Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09THEHAGUE455
2009-07-27 13:45:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy The Hague
Cable title:  

CWC: MEETINGS ON THE MARGINS OF THE OPCW

Tags:  PARM PREL CWC 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0004
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHTC #0455/01 2081345
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271345Z JUL 09
FM AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3109
INFO RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEBAAA/DEPT OF ENERGY WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC PRIORITY
RHMFIUU/DTRA ALEX WASHINGTON DC//OSAC PRIORITY
UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000455 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR
SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP>
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (BROWN, DENYER AND CRISTOFARO)
NSC FOR LUTES
WINPAC FOR WALTER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: MEETINGS ON THE MARGINS OF THE OPCW
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL SESSION, JULY 14-17, 2009 (EC-57)

REF: A. THE HAGUE 437

B. THE HAGUE 436

C. THE HAGUE 452

D. THE HAGUE 422

(U) This is CWC-46-09

-------
SUMMARY
-------

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 000455

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR ISN/CB, VCI/CCA, L/NPV, IO/MPR
SECDEF FOR OSD/GSA/CN,CP>
JOINT STAFF FOR DD PMA-A FOR WTC
COMMERCE FOR BIS (BROWN, DENYER AND CRISTOFARO)
NSC FOR LUTES
WINPAC FOR WALTER

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PARM PREL CWC
SUBJECT: CWC: MEETINGS ON THE MARGINS OF THE OPCW
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL SESSION, JULY 14-17, 2009 (EC-57)

REF: A. THE HAGUE 437

B. THE HAGUE 436

C. THE HAGUE 452

D. THE HAGUE 422

(U) This is CWC-46-09

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (SBU) During the Executive Council, July 14-17,
the U.S. delegation met bilaterally with the
Chinese, Libyan, Japanese and French delegations to
discuss a variety of issues. The Indian delegation
convened a meeting of interested delegations to
present its views on industry issues, and U.S.
Commerce Rep Cristofaro gave a presentation to
members of the Technical Secretariat (TS) on plant
site delineation that was well received. Delreps
also met with the TS Director for Special Projects,
the outgoing facilitator for the Open Ended Working
Group (OEWG) on Terrorism, and the Algerian
delegation to discuss future activities related to
terrorism and chemical security.


2. (SBU) On July 20, the Western European and
Others Group (WEOG) met for the final time before
the summer break to discuss the results of the EC.
The next WEOG meeting will be in mid-September.

--------------
BILATERAL WITH THE CHINESE DELEGATION
--------------


3. (U) At the request of the Chinese delegation, a
bilateral meeting was held on July 13 to discuss
issues of mutual concern. The Chinese delegation
was led by Xiaoning Wang, Counselor, Arms Control
and Disarmament Department, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Beijing (former Senior Policy Officer in
the TS 1996-2003). ISN/CB Director Robert Mikulak
led the U.S. delegation.


4. (SBU) Wang expressed concern about the U.S.
chemical weapons (CW) destruction schedule that
projects activity beyond the 2012 extension
deadline. He feared a precedent lessening pressure
for Japan to destroy its abandoned CW in China by

2012. Mikulak said that the United States
understands the Chinese concern, but that China
should recognize that 90% of the U.S. stockpile
will be destroyed by 2012, that the U.S. is
committed to trying to accelerate its destruction
program, and that the U.S. will continue to be
transparent about its efforts and progress. Wang

thanked the United States for demonstrating its
"good will" in relation to the issue.


5. (SBU) Wang noted that China had not yet decided
which candidate to back for Director-General and
looked forward to the presentations by all the
candidates later in the week. Mikulak agreed and
said the U.S. also had not yet made a choice. Both
agreed to continue consultations as the selection
process progresses.


6. (SBU) The Chinese delegation turned to the TS
proposal for improving Other Chemical Production
Facilities (OCPF) site selection methodology by
adding to the A-14 algorithm for information
available to the TS an R factor based on plant site
characteristics. (Del note: This data would involve
declaration of information not specified by the
Convention.) While China wants the OCPF selection
methodology to be improved, it does not want to see
its declaration burden increased. Mikulak said

that the United States was also interested in
improved OCPF selection methodology, but was
skeptical about the added value of the R factor.
The United States would want to see evidence that
the R factor would provide substantial improvement
before it could consider supporting R factor
introduction.


7. (SBU) Wang said that China was not happy with
the way the TS was selecting OCPFs for inspection.
(Del note: The TS introduced in 2008 a geographic
distribution selection methodology wherein the
probability of an OCPF plant site being selected
for inspection is based on a quadratic relationship
to the number of inspectable OCPF plant sites
declared by a State Party. China has declared over
50% of OCPF plant sites declared to the TS. End
note.) Wang said that China had received 19 of the
annual maximum of 20 combined Schedule 3 and OCPF
inspections during 2008. These inspections were
not distributed throughout China, but were
concentrated in a few provinces creating political
issues, he said. Mikulak acknowledged that the new
selection methodology would be expected to result
in increases in numbers of OCPF inspections in
those States Parties with the greatest number of
OCPFs, e.g., the United States and China.


8. (SBU) The U.S. delegation recalled the recent
Chinese/Japanese visit to U.S destruction
facilities where they observed the U.S emphasis on
safe operational procedures and offered to help
develop safe operating procedures for ACW
destruction in China. Wang said China wanted to
follow up on the offer.


9. (SBU) Mikulak concluded by recalling the Chinese
invitation for consultations on implementation and
compliance issues in Beijing. He said that the
issue was being worked in Washington and that a
positive response would be forthcoming soon.

--------------
LIBYA
--------------


10. (U) At the request of the U.S. delegation, a
bilateral meeting was held on July 17. Mohadeb
Gheton represented the Libyan delegation. Delreps
Weekman and Smith represented the U.S.


11. (SBU) Gheton explained that his government is
preparing a national paper, which will likely
include information on the sandbag wall, and may
include a request to extend their destruction
deadline. He was not certain if the issues would
be covered in one national paper or two separate
documents. He indicated that the TS visited Libya
earlier in July and is working with the Libyan
delegation to complete the paper. Gheton said the
national paper would be the main topic of
discussion for an upcoming visit to The Hague
within the next few weeks. Gheton agreed to
coordinate with the U.S. Del during the visit and
to share the document(s) as they are drafted.

--------------
INDIA ON INDUSTRY
--------------


12. (SBU) Following the EC session on July 16, the
Indian delegation hosted an open briefing on four
different industry-related issues: sequential
inspections, enhancement of declarations for other
chemical production facilities (OCPFs),the OPCW
Analytical Database (OCAD) and the Technical
Secretariat's recent paper on Schedule 3

inspections. As a light filler, they also made a
brief presentation on the methodology that they had
developed to compare the seven candidates, though
they refrained from putting names into the
presented results. (Del Note: All presentations
were sent by email to ISN/CB, VCI/CCA and Commerce.
End Note.)


13. (SBU) Although India's motivation for convening
the meeting was not clear, it was part of a marked
new focus on industry issues, which also featured
prominently in India's national statement during
the General Debate. While the Indian delegation
had billed the meeting as a chance to discuss
issues, they clearly were only interested in
presenting their views ) most of which they had
shared previously ) without engaging in any real
dialogue. Even so, many delegations appreciated the
gesture and suggested holding similar open sessions
during future Industry Cluster meetings or on the
margins of future EC sessions to encourage free
discussion of views and to facilitate resolution of
outstanding industry issues.

--------------
U.S. PRESENTATION ON PLANT SITE DELINEATION
--------------


14. (U) On July 13, Commerce Rep Cristofaro gave a
presentation to ten TS staff members from the
Industry Verification (IVB) and Policy Review (PRB)
branches ) including IVB Head Bill Kane and PRB
Head Stian Holen ) on U.S. views and methodology
regarding industrial plant site delineation.
Following the comprehensive presentation, Kane and
others noted that the U.S. approach is much more
complex than that of most member states; while
there were many questions for Cristofaro, TS
attendees appreciated the thorough explanation of
the U.S. approach. Delrep later heard from TS staff
that they plan to invite other member states with
different delineation approaches also to make
similar presentation and even are considering
hosting a roundtable discussion on the topic in the
future. (Del Note: The TS has since agreed to
invite Cristofaro or another Commerce rep to
present the briefing to Inspection Team Leaders on
the margins of the next Industry Cluster meetings,
currently scheduled for September 8. End Note.)

--------------
JAPAN ON NORTH KOREA SANCTIONS
--------------


15. (SBU) Delrep Gibbs met with the Japanese
delegation to briefly discuss the question the
Japanese had raised on the potential seizure of
North Korean chemical weapons under recent UN
Security Council Resolution 1874 and the
obligations of CWC States Parties (Ref D). Gibbs
pointed out that paragraph 14 of the UNSCR
authorized States to "seize and dispose of" certain
weapons including but not limited to chemical
weapons "in a manner that is not inconsistent with
their obligations" under the CWC. In the event of
seizure, this would raise the same issues present
in the case of the Iraqi CW recoveries. After a
short survey of the questions that would result
from a seizure, Director-General Masanori Nishi
expressed his thanks that the discussion had taken
place as he had not considered such complications.
Qplace as he had not considered such complications.
He asked if the US was drafting a paper on the
subject or would raise it in the next EC. Gibbs
pointed out that the issue had been addressed in
the just-concluded EC Report under Any Other
Business and that, at this early stage, nothing
more formal than consultations was appropriate.



--------------
BILATERAL WITH THE FRENCH DELEGATION
--------------


16. (U) The U.S. and French delegations held a
bilateral meeting on July 16. Robert Mikulak led
the U.S. delegation. Jacques Raharinaivo led the
French delegation and introduced the new French
delegate, Raja Rabia.


17. (SBU) Raharinaivo expressed concern that both
the UK and Germany have nominated candidates for
Director-General and noted a lack of discussion
between the two governments. He said that there
had not been any substantive EU discussions on
support of a particular candidate. Raharinaivo
expressed a preference for the German candidate.
Mikulak agreed that the UK and German governments
needed to talk, and that by late August, serious
discussions would need to start to learn
preferences for candidates. He also raised the
other senior positions including the Director of
the Inspectorate that would also need strong
candidates in the months ahead.


18. (SBU) Mikulak and Raharinaivo commented on
South Africa's reaction to the EC visit to the
U.S., noting that their inclusion on the visit
allowed for far more understanding and awareness of
the complexity of the destruction task. Mikulak
noted that there would need to be both strategic
and specific discussion of issues, and welcomed the
Brazilian national statement that looked to the EC
Chair to lead future discussion on the deadline
issue.


19. (SBU) Raharinaivo raised the issue of OPCW
agreements with designated National Laboratories
and said the French government could not support
the OPCW's provision that National Laboratories
would share data directly with the OPCW without
disclosing it to the national government. He
indicated that this position was shared by other
European delegations (Swiss). One of the French
laboratories is a military facility and the
military personnel are under strict orders to keep
their leadership informed of their daily
activities; this is in direct conflict with the
OPCW approach. Mikulak noted that his office had
not been involved in the OPCW's negotiations with
U.S. laboratories but would look into the matter.
He agreed to support French reservations during the
EC debate on the issue (Ref C).

--------------
COUNTER-TERRORISM DISCUSSIONS
--------------


20. (U) Following the bilateral meeting with the
French delegation on July 16, Delreps Weekman and
Smith met with Annie-Claire Mari in her capacity as
former facilitator of the Open Ended Working Group
(OEWG) on Terrorism to discuss her projections of
the role of this group. Mari expressed enthusiasm
at the attention to the topic of terrorism during
this EC session and noted that her national paper
was well received thus far. She stated a desire
that this might serve as a launching pad for the
OEWG to continue its activities under the new
facilitator, Mike Byers (Australia). Delrep
inquired whether EU funding might be available to
support a conference planned in Algeria on chemical
security. Mari said there is a line item in the
Qsecurity. Mari said there is a line item in the
budget for a seminar and that the budget will
likely be validated by the end of July. She

believed the allocation was for approximately
70,000 Euros.


21. (SBU) Delrep Weekman met with Kryzsztof
Paturej, Director of the OPCW Office of Special
Projects, on July 16 to discuss future activities.
Paturej asserted that all terrorism and
security/safety related conferences should be
coordinated through his office. He shared a letter
from Saudi Arabia committing to fund approximately
15,000 Euros to support chemical safety and
security projects. He opined that the OEWG on
Terrorism should use the French paper as a
framework and alluded to playing a role in drafting
the paper. He encouraged stronger support from the
U.S. on OPCW's efforts in this area and outlined
plans for a nonproliferation seminar that he would
like to organize in 2010 which would include
invitations to Senator Lugar and President Bush,
Sr. to open the ceremony.


22. (SBU) At the request of Ambassador Benchaa Dani
(Algeria),a bilateral meeting was held on July 16.
Delreps Smith and Weekman represented the U.S.,
while Said Moussi joined his Ambassador for
Algeria. Dani delivered Algiers reaction to the
draft agenda for the proposed international
conference in Algiers on chemical terrorism that
would focus on chemical safety and security. Dani
reported that Algiers supports the draft agenda and
that the African Center for the Study and Research
Against Terrorism will host the conference. Dani
reported that Algiers would like to host the
conference in the fall of 2009. Delrep suggested
that the first quarter of 2010 might be better to
permit more time to plan the conference. Both
delegations agreed that the next step should be a
formal cable from the U.S. officially proposing the
agenda and that Algiers host the conference in
early 2010. Dani agreed to check with the Swedish
government (current EU President) and the Spanish
(incoming EU President) on the potential for EU
funding.


23. (SBU) Delrep later briefed Director of Special
Projects Paturej and the new facilitator for the
Open Ended Working Group on Terrorism on the
conversation with Dani.

--------------
WEOG VIEWS OF THE EC
--------------


24. (SBU) On July 21, Ruth Surkau (Germany) chaired
the final meeting of the Western European and
Others Group (WEOG) before the summer break.
Delegations generally shared her views that the
Executive Council session had gone smoothly under a
strong new chair, the DG candidates' presentations
had gone well, GRULAC had played a helpful role,
and that a large workload awaits delegations in
September. The Dutch Ambassador quoted Secretary
Khodakov as saying that the DG candidate
presentations had set a precedent. Delegations
shared positive reviews of the process, but few
views on specific candidates, not surprising as
WEOG has five of the seven. However, the
Netherlands delegation opined that the performance
of the Indonesian candidate was "disappointing."
The UK delegation was pleased with the outcome on
the Portreath facility and the TS guidelines on
converted production facilities after ten years.
Both the UK and Germany expressed concern over the
QBoth the UK and Germany expressed concern over the
tendency to add language into the final EC report
that had not been discussed during the session and
cautioned that this should be observed closely in
the future.



25. (SBU) Several delegations commented that the
discussion on the U.S. projections for completion
of CW destruction would remain an active discussion
topic for the EC and likely move into the forefront
following the DG selection. Regarding the issue of
U.S. and UK destruction of RCW in Iraq, Delrep
noted that the language adopted under Any Other
Business had been read by Russia as looking back
into the historical record in Iraq, rather than
forward for future similar situations. Delrep also
thanked the German delegation for proposing
language for future items such as the U.S.
technical changes to facility agreements that do
not require Council action, language that should be
a useful new precedent.


26. (U) BEIK SENDS.
GALLAGHER