US embassy cable - 05RANGOON379

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000379 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV; PACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/29/2015 
TAGS: PREL, PGOV, ECON, BM, IN 
SUBJECT: ALL SMILES: INDIAN FOREIGN MINISTER'S VISIT TO 
BURMA 
 
REF: A. NEW DELHI 2220 
 
     B. NEW DELHI 2185 AND PREVIOUS 
     C. RANGOON 358 
     D. 04 RANGOON 1425 AND PREVIOUS 
 
Classified By: COM Carmen Martinez for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
1. (C) Summary:  The latest in a string of high-profile 
regional visitors to Rangoon (ref C), Indian Foreign Minister 
Natwar Singh conducted a bilateral trip to Burma March 24-27. 
 Although the visit was characterized as "not substantive," 
Singh achieved dual objectives of maintaining dialogue with 
Burma at the political level and pushing for certain 
development projects.  His meetings with top GOB officials, 
including SPDC Chairman Than Shwe, were perfunctory and 
consisted of standard SPDC lectures on regime achievements 
and progress.  FM Singh knows Aung San Suu Kyi personally 
and, according to the Indian Embassy, "holds her in high 
esteem." However, Singh made no reference to her or the 
democratic opposition during his four-day visit, an Indian 
pattern of engagement with the regime that sticks to 
platitudes and doesn't rock the boat.  End Summary. 
 
2. (SBU) On March 30, Indian Embassy DCM Rahul Kulshreshth 
provided a read-out on Minister of External Affairs Shri K. 
Natwar Singh's March 24-27 visit to Burma.  This was FM 
Singh's first visit to Burma since accompanying then-Prime 
Minister Rajiv Gandhi to Rangoon in 1987.  Singh visited both 
Rangoon and Mandalay on this trip and was joined by two aides 
and his wife. 
 
3. (C) According to Kulshreshth, who participated in Singh's 
entire schedule, the Foreign Minister's visit was "due."  The 
last Indian FM visit to Burma was for a trilateral meeting 
(with Thailand) in 2002 and, in the interim, the Burmese have 
sent a foreign minister five times to New Delhi, the latest 
being with SPDC Chairman Than Shwe on his October 2004 state 
visit to India.  Kulshreshth said that Singh's trip was 
actually the result of an invitation from former Foreign 
Minister Win Aung, who ironically was sacked the day after 
issuing the invitation in September 2004. 
 
4. (C) Kulshreshth described the four-day visit as 
"successful," noting that the GOB had made a number of 
"significant" gestures, including allowing the visit to go 
forward on the dates proposed by New Delhi, which coincided 
with the regime's ongoing National Convention (NC) and the 
lead-up to Armed Forces Day.  Although the visit was 
characterized as "not substantive," FM Singh achieved his 
dual objectives of maintaining dialogue with Burma at the 
political level and pushing for certain development projects 
of benefit to Mizoram, including the Kaladan multi-modal 
transport project (Rakhine State) and a GOI-funded road 
project to improve access to a border-trade crossing opened 
in January 2004 (Chin State).  Additional highlights of 
Kulshreshth's read-out: 
 
--On March 25, Singh met separately with FM Nyan Win and PM 
Soe Win.  Nyan Win read a prepared statement ("of little 
value," said Kulshreshth, describing the meeting as a simple 
courtesy call) and, uncharacteristically, the Burmese FM gave 
a toast at a dinner he hosted that evening for Singh, but 
again relied on "cleared talking points."  PM Soe Win, during 
a 35-minute meeting, gave Singh a "familiar lecture" on the 
SPDC's National Convention and sundry achievements ("I could 
give the same spiel by now," Kulshreshth said wryly).  FM 
Singh inquired about the GOB's timetable for the NC process, 
to which Soe Win said "it's up to the (hand-picked) delegates 
to decide."  Singh also asked how the delegates had been 
"elected" and Soe Win gave a "tired" response about diverse 
class and ethnic representation at the NC. 
 
--On March 26, Singh called on Senior General Than Shwe, who 
was joined by the SPDC's top five officers.  Kulshreshth 
observed that Chairman Than Shwe was confident, dominated the 
meeting (none of his subordinates spoke), and appeared to be 
in excellent health.  SPDC Vice Chairman Maung Aye, in 
contrast, was fatigued and looked as though he had aged. 
Than Shwe used up most of the 45-minute meeting with an 
unremarkable lecture, but the Senior General did complain 
that international pressure "only slows down" the regime's 
road map process.  Kulshreshth said that FM Singh drew the 
meeting to a close by deferentially suggesting that "a mere 
Foreign Minister shouldn't waste the precious time of a Head 
of State." 
--Singh and his GOB interlocutors also touched briefly upon 
mutual security issues.  Foreign Minister Singh raised 
India's "northeast problem" and "received assurances" from 
the GOB on further cooperation to address border insurgent 
activities. 
 
--After his Rangoon stay, Singh made an overnight trip to 
Mandalay to check in with the Indian Consulate General, 
attend a dinner hosted by the SPDC's regional military 
commander, and visit the site of a former jail that once 
housed Indian freedom fighters during the Indian independence 
movement. 
 
5. (C) Kulshreshth said that FM Singh knows Aung San Suu Kyi 
personally from her school days in India and he "holds her in 
high esteem."  However, in response to our inquiry, 
Kulshreshth said that Singh made no reference to her in any 
of his meetings nor did he raise issues related to the 
democratic opposition, including National League for 
Democracy (NLD).  "What the Foreign Minister has to say on 
these (political) issues," said the Indian DCM, "he has 
already conveyed to the Burmese during their visits to Delhi." 
 
6. (C) Comment: FM Singh's Burma visit, from our perspective, 
fits a pattern of engagement with the regime that the GOI has 
now well established (ref D):  stick to platitudes and don't 
rock the boat.  When we raised Prime Minister Manmahon 
Singh's recent adoption of democracy and open economies as 
core foreign policy values (ref A), Kulshreshth said that 
India "has evolved in its outlook toward the region; however, 
we will remain pragmatic in our posture toward Burma." 
That's a severe blow to the leaders of Burma's beleaguered 
democratic opposition, most of whom draw their inspiration 
from India's historic struggle for independence and 
democracy.  End Comment. 
Martinez