US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE2480

UNCLAS THE HAGUE 002480 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
STATE FOR EUR AND EAP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, BU, NL 
SUBJECT: DUTCH RESPONSE TO POTENTIAL HIGH LEVEL BURMESE 
ATTENDANCE AT ASEM 
 
REF: A. (A) MARTINEZ-BUCKNEBERG/BISHARAT/BARRASSO EMAIL 
 
        09/28/04 
     B. (B) THE HAGUE 2461 (PM BALKENENDE ILLNESS) 
 
1. (SBU) Poloff spoke with Eric Verwaal, Head of Southeast 
Asia and Oceania Division and Special Assistant to EU Envoy 
Hans van den Broek September 28 to follow up Ref A message 
regarding the potential for Burmese participation in the 
October 8-9 Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) at a higher level than 
Foreign Minister.  Verwaal said he had also heard rumors that 
the Burmese could potentially send a higher-level 
representative, noting that Burmese Senior General Than Shwe 
seems increasingly "more defiant" and such a scenario could 
therefore not be ruled out.  Verwaal agreed that this 
situation "would create a serious problem" and that "the EU 
would have to react."  He confirmed that "one of the options" 
would be that the EU could walk out of the meeting. 
Nevertheless, Verwaal was careful to caution that EU 
agreement on the matter would probably not be entirely 
uniform - and "only a certain number" of EU members would be 
likely ultimately to walk out. 
 
2. (SBU) Verwaal reiterated that the understanding reached 
between the EU, Japanese and Vietnamese meeting coordinators 
was that the Burmese would attend only at FM or lower level. 
He said the Dutch had pushed for only "official" level 
participation but that the Asians had held out for the 
Foreign Minister level.  He commented that higher-level 
Burmese participation would thus create even more 
embarrassment for the Vietnamese hosts and Asian coordinators 
than for the EU.  Verwaal said the Vietnamese would certainly 
know in advance of the meeting which Burmese officials 
planned to attend in order to carry out registration 
processing, and although he has asked the Vietnamese they 
have not yet responded. 
 
3. (SBU) The Dutch EU Presidency also confirmed September 28 
that Luxembourg's Prime Minister will carry out the functions 
of the EU Presidency in the absence of Dutch PM Balkenende at 
ASEM (Balkenende is seriously ill as reported Ref B). 
Verwaal noted that this would consist of making remarks at 
the opening ceremony and contributing working-level 
representation to the coordinating committee.  (Comment: 
Verwaal had also used the verbal construction the evening 
prior to official announcement of this plan that "one option" 
was for Luxembourg PM to carry out the EU role - lending 
credence to the "option" that the EU might indeed walk out.) 
 
4. (SBU) The Dutch are interested in comparing notes about 
the newly-appointed Burmese officials, and have stated 
previously that they would be willing to describe their 
negotiation process in further detail after ASEM and exchange 
ideas about handling upcoming ASEAN and related Burmese 
participation. 
SOBEL