(C) Secretary Clinton's November 14, 2009,

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E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2019
TAGS: OVIP CLINTON HILLARY PREL PGOV PARM KNNP
ETTC, SG
SUBJECT: (C) Secretary Clinton's November 14, 2009,
Conversation with Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo

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1. (U) Classified by: Kin Moy, Deputy Executive
Secretary, S/ES, Department of State. Reason 1.4.(d).


2. (U) November 14, 2009; 10:15 a.m.; Singapore.


3. (U) Participants:

U.S.
The Secretary
Charge Dan Shields
Lieutenant General Paul Selva
DAS Scot Marciel
Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin
Deputy Chief of Staff Jake Sullivan
Senior Advisor Philippe Reines
Mary-Gardner Coppola (Notetaker)

SINGAPORE
Foreign Minister George Yeo
Singapore Ambassador to the U.S. Chan Heng Chee
Deputy Secretary for Asia Pacific Chua Siew San
Americas Director Ng Teck Hean
ASEAN Director Kwok Fook Seng
Special Assistant Francis Goh
Americas Assistant Director Jasmine Tan (Notetaker)


4. (C) SUMMARY. Singaporean FM Yeo said people in the
region were "sitting up and taking notice" of strong
efforts by Secretary Clinton and the United States
Government to deepen U.S. engagement with Asia. At a
meeting on the margins of the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meetings in Singapore, the
Secretary told FM Yeo that the United States recognized
Singapore's significant work on nonproliferation and
encouraged Singapore to take a more proactive role on
non-proliferation with regard to Burma, North Korea, and
Iran. The Secretary requested the FM's views on the
evolving regional architecture. FM Yeo said the most
important regional institution is APEC. He stressed the
need for balance in the region as China rises, with
APEC, China's favored ASEAN-Plus-3, the East Asian
Summit, and other regional arrangements all playing a
role. He expressed concern that Australia's Asia
Pacific Community proposal did not give enough weight to
ASEAN. He noted that India should play a bigger
regional role, but cautioned that expanding APEC to
include India and others in the future could make APEC
too big to function effectively. The Secretary noted
U.S. engagement with Burma and urged that Singapore and
ASEAN do more to promote political dialogue in the lead-
up to Burma's 2010 elections. END SUMMARY.

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NONPROLIFERATION COOPERATION
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5. (C) FM Yeo said people in the region were "sitting
up and taking notice" of strong efforts by Secretary
Clinton and the United States Government to deepen U.S.
engagement with Asia. The Secretary, after sharing
impressions from her trip to the Philippines, expressed
appreciation to FM Yeo for Singapore's leadership within
the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and asked
how the United States could work with ASEAN and APEC to
advance counterproliferation efforts. FM Yeo offered
the example of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free
Zone (SEANWFZ) as a regional effort worth supporting.
He said there had been discussion in the region of the
possibility of the United States' joining SEANWFZ, with
the clear understanding that this would not affect any
transit of naval ships. The key is to keep any
Southeast Asian nation from seeking nuclear weapons, he
said. FM Yeo said the Burmese leaders deny seeking
nuclear weapons. The Secretary said the United States
has seen disturbing indications that Burma was working
with North Korea to begin to develop capabilities

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associated with nuclear weapons.


6. (C) Turning to the situation in Iran, the Secretary
said the United States had worked hard to secure
Russia's support within the P5+1 to present Iran with
the proposal to process its uranium outside the country.
While Iran had accepted the proposal in principle, it
had not yet agreed to implementation and Iran's internal
debate seemed to be continuing. The Secretary asked
that Singapore urge Iran to meet its international
obligations. This was an issue that had the potential
to destabilize the already troubled Middle East, she
emphasized, in that Iran's possession of nuclear weapons
could cause a domino effect in the region that would be
difficult to control. Malaysia would be the next chair
of the IAEA, and it would be important for Malaysian
leaders to call for an end to nuclear proliferation.
The Secretary urged Singapore to reach out to its
Malaysian neighbors, both bilaterally and through ASEAN,
to emphasize the importance of the IAEA as an
operational institution with real teeth. FM Yeo said
Malaysian PM Najib understood what Malaysia needed to do
on this issue.

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DEVELOPMENTS IN REGIONAL ARCHITECTURE
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7. (C) The Secretary elicited the FM's views on how the
United States could best sustain and enhance its
regional engagement and participation in the emerging
regional architecture. FM Yeo said the most important
regional institution was APEC, which was developing a
good culture of cooperation and was moving in the right
direction. China recognized APEC's importance, which
was why China sent President Hu Jintao to APEC but not
to other regional gatherings. FM Yeo stressed the
importance of member economies' maintaining their
commitment to APEC, particularly as world trade and
development increasingly becomes Asia Pacific-centric.
He stressed the need for balance in the region as China
rises, with APEC, China's favored ASEAN+3, the East
Asian Summit (EAS),and other regional arrangements all
playing a role. The Secretary stated that it was not
surprising that much of the discussion about regional
architecture focused on the rise of China. However, it
was important to ensure that regional dynamics
incorporates checks and balances that promote
accountability and transparency, she said.


8. (C) FM Yeo said most countries in the region,
including China, appreciated the need for regional
balance. He expressed concern, however, over how to
balance China's increasingly influential position. The
Chinese were skilled, he said, at using economics and
trade to advance political objectives. China's long-
term focus was on the ASEAN+3 concept, which includes
China, Japan, and Korea. Japan and the ROK seemed
increasingly prepared, given their major economic
interests in China, to focus on that approach. No one
in Southeast Asia, however, wanted to see China as the
only big player on the scene, he said. This is why
ASEAN continued to focus on ensuring the United States,
India, the EU, Australia, and others remained engaged in
the region, he said. The EAS, which incorporates India,
Australia and New Zealand, provided some balance.
Unfortunately, stated Yeo, Australian PM Rudd did not,
at least initially, see the importance of maintaining
and consolidating these existing structures. Regarding
PM Rudd's proposal for an Asia Pacific Community, FM Yeo
indicated that Singapore and many of its neighbors did
not appreciate the fact that the concept as initially
articulated, excluded ASEAN, except for Indonesia.


9. (C) On India, the Secretary observed that Prime
Minister Singh had worked very hard to have India assume

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a leadership position on the international stage, but it
would require significant changes within the Indian
bureaucracy before India broke out of its traditional
role as the voice of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).
She noted that it was harder for India, with its
commendable focus on democracy and economic development,
to step forward as a world leader than it was for China,
whose leaders were unencumbered by the concerns of a
pluralistic society. FM Yeo agreed and stated that
Singapore viewed India's resource-constrained Foreign
Service as severely hampering the country's ability to
assume more of a leadership position.


10. (C) FM Yeo acknowledged the increasingly important
role that India occupied within the region, but
expressed skepticism about the prospect of India's being
invited to join APEC in the future. APEC had never
brought on new members one at a time, said FM Yeo, and
the non-APEC members of ASEAN, as well as additional
Latin American countries like Colombia, had expressed
interest in APEC membership. Singapore's preference was
to consolidate the current APEC agenda, which, while not
perfect, was the region's best chance for building
institutions that promoted regional integration. FM Yeo
believed that if APEC were enlarged, instead of
deepened, the organization could become too unwieldy and
this would distract from efforts to ensure that China
played by the rules.


11. (C) FM Yeo suggested that, when the United States
hosts APEC in 2011, Washington should consider building
on the precedent of the existing Foreign Ministers'
breakfast to expand activities by the APEC Foreign
Ministers. The Secretary said the United States would
consider the suggestion. The implicit idea, said Yeo,
was that by expanding the role of Foreign Ministers,
APEC could take on important political issues in the
region without running up against China's sensitivities
about involving Hong Kong and Taiwan in international
political discussions.

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BURMA
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12. (C) The Secretary noted the United States' recent
efforts to engage the Burmese senior leadership. She
encouraged Singapore to urge Burma's leaders to hold
elections that could be deemed credible by the
international community, and to initiate a domestic
dialogue with key players toward that end. During
Assistant Secretary Campbell's and Deputy Assistant
Secretary Marciel's trip to Burma November 3-5, they had
passed the message that the United States was ready to
support trade and development with Burma, but that the
Burmese generals must reciprocate with tangible
progress. Aung San Suu Kyi is determined to find a way
forward, the Secretary said.


13. (C) The Secretary recognized that behind the scenes
Singapore has pressed the regime on the importance of
reform, but Thailand and Indonesia had been much more
vocal on the matter of late. She added that Indonesia,
which has a big stake in the future of Burma, is keen to
mentor the Burmese on the value of a military
transition, based on Indonesia's own experience. The
Secretary urged Singapore and ASEAN to do more. Yeo
confirmed that Singapore would continue to encourage the
Burmese leadership along the path of reform and would
hold them accountable for the elections.


14. (C) As the meeting concluded, FM Yeo requested that
the United States consider supporting Singapore's
request to become a formal member of the G-20 grouping.
CLINTON