yet begun
to discuss in detail their message on Burma for the EU-ASEAN
Summit, but emphasized that it would, along the lines of the
October 15 GAERC conclusions, be explicitly critical of the
regime's behavior and stress the need for democratic change.
The specifics would be worked out based on the results of the
Senior Officials Meeting now underway in Beijing (Zimburg
noted that the EU was very skeptical of the "optimistic" line
being peddled by China) and the results of the mid-November
visit to Burma by Special Advisor Gambari. Zimburg ruled
out, however, an EU effort to exclude or minimize Burmese
participation in the EU-ASEAN Summit. Burma, he said, had
long been a "bone of contention" between the EU and ASEAN and
the two had worked out a modus vivendi: Burma would attend
and determine its own representation, but Burma would also
always be on the agenda and the Burmese would be obliged to
listen to what Zimburg described as sometimes very harsh
criticism from the EU side. But EU insistence on excluding
the Burmese would lead to cancellation of the Summit.
Kilner
SIPDIS
SIPDIS
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/30/2022
TAGS: PHUM PGOV BM AU
SUBJECT: AUSTRIAN MFA ON BURMA AT EU-ASEAN SUMMIT
REF: STATE 148528
Classified By: Econ/Pol Couns Dean Yap. Reason: 1.4(b) and (d)
Econ/Pol Couns reviewed discussed reftel requests Oct. 31
with Bernhard Zimburg, Austrian MFA Acting Director for Asian
Affairs. Zimburg reported that EU members had not yet begun
to discuss in detail their message on Burma for the EU-ASEAN
Summit, but emphasized that it would, along the lines of the
October 15 GAERC conclusions, be explicitly critical of the
regime's behavior and stress the need for democratic change.
The specifics would be worked out based on the results of the
Senior Officials Meeting now underway in Beijing (Zimburg
noted that the EU was very skeptical of the "optimistic" line
being peddled by China) and the results of the mid-November
visit to Burma by Special Advisor Gambari. Zimburg ruled
out, however, an EU effort to exclude or minimize Burmese
participation in the EU-ASEAN Summit. Burma, he said, had
long been a "bone of contention" between the EU and ASEAN and
the two had worked out a modus vivendi: Burma would attend
and determine its own representation, but Burma would also
always be on the agenda and the Burmese would be obliged to
listen to what Zimburg described as sometimes very harsh
criticism from the EU side. But EU insistence on excluding
the Burmese would lead to cancellation of the Summit.
Kilner