ROMANIA: VP BIDEN MEETING WITH PRESIDENT BASESCU

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BUCHAREST 000714

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EUR/CE ASCHIEBE

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/22/2034
TAGS: PREL ENRG CONS XH XD RO
SUBJECT: ROMANIA: VP BIDEN MEETING WITH PRESIDENT BASESCU

Classified By: Ambassador Mark A. Gitenstein for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
).


1. (U) Summary. Vice President Biden met with President
Basescu on October 22, 2009. The Romanian President and Vice
President Biden discussed the motivations for Biden's trip to
Europe; the U.S. and Romanian relationships with Russia;
missile defense; and the coalition strategy in Afghanistan
and Pakistan. They also touched on energy security, the visa
waiver program, and international adoptions. Biden thanked
Basescu for Romania's continued presence in Afghanistan,
calling Romania's troops there "warriors" who had earned the
respect of the U.S. military. End Summary


2. (C) Biden opened by affirming that the United States has
no better partner in Europe than Romania. On this trip,
which was planned in response to both the recent controversy
surrounding missile defense and the July 16th open letter
questioning U.S. policy in the region, Biden affirmed that he
wanted to come where things are going right, not only where
there are problems. Assuring Basescu that the "reset" in
U.S. relations with Russia did not mean "erase memory," Biden
went on to say that the U.S. would not tolerate either
"spheres of influence" or a Russian veto over the aspirations
of any state to join whatever alliance- political, economic,
or military- of which that state wished to be a part. The
U.S. wants a strong relationship with Russia and hopes to
continue to turn Russia towards the West, but not at the
expense of a Europe whole, free, and at peace. It is for
this reason that the U.S. is supportive of the continued
expansion of both NATO and the EU. Saying that the Obama
Administration was fully behind the NATO alliance, Biden
underscored that one of the fundamental building blocks of
U.S. national security is its status as a European power,
which is only possible through NATO.


3. (S) Basescu raised Afghanistan as our biggest shared
foreign policy problem. He referred to the McChrystal report
and expressed Romania's view that more troops will be needed
there, adding that Romania would contribute additional
resources to the best of its ability. From the Romanian
point of view, failure in Afghanistan would allow Taliban and
international terrorists to move more easily throughout
central Asia, directly threatening Europe. Basescu stated
his belief that the U.S. must honestly answer the request
from the military commanders on the ground for additional
troops, if that is what is needed to confine the conflict to
Afghanistan and keep it from moving into the Caspian Sea
region. Failure in Afghanistan, according to Basescu, would
not only hurt Europe, it would also harm the future
credibility of NATO. One element of this strategy should
include solving the drug problem, which provides a source of
funding for the international jihadi effort. Basescu said
that the Afghanistan drug trade occurs with the full
complicity of President Karzai and that combating it might
require the direct purchase of poppies to sap the resources
that the Taliban needs to continue fighting coalition troops
in Afghanistan. If such a strategy were adopted, Romania
would be willing to provide agriculture specialists to
encourage alternative cultivation efforts.


4. (S) Addressing U.S. policy in Afghanistan, Biden
emphasized that under no proposal being discussed was the
U.S. planning to retreat or draw down troops. The debate,
according to Biden, is whether or not the counter-insurgency
"COIN" strategy being deployed at present was working in
Afghanistan, given the lack of a credible indigenous
government. Of the Taliban, Biden said that they numbered
about 25,000 fighters, 20,000 of whom were indigenous Pashtun
upset about the large footprint left by coalition operations
in Afghanistan. Calling the current government in
Afghanistan "thoroughly corrupt" and penetrated by the drug
trade, Biden said that until there is a government with the
popular support of the Afghan people no counter-insurgency
strategy is going to work, no matter how many troops are
sent. Turning to Basescu's suggestion that the coalition
partners purchase the poppy crop to keep proceeds out of the
hands of the Taliban, Biden said that it was a good topic for
further discussion, but noted that a similar strategy had
been tried without success by the U.S. in Latin America. A
better suggestion would be to try a variation on what proved
to work in Iraq with the Sons of Iraq program, to pay
potential insurgents to provide neighborhood security.
Expressing appreciation for Romania's continued presence in
Afghanistan, Biden said that the Romanian troops there had
distinguished themselves in combat and that the U.S. greatly
appreciated Romania's willingness to deploy with no
restrictions or caveats.


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5. (S) Biden added that the Administration's current review
is designed to evaluate a resource allocation which deploys
30 USD in Afghanistan for every dollar spent in Pakistan,
despite the fact that the current Al Qaida threat is in
Pakistan. Biden said that the coalition should now consider
re-focusing efforts on Pakistan to confront the current
threat. Noting that the U.S. would profit little from a
stable Afghanistan if nuclear-armed Pakistan is destabilized
by Al Qaida, Biden argued forcefully for stepped up U.S.
engagement on issues involving Pakistan, saying that he
believes that the current Al Qaida threat has finally
mobilized Pakistan's political and security establishments to
engage. Both principles agreed that engagement with Pakistan
needed to be packaged with efforts to deescalate tensions
between Pakistan and India, as this lingering conflict
presented a genuine possibility of escalating into a nuclear
holocaust.


6. (C) On missile defense, Biden said that the recent U.S.
decision had nothing to do with Russia, but rather had to do
with a desire to better protect Europe. Saying that the
original Bush Administration plan had been designed to
protect the U.S., not necessarily Europe, the current
Administration's plan would provide better protection against
the emergent threat of nuclear-tipped Iranian short and
medium range missiles. This new proposal based on the
Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) architecture, would provide a real,
proven capability to shoot down multiple incoming missiles,
providing better defense for all of NATO. Basescu welcomed
the new U.S. proposal, adding that Romania had never been
fully satisfied with the previously proposed system, which
would have done little to broadly protect NATO. If
necessary, Romania would be willing to contribute to the
costs of running a missile defense system.


7. (S) Russia and Moldova are ongoing areas of special
concern for Romania. This concern was exacerbated by the
2008 Russian invasion of Georgia and continued occupation of
Abkhazia. While saying that the technology used by Russia in
the Abkhaz military excursion was outdated and presented no
direct threat to NATO, Basescu believes that Russia's
intervention in former Eastern Bloc countries is a real and
widespread problem. While Romania is always careful to keep
Moscow from unduly influencing local politics, Basescu said,
Romania is concerned about Russian influence in neighboring
states. Highlighting Russian President Medvedev's proposed
security strategy, Basescu firmly stated that Russian efforts
to "get back what they lost" should be resisted. This
concern manifests itself in Moldova, where a very fragile
coalition government needs international support. Likening
the current situation in Moldova to Romania in 1996, Basescu
said bringing Moldova into the EU as part of the group of
western Balkan nations remains a core goal of Romanian
foreign policy. (Note: Basescu means linking Moldova,s
accession to the EU to the notional timetable for western
Balkan countries, versus thinking of Moldova as closer to
Ukraine and Belarus, whose EU aspirations are a longer term
goal. End note) This support should include, according to
Basescu, a U.S. commitment to help Moldova obtain financial
assistance from the IMF. Without this help Basescu believes
that the current Moldovan unity government will collapse,
restoring the communist party to power. Addressing the
oft-repeated criticism that Romania has designs on Moldova,
Basescu articulated Romania's goal as one of uniting all
(ethnic) Romanians, both those in Romania and in Moldova,
under the same umbrella of EU membership.


8. (C) Raising energy security, Basescu specifically thanked
Biden for the U.S. support of a feasibility study for a
Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) facility in Constanta, saying
that Romania had held discussions with Qatar, Azerbaijan, and
Turkmenistan on the possibility of supplying a facility if it
is built. Noting that Turkmenistan and Azerbaijan are
determined to be energy partners with the EU, Basescu argued
for continued U.S. engagement in the Caspian region.
Together with LNG and Nabucco, Basescu asked Biden to
consider support for the Constanta-Trieste crude oil
pipeline, saying that this pipeline would provide an
alternate outlet for Caspian Sea oil. In Basescu's view,
Constanta-Trieste would provide a "European solution" to
crude oil supply routes currently controlled by Turkey and
Russia. Biden agreed with Basescu that Europe needed to work
on diversifying oil and gas supply routes, but added that the
U.S. was not really in a position to dictate to the EU which
particular routes to use. Adding that supply lines which
don't involve Russia would remove Russia's sole real
bargaining chip with Europe, Biden postulated that this would
"change the equation," forcing Russia to act in a more
neutral manner. Turning to Turkey, Biden and Basescu agreed

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that the Turkish Government was doing a poor job recognizing
that their long-term interests of closer cooperation with the
EU would best be served by facilitating energy projects such
as Nabucco.


9. (C) In concluding the meeting, Biden implored Basescu to
consider international adoptions, especially the "pipeline"
cases, which he said remain a major irritant in the bilateral
relationship. Basescu countered by saying that visa waiver
remains a priority for Romania, with Biden responding that
the Administration would support accession, but that Romania
needs to work to significantly lower the visa refusal rate
first. Basescu closed by saying that the Romanian
Presidential elections next month would not alter the U.S.
orientation of Romania's foreign policy, saying that there
was a common consensus among all the candidates that the
Romania-U.S. partnership was an important guarantor of
Romania's national security.


10. (U) The Vice President did not have the opportunity to
clear this cable.
GITENSTEIN