Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08BRUSSELS356
2008-03-07 14:21:00
CONFIDENTIAL
USEU Brussels
Cable title:  

U.S.-EU TROIKA DISCUSSIONS ON EAST ASIA

Tags:  PREL PGOV EUN CH KN KS BM XB 
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BRUSSELS 000356 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/07/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EUN CH KN KS BM XB
SUBJECT: U.S.-EU TROIKA DISCUSSIONS ON EAST ASIA

Classified By: Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs Larry Wohlers.
Reason: 1.4(b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BRUSSELS 000356

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/07/2018
TAGS: PREL PGOV EUN CH KN KS BM XB
SUBJECT: U.S.-EU TROIKA DISCUSSIONS ON EAST ASIA

Classified By: Minister-Counselor for Political Affairs Larry Wohlers.
Reason: 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (SBU) Summary: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of
State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Glyn Davies led the
U.S. side in the East Asia session of the U.S.-EU COASI
Troika meetings on February 20. The EU side was led by
Ambassador Janez Premoze, Director for Asia in the Slovenian
MFA, for the current EU presidency. Premoze was joined by
James Moran, Director of the European Commission's RELEX Asia
Department, and Antonio Tanca, Deputy Head of the
Asia-Oceania Unit in the EU Council Secretariat. Issues
discussed included: the Strategic Situation in East Asia,
China, Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, Asian regional
organizations, Burma, and the Pacific Islands. End Summary.

Strategic Situation


2. (SBU) PDAS Davies opened by noting the importance of U.S.
military alliances in East Asia in guiding U.S. policy, the
salience of APEC as a regional forum, and the economic
importance of our free trade agreements with Singapore,
Australia and the ROK. He observed that U.S. alliances are
not static; indeed we are constantly updating our Status of
Forces agreements and other elements. The U.S. hopes the Six
Party Talks constitute the beginning of a DPRK opening to the
world, and a means of addressing North East Asian security
rivalries. The biggest issue that both the U.S. and Europe
will need to contend with in the future will be the rise of
China. On Burma, the regime's planned constitutional
referendum is a travesty and a sham, and we need to do more.


3. (SBU) Premoze said the EU will soon draft Common Foreign
and Security Policy guidelines for East Asia. These will
highlight EU concerns about human rights, democracy, regional
security, and development of trade ties. Moran said the fact
that for the first time security guidelines will be published
for Europe demonstrates that Europe is taking a stronger
interest in the region. The EU engages in the region via the

ARF, and views the U.S. as a Pacific power.

China


4. (C) Premoze said 2008 will be a critical year, with the
Beijing Olympics and Taiwan presidential elections. EU-China
relations are underpinned by a Strategic Partnership, and the
EU maintains its Human Rights dialogue. Premoze noted the
upcoming meeting of parties with human rights dialogues with
China (the former Bern process),including the U.S. and EU.
On human rights in China, he said the EU thought that there
had been stumbling blocks, but their assessment was that
things were moving in the right direction. The EU has had
exchanges with China on DPRK, Middle East, Iran and Burma,
and there was a successful EU-China Summit in November 2007.
The two sides are launching an EU-China high-level economic
and trade dialogue. The core issue for the EU will be its
growing trade deficit with China -- there is growing concern
on this issue in Europe. Market access is also high on the
list. Moran characterized the EU's recent statement on
Taiwan as strong. Head of the Commission RELEX China Office
Franz Jessen said that Commission President Barroso would
visit China April 24-25. He will raise Taiwan and Tibet
issues. The EU is urging Taiwan to exercise restraint.


5. (C) EAP/CM Director Norris reviewed U.S. institutional
relations with China. The Deputy Secretary hosted the
U.S.-China Senior Dialogue in January. There had been no
real breakthroughs, but none had been expected. There will
be another round before year's end. The U.S. and China hold
various sub-dialogues on regional issues to include Africa,
the Middle East, Western Hemisphere, and South and Central
Asia. We also have counter-terrorism discussions with the
Chinese. We want to start a dialogue on development
assistance. The U.S. and China will hold another round of
our Strategic Economic Dialogue in Washington in June, which
will be looking at various issues including investment.


6. (C) The issue of the Congressional Gold Medal for the
Dalai Lama caused irritation in U.S.-Chinese relations. The
Deputy Secretary encouraged the Chinese to engage with Dalai
Lama. The President has said that he will accept the
invitation to attend the Olympics. While we do not formally
link human rights to participation in the Olympics, the
President has said the Games are an opportunity for China to
demonstrate greater openness and tolerance, and we have urged
the Chinese to take steps in areas like freedom of the press,

BRUSSELS 00000356 002 OF 004


religious freedom, Internet freedom, and release of
dissidents. Norris said that the U.S. is focused on the
March 22 Taiwan presidential elections and the May 20
inauguration. We have made clear our opposition to the
proposed referendum on UN membership for Taiwan; at the same
time, we have urged the Chinese not to overreact.


7. (C) Tanca said that the Chinese are rather nervous about
the Olympics and aware of the fact that despite governmental
positions, things might get out of hand with the media. PDAS
Davies replied that self-generated pressure is probably the
most useful. Explicit linkages might not be so useful
because one might exclude another, e.g., Darfur v. freedom of
the press. Jessen said the EU is urging that journalists be
free to travel to the rest of China after the Olympics, and
that the intellectual property rights protections of the
Olympic logo be extended to other areas.


8. (C) Premoze said the EU was pleased that China-Japan
relations have warmed recently, and that the matter of visits
to the Yasakuni Shrine are less of an issue. Norris said
that the U.S. also welcomed this warming. On international
issues, we see the Chinese taking a more responsible role
with things like the Six Party Talks and the Chinese
engineering troop deployment in Darfur. The area of least
progress is on Iran. We want the Chinese to join in
supporting third UNSCR on Iran and are concerned about
growing Chinese economic relations with Iran. Oil
development contracts and continued conventional arms sales,
as well as sales of dual-use technologies that can be
employed in the Iranian ballistic missile program, are
particular concerns. Jessen said that they see relations
with Iran as an economic necessity, though they are
displeased with Iranian broadcasts of Chinese language Muslim
news.

Cross-Straits relations


9. (C) Premoze described the Taiwan situation as the biggest
threat to regional stability. The EU is moderately
optimistic about the March elections. They expect continued
pressure from China on the referendum. EU pressure has not
been enough. PDAS Davies said the Taiwans are looking for
nuances of differences between the U.S. and the EU. We are
being clear that Taiwan's international status will not
change with the referendum. PDAS Davies stressed that the
U.S. continues to take the view that the EU arms embargo on
China should not be lifted. Norris described EU statements
on the referendum as very helpful. The U.S. is opposing the
referendum, but we do not want the Chinese to extract a
change in our basic policy on Taiwan, which is based on the
Three Communiques and the Taiwan Relations Act. Tanca said
that the One China policy actually resides with each EU
member state. PDAS Davies said that, concerning Taiwan in
international organizations, we take a common sense approach.
We do not support Taiwan membQship in international
organizations where statehood is required but do support its
appropriate participation, e.g., observership in the WHO.
China is trying to squeeze Taiwan's international space.
Like the U.S., Premoze said the EU supported "meaningful
participation" for Taiwan in international organizations.

North Korea


10. (C) PDAS Davies said the Six Party Talks are unofficially
paused because the DPRK has not made its declaration of its
nuclear holdings. Setting deadlines with the DPRK is
unproductive. Our central message to North Korea is that all
is still possible. We support outreach by other parties to
the DPRK. Premoze said the EU is open to another troika
visit to the DPRK. We need another toolbox for political and
economic engagement. The EU will support the extension of
the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights.
PDAS Davies said that the U.S. is not considering making
preemptive concessions absent the DPRK declaration -- e.g.,
not moving up action on items such as fuel oil shipments,
removal of the DPRK from our State Sponsors of Terrorism
list. He said the DPRK had shared some initial ideas in
December which we informed them were insufficient.


11. (C) French MFA representative Jean-Noel Poirier,
representing the upcoming EU presidency, said that it would
be a major step for the DPRK to provide a complete list of
its nuclear activities. He asked if the U.S. had considered
an incremental process in which we discuss specific elements.
PDAS Davies said the U.S. had taken care to demonstrate its

BRUSSELS 00000356 003 OF 004


patience. It is difficult to negotiate with the North Korean
diplomats because they are never empowered to make any
decisions. Nevertheless, the idea of deconstructing the
declaration and having individual meetings was interesting.

Regional Organizations


12. (SBU) Premoze described the ASEAN Charter as a
significant development, moving from simple economic
coordination towards political cooperation. Burma being a
signatory, however, complicates matters. The EU-ASEAN Summit
was successful, if somewhat formal. PDAS Davies said the
U.S. had eight priority areas of cooperation with ASEAN via
its plan of action. Premoze asked about the prospects of an
ARF meeting on nonproliferation matters, RELEX Advisor
Barrett asked about a Maritime Security initiative with the
ARF.

Burma


13. (C) Moran asserted that the international community
needed to give UN Special Representative Gambari more time.
PDAS Davies said that regional actors such as Yudhoyono and
Arroyo have been helpful, and that there has been some modest
public interest within South East Asia in the Burma
situation. He noted that there is a difference of nuance
between the U.S. and EU approaches. We saw several different
tracks to the issue. There is the UN piece, and support for
Gambari. We continue to engage with Burma's neighbors, i.e.,
China, India, and Thailand, with China being the most
important. We support the democracy movement to include the
NLD and various ethnic minority groups. We think that
targeted sanctions are needed and that it is possible to
continue to tighten them in a way that does not have an
impact upon common people. The purpose of sanctions is not
just to pressure the regime but also the Chinese. We know
that the regime has been complaining about the impact of the
sanctions to the Chinese. We think sanctions are working and
we have direct and anecdotal evidence for that. They also
send the signal that we cannot continue with the current sham
process. We do not see sanctions as the only element in our
approach. We can provide the EU with evidence that these
steps are having an impact. UNSYG Moon said in December that
the Burmese could not ignore the international community with
impunity. If the next round of Gambari's engagement proceeds
without success, we need to say so.


14. (C) Premoze said Burma was very high on the Slovene
Presidency agenda. The regime's constitutional drafting
process was not transparent, and did not include the NLD or
ethnic minorities. They anticipated the renewal of the EU's
common position by the end of April. The EU actively
supports the work of Special Rep Gambari and will welcome
news of his March trip. EU Special Envoy Fassino supports
Gambari. On sanctions, EU working groups are looking at
additional options to included expanded sanctions. The EU is
also ready to continue with incentives for Burma.


15. (C) Moran said that the EU was trying to strike a
balance. There was an open question concerning the efficacy
of sanctions. The regime is not worried about their effect.
The EU is looking at incentives, such as increasing its
humanitarian assistance (which is provided only through
NGOs). Moran claimed that Aung Sang Syu Kyi appreciated this
work. Her contacts with the regime don't amount to anything.
The regime is "pretty competent." It feels that it has
ridden out the storm. People in the country are nervous.
The EU has not unrealistic expectations with regard to the
constitutional process. If the international continues with
"sticks" it's an open question as to whether this will work.
He asked if it was possible to penetrate the Singaporean
banking system used by the regime.


16. (C) PDAS Davies said that there were broader sanctions
that could be employed including visas. We need to keep
pressure on the Chinese, to include discussion of a possible
UNSCR. Moran said the Chinese are worried about stability;
there are many ethnic Chinese in Burma. PDAS Davies said
that ASSK does not want a process that excludes a role for
the military in the country. In terms of international
action, the Indians have done nothing. Moran said the
Burmese have a strong cultural aversion to the Chinese, whose
influence on the regime should not be exaggerated.

Pacific Islands


BRUSSELS 00000356 004 OF 004



17. (SBU) PDAS Davies said that the Australians are becoming
more active regionally, in the Solomon Islands and Timor.
Premoze asked about the efficacy of the Pacific Island Forum,
and said the EU supported extension of the UN Mission in
Timor L'Este. He then turned to Chinese and Taiwan
"checkbook" diplomacy and the damage it was doing to those
countries. PDAS Davies said the U.S. was trying to get the
Taiwanese to accept principles of transparency concerning
their aid. He thanked the EU for holding off sugar support
funds for Fiji. He asked that the EU consider participating
in an upcoming international meeting on diabetes in the
Pacific Islands.


18. (U) PDAS Davies has cleared this message.

MURRAY
.