US embassy cable - 04TAIPEI3675

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 003675 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/RSP/TC, NE/NP: ALEX BURKART 
UNVIE FOR HILLIARD 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/16/2014 
TAGS: KNNP, TRGY, ENRG, TW 
SUBJECT: 2004 AIT-TECRO JSCCNC - SIDE MEETINGS 
 
 
Classified By: DIR Doug Paal for reasons 1.4 (b,d,and f) 
 
1. (C) Summary. AIT and TECRO held bilateral discussions on 
the margins of the 20th annual Joint Standing Committee on 
Civil Nuclear Cooperation in Seattle (JSCCNC) (Nov 4-5).  The 
two sides discussed:  UN Security Council resolution 1540, 
environmental samplings from the 1980s, the International 
Atomic Energy Agency's (IAEA) Additional Protocol and the 
implications for Taiwan's Atomic Energy Council (AEC) and the 
Institute for Nuclear Research (INER) of the reorganization 
of Taiwan,s government. 
 
------------ 
PARTICIPANTS 
------------ 
 
2. (U) AIT and TECRO held bilateral discussion on the margins 
of the JSCCNC in Seattle (Nov 4-5).  State/NP/NE Deputy 
Director Alex Burkart, AIT ESTOFF Erica Thomas and AIT Joint 
Standing Committee Principal Coordinator Harold Bengelsdorf 
represented AIT.  Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) Minister 
Ouyang Min-shen, TECRO Washington Science Attache Dr. Chen 
Shih-kuei, AEC Director of Planning Dr. David Yao, and AEC 
International Affairs Chief Dr. Gone Jec-kong represented 
TECRO. 
 
--------------- 
RESOLUTION 1540 
--------------- 
 
3. (U) Burkart noted the fact that the UN Security Council 
passed resolution 1540, which states that all states should 
refrain from any kind of support of any development of 
weapons of mass destruction (WMD) by non-state actors, that 
they should adopt laws that prohibit activities that could 
enable non-state actors to access WMD and that they should 
establish domestic controls to prevent the proliferation of 
WMD.  He noted that the Resolution established a process for 
States to report on the steps they have taken to implement 
the provisions of the Resolution.  Burkart acknowledged that 
Taiwan, due to its unique status, is not formally part of the 
Resolution's reporting process, which is intended to ensure 
that states have the means to implement their 
non-proliferation obligations.  He emphasized the fact that 
1540 does not impose any new obligations, but simply is 
intended to ensure that the legal infrastructure is in place 
to enforce existing treaty obligations. 
 
4. (U) Burkart conveyed the U.S. interest in Taiwan preparing 
a report consistent with 1540 that could be exchanged 
bilaterally with the U.S.  To that end, Burkart provided 
Taiwan with a copy of Resolution 1540, a copy of the 
guidelines for the report and a copy of the UK report as an 
example.  He suggested that the UK approach might be easier 
to follow as it is only 14 pages compared to the U.S. report, 
which is 60 pages.  Burkart recognized that 1540 goes beyond 
just nuclear issues and that Taiwan,s response to this 
request would require approval beyond AEC. 
 
------------------- 
ADDITIONAL PROTOCOL 
------------------- 
 
5.  (U) Burkart addressed the International Atomic Energy 
Agency,s (IAEA) Additional Protocol.  He emphasized the USG 
commitment to seeing the successful implementation of the 
Protocol.  To that end, he noted that the USG has promised to 
open up its facilities in the same way it wants other 
countries to open up their facilities, exempting only those 
related to activities of direct national security 
significance.  He further informed Ouyang that, as soon as 
the implementing legislation is in place, the USG will ratify 
the Additional Protocol.  AEC,s International Affairs Chief 
Dr. Gone Jec-kong noted that Taiwan signed the Protocol in 
1998 and that it has already had 3 IAEA inspections.  He 
believed that the IAEA would replace its routine inspections 
of Taiwan,s nuclear plants with monitoring under integrated 
safeguards procedures. 
 
6. (C) Burkart commented that IAEA,s evaluation of Taiwan 
with respect to the history of its nuclear program had not 
been completed.  Dr. Yao revealed that the reason for this is 
that INER has not been able to provide satisfactory answers 
regarding some environmental samplings suggesting possible 
nuclear activities may have occurred during the 1980s.  He 
indicated that AEC and INER are still working on explaining 
the sampling results, but that it is difficult to recreate 
history, particularly because some of the people privy to the 
relevant information have since died.  Yao was hopeful that 
the IAEA was sympathetic to all of the effort AEC has put in 
to date with respect to IAEA inspections. 
 
7 (C) Burkart emphasized the importance of explaining the 
findings and offered assistance in sharing some of his 
records from the past 30 years to help reconstruct history. 
He also asked if AEC has been working with Chungshan 
Institute to answer the questions.  Yao claimed that 
Chungshan has been very cooperative and informed AIT that AEC 
will meet with Chungshan again next month to try to address 
the outstanding questions.  Yao said he would contact AIT 
ESTOFF if he had questions regarding information he thought 
Burkart might have.  Burkart once again impressed upon the 
TECRO side the extreme importance of making sure the 
evaluation is completed.  Burkart noted that it is critical 
to understand the past in order to understand the present 
situation.  Burkart expressed satisfaction that cooperation 
is ongoing and urged its continuance to ensure the matter is 
resolved quickly. 
8. (U) Minister Ouyang spoke to the current Administration's 
stand on nuclear issues. He assured AIT that the Chen 
Administration has no interest in non-peaceful uses of 
nuclear materials. He emphasized that Taiwan,s top nuclear 
priority is power generation. He noted that Taiwan is also 
very committed to nuclear safety and economically efficient 
and productive technologies.  Ouyang further expressed an 
interest in helping Mainland China to ensure its plants are 
safe if a way to cooperate could be found. (Comment. The Chen 
Administration has not softened its anti-nuclear rhetoric, 
including on nuclear energy.  It is not clear whether 
Minister Ouyang's interpretation of nuclear power generation 
being a priority is his personal goal or one shared more 
widely within the Administration.  End Comment). 
 
------ 
JSCCNC 
------ 
 
9.  (U) Lastly, Burkart noted that the AIT-TECRO agreement 
covering the operation of the JSCCNC had renewed 
automatically by its terms at the end of the previous month. 
He suggested, however, that it is out of date and both sides 
might consider updating its terms.  There is no requirement 
that it be revised, but he encouraged the TECRO delegation to 
look it over.  This could be particularly important if the 
JSCCNC is to begin to incorporate non-nuclear energy 
activities as proposed by INER on several occasions. 
 
10. (U) Ouyang welcomed the suggestion, but he noted that the 
Taiwan government is planning a massive reorganization that 
will likely move AEC from being an independent body to a 
subsidiary agency within an upgraded Ministry of the 
Environment.  Both sides agreed that it would make sense to 
wait until after the reorganization to review the JSCCNC 
terms. 
 
11. (C) Comment. AIT was surprised and encouraged by Yao's 
openess in revealing the problems it is encountering with 
respect to environmental samplings taken by the IAEA. 
Unfortunately, there was no indication that AEC is close to 
being able to provide satisfactory answers to the IAEA. 
Another item of potential concern is the fact that, under the 
proposed restructuring of Taiwan,s government, AEC would 
become part of the new Ministry of the Environment.  It is 
important that AEC continue to maintain its independent 
regulatory oversight role after the reorganization.  To 
ensure that this is the case, this issue may warrant follow 
up with TECRO contacts.  In addition, as AEC's current 
mandate is limited to oversight of nuclear safety, it would 
be useful to determine which agency will have oversight of 
the alternative energy programs planned for INER after the 
government reorganization takes place.  End Comment. 
 
(This cable has been cleared by State/NP/NE Deputy Director 
Alex Burkart). 
PAAL