Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09BUDAPEST590
2009-08-14 12:20:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Budapest
Cable title:  

RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE REQUEST URGING STRONG

Tags:  PHUM PGOV PREL BM EU HU 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO2529
PP RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSL RUEHSR
DE RUEHUP #0590 2261220
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 141220Z AUG 09
FM AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 4403
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGO/AMEMBASSY RANGOON PRIORITY 0002
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS PRIORITY
UNCLAS BUDAPEST 000590 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS LSHEIBE, PLEASE PASS TO EUR/CE
JLAMORE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL BM EU HU
SUBJECT: RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE REQUEST URGING STRONG
REACTION TO AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S CONVICTION

REF: STATE 83598

UNCLAS BUDAPEST 000590

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MLS LSHEIBE, PLEASE PASS TO EUR/CE
JLAMORE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PHUM PGOV PREL BM EU HU
SUBJECT: RESPONSE TO DEMARCHE REQUEST URGING STRONG
REACTION TO AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S CONVICTION

REF: STATE 83598


1. (SBU) Emboff delivered the talking points contained in
reftel to Gyula Petho, Director of the Asia bureau at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Laszlo Takacs, Director of
the Far East/Burma department. Petho and Takacs expressed
agreement with the U.S. position on the Aung San Suu Kyi
(ASSK) conviction and with the statement Sweden made on
behalf of the EU in its capacity as EU president. Takacs
noted that the extension of ASSK's detention is illegal even
under Burma's own laws, thereby further undermining the
legitimacy of the 2010 election process.


2. (SBU) Given Hungary's minimal diplomatic and economic ties
to Burma, however, the MFA said it would not be issuing a
separate statement. Hungary's Ambassador to Thailand is also
accredited to Burma and, until Burma's violent crackdown on
dissidents in 2007, visited Rangoon twice a year under the
auspices of an EU Chiefs of Mission delegation. According to
Petho, Hungary's bilateral trade with Burma amounts to about
$50,000 per year.


3. (SBU) Hungary will support EU efforts to tighten sanctions
on Burma--expanding the list of Burmese officials covered by
a visa ban and stepping up targeted financial sanctions--but
Petho and Takacs doubt the efficacy of such measures due to
the EU's limited diplomatic and economic relationship with
Burma. Both men believe that actions by ASEAN and the UN
would be much more effective.
LEVINE