TORRES STRAIT: AUSTRALIAN RESPONSE ON NON-PAPER

C O N F I D E N T I A L CANBERRA 001299 INFO AMEMBASSY BEIJING AMEMBASSY KUALA LUMPUR AMEMBASSY JAKARTA AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE AMEMBASSY TOKYO AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY AMEMBASSY LONDON AMCONSUL MELBOURNE AMCONSUL PERTH AMCONSUL SYDNEY USMISSION USUN NEW YORK CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC NOFORN EAP/ANP FOR FRELICK, L/OES FOR ROACH E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/19/2018 TAGS: EWWT PHSA PREL AS SUBJECT: TORRES STRAIT: AUSTRALIAN RESPONSE ON NON-PAPER REF: STATE 132643 Classified By: Economic Counselor Edgard Kagan. Reasons 1.4 (b/d) ¶1. (C/NF) Australia can accept reftel draft paper with one change, according to DFAT International Legal Division Assistant Secretary Adam McCarthy. Econcouns delivered reftel to McCarthy and several of his staff December 19. Recognizing that this was a U.S. draft designed to lay out our views, McCarthy said that while he had issues with some of the phrasing, particularly the references to the IMO, he only objected to one specific element. He said Australia could not agree to the fifth item in the non-paper as it stands. Because of the continuing possibility of Singaporean litigation, McCarthy said Australia must maintain maximum legal flexiblity. He aasked that we delete the phrase: "(but not authorized)" in the fifth item. Should the United States be willing to make that change, Australia agrees to the rest of the non-paper draft. ¶2. (C/NF) McCarthy said that Australia looks forward to a readout of the Singaporean response to the U.S. presentation. McCarthy said that Australia will approach Singapore immediately afterwards to give its explanation. Noting that the approach would be as conciliatory as possible, McCarthy said that Australia will make clear that international legal action on the Torres Strait issue would be very badly viewed by the Australian public and would harm the bilateral relationship with Singapore. McCallum