FRENCH MFA PROPOSES WAY FORWARD ON PRE-REVCON P3

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 001025

NOFORN
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR AMBASSADOR SUSAN BURK, ISN/MNSA

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/28/2019
TAGS: MNUC PARM PREL UK CH FR
SUBJECT: FRENCH MFA PROPOSES WAY FORWARD ON PRE-REVCON P3
DIALOGUE

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Kathy Allegrone for Reasons
1.4(b),(d).


1. (C/NF) SUMMARY: Looking to follow up on July 16 meetings
in Paris with Ambassador Susan Burk, the President's Special
Representative for Nuclear Non-proliferation, Celine
Jurgensen of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Disarmament and
Nuclear Non-proliferation section reiterated GOF agreement
with Ambassador Burk's proposals on continuing P3 dialogue in
the run-up to the spring 2010 NPT RevCon. She also proposed
a timeline for specific actions, taking advantage of a series
of meetings already planned from August through October. She
noted that France intends to call soon for a moratorium on
fissile material production by all nuclear weapons states -
with the implied focus on China - either in the context of
Conference on Disarmament discussions in January or, more
likely, at the UN First Committee meetings this fall. END
SUMMARY.


2. (C/NF) Jurgensen highlighted France's desire to continue
coordination with the USG in the coming months with a view to
ensuring a successful 2010 RevCon. She said the MFA agreed
strongly with Ambassador Burk's suggestion that the P3
elaborate a set of "minimum requirements" for the RevCon to
be a success, taking into account individual countries'
redlines. She said France also agrees on the need to
identify priority non-aligned nations for coordinated
pre-RevCon outreach by the P3 to discourage spoilers.


3. (C/NF) To achieve these goals, Jurgensen highlighted
several opportunities for P3 coordination in the next few
months. In August, she suggested Ambassador Burk's planned
trip to Geneva could include P3 consultations aimed at
generating a list of non-aligned outreach priorities. In
September, Jurgensen said the planned P5 confidence-building
conference in London may provide an opportunity for
preliminary discussions of P3 "minimum requirements" and
clarifications of national red-lines on the margins. P3
members could further elaborate on these during the
trilateral meeting currently scheduled in Washington for
October 8-9, with a view to finalizing P3 discussions and
moving to a P5 format and outreach to key non-aligned nations.


4. (C/NF) Jurgensen said China was likely to present
difficulties, as she was pessimistic that it would sign up to
P3 "minimum requirements," especially those focusing on
transparency. It is all the more necessary therefore to
solidify common P3 positions as soon as possible to prepare
for tough discussions with the Chinese. In this context,
Jurgensen stressed that France intends to call soon for a
moratorium on fissile material production by all nuclear
weapons states - with the implied focus on China - either in
the context of Conference on Disarmament discussions in
January or, more likely, at the UN First Committee meetings
this fall. She added this might be another subject for P3
discussions in September or October.
PEKALA