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