UNITED STATES SECURITY DIALOGUES WITH TAIWAN

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 TAIPEI 000195 SIPDIS STATE PLEASE PASS TO PM/RSAT, EAP/TC AND EAP/RSP E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/25/2020 TAGS: MARR PGOV MASS PREL TW CH SUBJECT: UNITED STATES SECURITY DIALOGUES WITH TAIWAN REF: STATE 112900 Classified By: AIT Director Bill Stanton for Reasons 1.4 b and d ¶1. (SBU) Summary: The United States has a range of security-related dialogues with Taiwan, including one led by State, ten led by DoD, and one led by AIT/Washington. These talks cover a range of security issues and contribute to our unofficial bilateral relationship. There are some modest changes we could make to our overall pol/mil dialogue structure to make it more effective and efficient, especially in light of increased defense exchanges at multiple levels in recent years. End Summary. State-Led Talks: -------------- U.S.-Taiwan Political-Military Talks -------------- ¶2. (C) EAP and PM co-hosted the inaugural session of these talks -- the first and only State-led pol/mil dialogue -- from September 30 to October 2, 2009 in Washington. Interagency delegations from both sides participated. At United States request, a MOFA Director General (equivalent to an A/S) led Taiwan's delegation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has proposed that we hold these talks annually in Washington, with the parameters set by agreement between State and MOFA (through AIT, which coordinates our unofficial relations). MOFA hopes a Vice Foreign Minister can lead future Taiwan delegations and has no protocol concerns that U.S. participation will be at no higher a level than a State PDAS. ¶3. (C) Because of policy restrictions on visits to Taiwan by policy-level USG officials (DAS and above) at State and Defense, our talks in Washington offer a rare opportunity for dialogue on political-military issues where full attention is given to the political side of the equation. They also have the potential to foster genuine interagency dialogue among various Taiwan agencies and ministries. Recent events (e.g., Typhoon Morakot) have illustrated serious shortcomings in communication and coordination between Taiwan's civilian and military authorities. Given our commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act and our interest in stability and security in the region, we also have an interest in strengthening the political and interagency aspects of our bilateral security relationship and in promoting the shift to a more integrated pol/mil policy process. MOFA has informally suggested holding the next set of talks in May 2010 so that any recommendations from the talks may be implemented within the calendar year. The Department has not yet decided when the next set of meetings wil be held so we have not yet responded to Taiwan's proposal. Defense-Led Talks -------------- U.S.-Taiwan Strategic Dialogue (a.k.a. Monterey Talks) -------------- -------------- ¶4. (C) Established in 1997, this annual meeting of interagency delegations is the highest level security dialogue between the United States and Taiwan. An Assistant Secretary of Defense traditionally heads the U.S. delegation. The Deputy Secretary General responsible for military affairs at the National Security Council leads Taiwan's delegation. Along with briefings, participants conduct a tabletop exercise as a conduit to discuss issues of mutual concern. These talks last took place July 29-31, 2009 and are scheduled again sometime in July 2010. ¶5. (C) In our view, this event suffers somewhat from its own success. The large number of participants at the most recent session (more than 50) hampered the free flow of ideas during the tabletop exercise. Likewise, while the inclusion of many TAIPEI 00000195 002 OF 003 technical experts allows for remarkably detailed briefings, these may be too in-depth for senior officials. Defense Review Talks (DRT) -------------- ¶6. (C) Established in 2000, this annual meeting is the highest level dialogue between DoD and Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND). The DoD and MND delegations are led by a PDASD and Deputy Minister of Defense, respectively. The purpose of the DRT is to provide direction to security cooperation for the following year and discuss issues of mutual concern. The DRT last met October 29-30, 2009 and the next meeting is scheduled for sometime in October 2010. Security Cooperation Talks (SCT) -------------- ¶7. (C) Established in 1995, these talks between DoD's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) and Taiwan MND's Strategic Planning Department (U.S. Joint Staff-equivalent) review current and future Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programs and security cooperation. These annual meetings are supplemented by a mini-SCT, usually held in conjunction with the DRT. The SCT last met June 15-18, 2009 and the next meeting is scheduled for sometime in June 2010. General Officer Steering Group (GOSG) -------------- ¶8. (S) Established during the 2003 Monterey Talks and first held in December 2003, annual GOSG meetings focus on operational and tactical level discussions to enhance Taiwan's joint defensive war-fighting readiness and capabilities and enhance de-confliction between U.S. - Taiwan joint forces in the event they are deployed in the same or adjacent battle spaces. The GOSG both receives guidance from, and provides work reports and military advice to, the DRT. The U.S. - Taiwan GOSG can also report to the Monterey Talks forum as directed. Service-to-Service Security Cooperation Programs and Engagement -------------- ¶9. (C) Each military Service conducts an annual Security Assistance Review (SAR) (for the Army and Navy/Marines) or Security Assistance Management Review (SAMR) meeting (Air Force) with its Taiwan counterparts, usually each Fall. These meetings involve detailed and focused discussions on ongoing and future FMS cases and programs. ¶10. (C) Additionally, U.S. Pacific Command's (USPACOM) component commands -- U.S. Army Pacific, U.S. Pacific Fleet, Marine Forces Pacific, and Pacific Air Force -- maintain very active security cooperation programs with their Taiwan counterparts. The inter-service meetings include the following: - Army: Established by charter in 2003, the Army meetings ("Lu Wei"/Powerful Army) occur twice a year. The two sides last met October 14-16, 2009 and the next meeting is scheduled for May 2010. - Navy and Marine Corps: Established by charter in 2004, the Navy and Marine Corps meetings ("Bi Hai"/Blue Sea) occur twice a year. The two sides last met October 27-30, 2009 and the next meeting is scheduled for May 2010. - Air Force: Established by charter in 2000, the Air Force meetings ("Lan Tien"/Blue Sky) occur twice a year. The two sides last met November 19 - 20, 2009 and the next meeting is scheduled for May 2010. Overall Usefulness of Military-to-Military Talks -------------- --- TAIPEI 00000195 003 OF 003 ¶11. (C) These talks are valuable and necessary forums for receiving periodic updates, resolving issues, and providing guidance on security cooperation activities. While action officers handle most security cooperation program execution issues, policy limitations unique to U.S. cooperation with Taiwan create the need for regular higher-level dialogue. This is increasingly true given the changing nature of U.S.-Taiwan security cooperation that is becoming more complex in response to both U.S. and Taiwan military modernization as well as regional military modernization trends. Because U.S. policy limits the extent of our crisis planning cooperation, these military-to-military talks are particularly important as a window on Taiwan's contingency planning. AIT/W-Led Talks -------------- Political-Military Working Group -------------- ¶12. (C) Twice a year, AIT-Washington's Political-Military Officer leads a working-level delegation of DoD and State personnel involved in Taiwan policy making or security cooperation activities to meet with Taiwan MND's Strategic Planning Department in Taipei. One of the main focuses of this group's visits is to review the Joint Work Plan (JWP). The JWP deals with military issues, including hardware, software, training, doctrine and internal processes. The delegation also meets senior officials from each of Taiwan's military services and generally visits one or more military installations. The military element of these talks echoes existing military dialogues listed above, while the political element consists primarily of office calls with the Foreign Ministry. The group last visited Taiwan December 7-11, 2009 and the next meeting is scheduled for April 12-16, 2010. Recommendations -------------- ¶13. (C) Within the policy limitations constraining official U.S.-Taiwan interactions, we have developed a broad range of security dialogues. Although these dialogues are, to a large extent, complementary, there are certain steps we could take to increase their efficiency and effectiveness: - As noted in para 5 above, there is a risk that the increasing numbers of participants in the Monterey Talks will dilute their value as a venue for high-level dialogue. Enforcing a limit on the number of participants from each side should mitigate against this. - At present, AIT/W-led pol/mil working groups devote a considerable amount of time reviewing the JWP. Much of this involves technical issues concerning individual systems, something better left to technical experts in the service-level talks described in para 9. This would allow the AIT/W-led talks to focus on particularly problematic programs and on issues not dealt with in other forums. Shifting this responsibility would allow us to hold the AIT/W-led talks once each year. STANTON