CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): MEETING WITH

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 000480 SIPDIS STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR, SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP> JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC COMMERCE FOR BIS (ROBERTS) NSC FOR FLY WINPAC FOR WALTER E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/05/2018 TAGS: CH PARM PREL RS CWC SUBJECT: CHEMICAL WEAPONS CONVENTION (CWC): MEETING WITH THE DIRECTOR GENERAL ON RUSSIAN AND CHINESE ISSUES REF: A. STATE 058096 B. THE HAGUE 472 Classified By: Ambassador Eric M. Javits for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) This is CWC-27-08. -------------- RUSSIAN AND U.S. DESTRUCTION DOCUMENTS -------------- ¶1. (C) On June 5, Ambassador Javits and Delrep met with OPCW Director General Pfirter to discuss the way forward on U.S. and Russian destruction documents and the DG,s recent trip to China. As per Ref A, Amb. Javits explained the conditions that must be met for the U.S. to join consensus on the Maradykovsky and Leonidovka documents. He received the DG,s assurance in return that these documents do in fact set the standard for future two-stage destruction processes, and that he had given the Technical Secretariat team currently on the ground in Russia strict instructions to ensure the Shchuch,ye documents were equally as stringent. The DG did not seem entirely confident that Russia would be flexible in accepting references to his EC-49 statement, but also agreed that perhaps in light of the U.S. position, Russia would be more pragmatic. For his part, the Director General intends to address developments at Shchuch,ye, Leonidovka and Maradykovsky in his statement to EC-53. Finally, Delrep noted that the timing of distribution of Maradykovsky and Newport amendments could have a significant impact on the likelihood of approval, and expressed hope that both sets of documents would be available as soon as possible. -------------- DG's VISIT TO CHINA -------------- ¶2. (C) On his recent visit to China, the DG stated that he had inquired with Chinese officials as to developments with Taiwan. He said that officials agreed that the situation with Taiwan does bear consideration in the CWC context. Pfirter also gave his personal assessment that, based on recent EC and CSP statements and the use of parallel language for Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, China was likely to work out a similar administrative arrangement with Taiwan. He also noted that he had appealed to the Chinese Foreign Minister to assist with universality efforts in North Korea and Myanmar, and had received a categorical "no" on North Korea. Pfirter noted that he had conveyed his disappointment with this reply to the Chinese Ambassador to The Hague. Finally, he mentioned that the topics of OCPF inspections and non-proliferation had also been discussed, and that he had informed the Chinese officials that he was requesting ten additional OCPF inspections in the 2009 budget. He noted that their response on the increase was non-committal, but that their position on these inspections should not be confused with a lack of support for non-proliferation. ¶3. (U) Javits sends. Foster