SOMALI PIRACY: CHINA INVITED TO ATTEND MAY 29

UNCLAS BEIJING 001386 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR PM/PPA: DAVID FORAN, AIYAZ HUSAIN, DONNA HOPKINS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PGOV PHSA MARR MOPS CH SO SUBJECT: SOMALI PIRACY: CHINA INVITED TO ATTEND MAY 29 CGPCS MEETING REF: STATE 50499 ¶1. (SBU) China's Ministry of National Defense would likely continue to push its proposal to put counter-piracy military operations in the Gulf of Aden under UN command, MFA International Organizations and Conferences (IO) Department UN Affairs Division official Jiang Hua told PolOff May 22 in response to reftel points regarding the May 29 meeting of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS). Jiang said China's delegation to the CGPCS meeting would be headed by China's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Ambassador Liu Zhenming, and would include MFA IO Department UN Affairs Division official Cheng Lie as well as one Ministry of Transportation (MOT) official and one Ministry of National Defense (MND) official yet to be identified. Jiang said Chinese experts at the People's Bank of China and Ministry of Finance would study the U.S. proposal to create Working Group 5 on financial levers, noting that some countries were concerned that tracking and freezing pirates' assets would put an additional burden on those countries' financial institutions. WEINSTEIN