US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE2512

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 002512 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR AND NEA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/01/2014 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, PHUM, BU, NL 
SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS/EU/ASEM:  BURMESE ATTENDANCE; 
DUTCH/LUXEMBOURG LOGISTICS; SANCTIONS 
 
REF: THE HAGUE 2480 
 
Classified By: POL Counselor Andrew Schofer for reasons 1.4 (b/d) 
 
1. (C) Eric Verwaal, Head of Southeast Asia and Oceania 
Division (and Special Assistant to EU Envoy Hans van den 
Broek), told poloff October 1 that the Vietnamese had 
informed him the Burmese participant at ASEM will be: U Tin 
Winn, identified as "Minister in the Office of Prime 
Minister."  Verwaal believed this individual does not rank 
higher than the level of Foreign Minister.  Further, he 
clarified that the agreement with the Asians had been that 
the Burmese "would not attend at head-of-state or 
head-of-government level."  Therefore, he believed that this 
level of attendance would not prompt a potential walkout 
scenario as reported reftel.  Verwaal speculated that the 
reason for sending Winn could be that the newly appointed 
Foreign Minister perhaps "has no clue" about foreign 
relations, whereas Winn at least has a diplomatic background. 
 
Luxembourg Temporarily Assumes EU Presidency Role 
--------------------------------------------- ---- 
 
2. (C) In preparation for the Luxembourg PM stepping into the 
role of the EU Presidency during the ASEM meeting, Verwaal 
will depart for Hanoi on Wednesday together with Luxembourg 
PM Juncker so that he can provide a full briefing on the 
plane.  Verwaal also confirmed that Luxembourg had appointed 
a working-level official to the coordinating committee, as 
predicted in reftel.  Separately, we were informed by 
Balkenende's office that only a junior staff member from the 
Dutch PM's office would attend the summits, and that the 
Dutch MFA would staff Juncker's EU presidency meetings. 
 
Additional Sanctions: Awaiting Trigger 
-------------------------------------- 
 
3. (C) Poloff pointed out the apparent lack of progress on 
the part of Burma toward meeting the three conditions laid 
out at the September EU GAERC meeting, and asked whether the 
EU was prepared to put in place the sanctions announced at 
that meeting.  Verwaal confirmed his belief that if the 
Burmese do not "surprise us" then the EU Ministers will 
indeed sign off on the sanctions.  He said Burmese inaction 
would "trigger a decision already made."  He qualified, 
however, that "you never know in politics, but this is the 
agreement."  He also repeated previous statements that the 
Asians would "have until the last moment" to come through, 
although he appeared to accept that this seemed unlikely. 
SOBEL