US embassy cable - 05HANOI749

UNCLAS HANOI 000749 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL, PHUM, PGOV, BM, VM, ASEAN 
SUBJECT: ENGAGING VIETNAM ON BURMA AND ASEAN 
 
REF: A. STATE 50205; B. 04 HANOI 2795; C. KUALA LUMPUR 1097 
 
1. (SBU) DCM John Boardman, accompanied by Poloff, met with 
Acting Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for ASEAN 
Affairs Nguyen Duy Hung March 28.  Drawing from reftel 
talking points, the DCM asked Hung his thoughts on Burma's 
chairmanship of ASEAN. 
 
2. (SBU) The DCM suggested that the issue of Burma's 2006 
chairmanship of ASEAN would come up in the April Foreign 
Ministers' meeting in Cebu.  Hung nodded in apparent 
agreement, but noted that this issue is not on any of the 
agendas that have been circulated so far.  Hung said that 
the United States is "an important dialogue partner" for 
ASEAN and "plays an important role in the ASEAN framework, 
especially at the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Post 
Ministerial Conference." 
 
3. (SBU) Hung noted the USG's concerns that an "unsettled 
situation" in Burma would make it difficult for the United 
States to participate in ASEAN events chaired by Burma. 
"There is plenty of time until 2006," he said, "and many 
improving steps are currently being taken by the Myanmar 
government."  Hung recited a few of the Burmese regime's 
talking points about the convening of the National 
Convention and the seven-point roadmap, but acknowledged the 
"concerns of the United States and others" regarding the 
situation in Burma.  "The wish and hope of Vietnam are that 
the situation in Myanmar will be stabilized, and they will 
have peace and continue to develop." 
 
4. (SBU) Regardless of how events unfold in Burma, Hung 
said, the dominant principle is the "ASEAN policy of non- 
intervention in internal affairs" and said that whatever 
occurs would be settled "in the ASEAN way," much as the 
issue of Burmese participation in the Asia-Europe Meeting 
summit in Hanoi in October 2004 had been.  Poloff noted 
that, while the ASEM summit (ref B) had ultimately been 
successful, almost all of the international press attention 
on the event was focused on the issue of whether ASEAN's 
inability to deal with Burma's internal problems would 
prevent European leaders from attending.  Under current 
conditions, the controversy over Burma's chairmanship would 
probably draw attention away from the real accomplishments 
of ASEAN and the important development goals of the region's 
500 million people.  Hung agreed that this would be 
unfortunate, but said that because Burma is a full member of 
ASEAN, it has the right to expect other members to abide by 
the basic principles of the organization and help make its 
2006 chairmanship a success.  "Many things can change 
between now and then," Hung concluded.  "Who knows, perhaps 
the United States' policies will change." 
 
5. (SBU) Comment: The GVN got a clear picture of the 
liability to ASEAN that Burma represents in the lead-up to 
the ASEM Summit in Hanoi last year.  Nailing down the 
compromise between the Europeans and the Burmese that 
ultimately allowed the Hanoi summit to take place according 
to schedule was a huge effort, and it distracted from the 
message Vietnam hoped to send about Vietnam's and ASEAN's 
diplomatic and economic relevance.  That negative 
experience, however, did not convince Vietnam to abandon its 
steadfast defense of the non-interference doctrine, and 
Vietnam has so far not joined Malaysia's reported calls for 
Burma to step aside in 2006 (ref C). 
 
6. (SBU) Comment continued:  Acting Assistant Minister Hung 
expressed his understanding of Vietnam's role as the 
"bridge" between ASEAN's older members and the newer ones of 
Burma, Laos and Cambodia, and the GVN seems to recognize 
that Vietnam will not be able to stand on the sidelines in 
this debate.  This suggests that despite its protestations 
about "the ASEAN way" and "non interference in internal 
affairs" the GVN may be receptive to further discussions 
with us on this issue. 
 
MARINE