Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08SINGAPORE1191
2008-11-07 10:12:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Singapore
Cable title:  

PRESIDENT'S ASEAN 7 MEETING A "LEADING INDICATOR"

Tags:  BM ETRD IN PREL SN ASEAN CH APEC PE 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO5487
RR RUEHDT RUEHPB
DE RUEHGP #1191 3121012
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 071012Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5982
INFO RUCNARF/ASEAN REGIONAL FORUM COLLECTIVE
RUEHPE/AMEMBASSY LIMA 0058
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L SINGAPORE 001191 

SIPDIS

NSC FOR LIZ PHU
STATE FOR EAP, EAP/RSP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/EP
STATE PASS USTR
NEW DELHI FOR EHRENDREICH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2023
TAGS: BM ETRD IN PREL SN ASEAN CH APEC PE
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT'S ASEAN 7 MEETING A "LEADING INDICATOR"
OF U.S. POLITICAL COMMITMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Classified By: E/P Counselor Ike Reed, reason 1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L SINGAPORE 001191

SIPDIS

NSC FOR LIZ PHU
STATE FOR EAP, EAP/RSP, EAP/MTS, EAP/MLS, EAP/EP
STATE PASS USTR
NEW DELHI FOR EHRENDREICH

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/07/2023
TAGS: BM ETRD IN PREL SN ASEAN CH APEC PE
SUBJECT: PRESIDENT'S ASEAN 7 MEETING A "LEADING INDICATOR"
OF U.S. POLITICAL COMMITMENT IN SOUTHEAST ASIA

Classified By: E/P Counselor Ike Reed, reason 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Singapore MFA's outgoing Deputy Director for
ASEAN Wong Chow Ming highlighted for us November 4 the
importance of senior U.S. engagement with ASEAN. U.S. regard
for ASEAN confers prestige that helps the organization
maintain a central role in the region's institutional
architecture, thus helping it avoid domination by emerging
regional powers. He urged that the President continue his
tradition of meeting with the "ASEAN 7" at APEC, which he
described as the ''best indicator" of U.S. commitment to the
region in the absence of a hoped-for U.S.-ASEAN summit. END
SUMMARY.


2. (C) Outgoing MFA Senior Deputy Director for ASEAN Wong
Chow Ming gave the USG positive marks for its engagement with
ASEAN, given the constraints imposed by Burma's membership in
the organization, during a November 4 luncheon with EP
Counselor. Reviewing his busy tenure in the ASEAN
Directorate, during which Singapore hosted ASEAN and pushed
through important initiatives including the ASEAN Charter,
Wong expressed appreciation for U.S. efforts to demonstrate
its regard for ASEAN as an important regional institution.
Visible signs of U.S. respect help to bolster ASEAN's efforts
to be seen as central to the region's institutional
framework, which in turns helps to ensure Southeast Asia will
not be dominated by Asia's emerging power, China.


3. (C) Asked what the USG could do better, Wong expressed
disappointment that the planned "ASEAN Summit" with the
President did not occur. He understood that the situation in
Burma made a summit difficult and added that the Singapore
government would also like to see the end of the Burmese
regime. But he asked that the new administration find a way
to hold the summit. In the meantime, Wong urged that the
President's traditional meeting with the seven ASEAN members
that participate in APEC (the ASEAN 7) be held again at the
APEC Leaders Meeting in Lima later this month. In the
absence of an ASEAN Summit, he said, the ASEAN 7 meeting is
the "best indicator" of the USG's political commitment to
ASEAN. While a meeting with part of ASEAN's membership could
not be regarded as an official ASEAN event, Wong said ASEAN 7
leaders greatly value meeting with the President and
appreciate it as a sincere USG effort to demonstrate its
regional engagement.


4. (C) Wong urged that the next administration consider
signing ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC). He
acknowledged that it would be a largely symbolic gesture and
that it would not, by itself, bring the USG lasting gratitude
or goodwill. But it would be taken as a sign of U.S.
"political commitment" to ASEAN, strengthen ASEAN's prestige,
and thus help ensure ASEAN remains less susceptible to
regional power domination within Asia's emerging
institutional framework.


5. (C) Wong hoped that eventually the two parties could
negotiate a US-ASEAN Free Trade Agreement (FTA). He
understood that Burma remains a major obstacle and that some
other ASEAN members are not yet ready for the kind of
high-standard FTA the United States would pursue, but thought
an FTA was a worthy long-term goal with important strategic
implications. In the meantime, Wong appreciated our Trade
and Investment Framework Arrangement as a useful interim
step.


6. (SBU) NOTE: A leading strategist and workhorse during
Singapore's productive 2007-2008 chairmanship of ASEAN, Wong
will take up his new post as Singapore's Deputy High
Commissioner in New Delhi before the end of the year. END
NOTE.

Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm
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