READOUT FROM JAPANESE DCM ON LAO PRIME MINISTER'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L VIENTIANE 000508

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/18/2017
TAGS: PREL PGOV LA JA KN
SUBJECT: READOUT FROM JAPANESE DCM ON LAO PRIME MINISTER'S
VISIT TO TOKYO


Classified By: Mary Grace McGeehan, Charge d'Affaires a.i. Reason: 1.4
(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Japanese DCM Kazuhiro Fujimura provided the
Charge with an overview of the mid-May summit in Tokyo
between the Lao and Japanese prime ministers. He said that
the Japanese had pressed the Lao unsuccessfully at a meeting
before the summit to support the UNGA human rights resolution
on North Korea. However, the Lao agreed to allow a mention
of Japan's concerns about North Korea's abductions of
Japanese young people in the official communiqu. Mr.
Fujimura said that the Lao delegation's announcement that
Laos would become a member of the International Whaling
Commission took the Japanese by surprise. The two countries
had discussed this in the past, but it was not a subject of
discussion before the summit. (Land-locked Laos's decision
to join the commission received considerable attention in the
international press.) End summary.


2. (C) On May 31, Japanese DCM Kazuhiro Fujimura briefed the
Charge on the May 14 summit meeting between Lao Prime
Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh and Japanese Prime Minister
Shinzo Abe in Tokyo. Mr. Fujimura told the Charge that Prime
Minister Bouasone was stiff and formal during the meeting
with PM Abe, never deviating from his notes. This was in
contrast to his warm and relaxed behavior during a dinner he
hosted for the Japanese Ambassador and DCM in Vientiane
before the trip. Mr. Fujimura said that Bouasone (who at age
53 is much younger than most senior Lao officials) treated
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun
Sisoulith with deference during the visit.


3. (C) Mr. Fujimura said that, in discussions on the joint
communiqu that was issued after the summit meeting, the
Japanese side had insisted on a mention of the abduction of
young Japanese people by the North Korean government. He
said that, at a Japan-CLV (Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam)
meeting in early 2007, the Japanese had pressed
unsuccessfully for a commitment by the GOL to vote in favor
of the UNGA human rights resolution on North Korea. Mr.
Fujimura expressed puzzlement that the Lao had remained
intransigent on this issue, in contrast with the Vietnamese
and Cambodians, who, he said, had agreed to support the
resolution. (Comment: While Cambodia has publicly pledged
to support the North Korea resolution, we were surprised by
Mr. Fujimura's assertion that Vietnam has agreed to support
it as well. End comment.)


4. (C) The Charge noted that the most-noticed aspect of the
visit in the international press (including a mention in Al
Kamen,s "In the Loop") was the GOL,s announcement that
landlocked Laos would join the International Whaling
Commission. Mr. Fujimura said that this had taken the
Japanese government by surprise. While Japan has in the past
encouraged Laos to join the commission, this was not a
subject of discussion during preparations for the meeting.


5. (SBU) An interesting item in the communiqu, not
mentioned by Mr. Fujimura, is a sentence near the beginning
of the statement reading, "Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
reaffirmed the importance of the fundamental values such as
freedom, democracy, basic human rights, rule of law, and good
governance for the long-term economic prosperity."


6. (C) Comment: Comments in the international press that
Japan had "bought" Laos,s membership in the International
Whaling Commission for the $1 million in assistance announced
during the visit do not ring true. This amount is a drop in
the bucket in the context of the estimated $85 million in
annual assistance provided to Laos by Japan, its largest
donor. However, it is clear that Japan,s assistance and
attention have been a factor in Laos,s cooperation on
whaling and other issues, although there are limits to
Japan's influence, as the GOL's refusal to support the UNGA
North Korea resolution illustrates. Japan, for its part, has
shied away from taking a high-profile stance on specific
human rights issues in Laos. For example, the Japanese
Embassy declined to join other embassies in attempting to
deliver a joint demarche in mid-2006 expressing concern about
the 26 Hmong children detained in Laos after being
irregularly deported from Thailand in December 2005. (The
Ministry of Foreign Affairs refused to receive the demarche.
Twenty-one of the children were released in April 2007.)
This may have provided latitude for more general advocacy of
democratic principles, such as Prime Minister Abe,s advocacy
of freedom, democracy, and human rights in the communiqu,
which cannot be seen as anything but a criticism of Laos,s
totalitarian system.
MCGEEHAN