US embassy cable - 04THEHAGUE2676

C O N F I D E N T I A L THE HAGUE 002676 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EUR AND EAP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/15/2014 
TAGS: PREL, EU, PHUM, BM, VM, NL, ARF 
SUBJECT: NETHERLANDS/EU/ASEM:  EU CONDEMNS BURMESE HUMAN 
RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AT ASEM 
 
REF: HANOI 2795 
 
Classified By: POL Counselor Andrew Schofer for reasons 1.4 (b/d) 
 
1. (SBU) Summary:  Dutch MFA contacts have expressed relief 
that the October 7-9 ASEM summit in Hanoi proceeded smoothly. 
 After months of negotiating the related issues of Burmese 
participation and EU sanctions, the summit itself was 
relatively "boring," according to one interlocutor.  Only EU 
remarks condemning the human rights situation in Burma and 
the Burmese response were not pre-choreographed, and the fact 
that Luxembourg PM Juncker stepped in for the ailing Dutch PM 
Balkenende had no apparent impact on the substance or tone of 
the event.  End Summary. 
 
2. (C) MFA Director of Asian Affairs Robert Milders told 
poloff October 14 that the Dutch were satisfied with the 
results of the October 7-9 ASEM summit in Hanoi.  He said 
that FM Bot had gone to ASEM with a primary intention of 
speaking out about the Burmese political and human rights 
situation, and that the delegation had been satisfied with 
the paragraph about Burma that ultimately appeared in the 
ASEM Chairman's Statement (see reftel).  Beyond that, he 
said, the meetings had been mostly "boring" as everything 
other than the exchange about Burma the whole meeting had 
been pre-negotiated.  Separately, Milders told POLCOUNS that 
his biggest worry in the leadup to the ASEM Summit had been 
how to handle the last-minute substitution of Luxembourg PM 
Juncker for Dutch PM Balkenende in the EU Presidency seat. 
Milders said that he had had to draw on his 30-plus years of 
diplomatic experience to convince FM Bot and others in the 
ministry that this development would not undermine their 
position or disrupt the carefully choreographed Dutch 
strategy for the meetings.  In the end, however, the 
substitution worked without a hitch. 
 
3. (C) On October 13, MFA Asia Department officer Bernard 
Kelkas provided additional details of the Burma discussions 
at the summit.  Kelkas said that Juncker made a statement in 
the opening session of the summit condemning Burma's internal 
political and human rights situation, which was "followed on" 
by Dutch FM Bot and then representatives from the EC, Sweden, 
UK, Czech Republic, Latvia, and Ireland.  Participants 
condemned Burmese handling of the National Convention and 
treatment of National League for Democracy, called for the 
release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, 
and pushed the Burmese to allow entry to the Special 
Representative of the Secretary General and NGOs.  While the 
majority of Asian members did not comment on the issue, the 
Japanese Prime Minister reportedly asked Burma to make a 
"more serious effort" as a member of ASEM to deal with human 
rights concerns.  Burmese representative U Tin Winn responded 
that Burma is following its "Seven Step Roadmap to Democracy" 
but argued that it is a "delicate process."   He asked other 
states not to "rock the boat" by applying sanctions.  Winn 
further commented that the NLD "was invited" to participate 
in the reconciliation process, but had chosen not to 
participate and instead "had chosen to live in a cocoon." 
 
4. (C) According to Kelkas, during the same trip's 
Ministerial meeting with China, FM Bot asked the Chinese FM 
to continue pressuring Burma.  China reportedly responded 
that it was prepared to do so, and also felt that ASEAN 
should continue to press Burma for change. 
 
5. (C) In a separate meeting with POLCOUNS on October 14, 
Jaap Werner, Director of the MFA's Political Affairs 
Department, expressed satisfaction that the October 11 GAERC 
meeting had moved quickly to impose additional sanctions on 
Burma in response to the Burmese government's failure to make 
any progress on human rights.  Werner stressed that the Dutch 
Presidency had worked hard to ensure that the EU presented a 
united front at the ASEM summit, and had then pushed the 
GAERC to adopt the new measures "automatically" rather than 
leaving the issue open to additional discussion. 
SOBEL