US embassy cable - 05PRAGUE1059

C O N F I D E N T I A L PRAGUE 001059 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/14/2015 
TAGS: PREL, EZ, EUN 
SUBJECT: CZECH RESPONSE TO JULY 18 GAERC DEMARCHE 
 
REF: STATE 12486 
 
Classified By: Classified by CDA Mike Dodman for reasons 1.4 B and D 
 
1. (C) On July 14 we delivered reftel demarche to Mr. Petr 
Kaiser, the new Director of the Common Foreign and Security 
Policy Department at the Czech MFA.  Kaiser offered the 
following views on items that will be on the agenda of the 
July 18-19 GAERC meeting: 
 
A.  Turkey: Kaiser was reluctant to discuss Turkey, terming 
it an issue in the competence of his colleagues dealing with 
internal EU matters.  We explained USG view that Turkish 
accession has an important strategic element and reiterated 
reftel point that we hoped negotiations would begin in 
October, assuming preconditions are met. 
 
B.  Uzbekistan: Kaiser noted, without elaboration, that there 
is frustration within the EU over current efforts to promote 
reform in Belarus, and he thought this was shaping the EU 
position on Uzbekistan.  He said the Czechs support an 
international inquiry of events in Andijon as the starting 
point for developing any policy.  He suggested an 
international organization would be best to conduct this 
review, with the OSCE the most likely candidate.  Recalling 
the discussion EU Political Directors had with A/S Fried at 
the previous day's lunch, Kaiser suggested Uzbekistan was a 
good candidate for practical US-EU foreign policy 
cooperation.  In terms of the GAERC discussion, Kaiser could 
not predict where EU Foreign Ministers would end up, noting 
only the need to strike a "critical balance" between 
maintaining contact with Uzbekistan and upholding principles. 
 
 
C.  Syria and Lebanon: Kaiser indicated that the Council's 
draft conclusions call for full implementation of UNSCR 1559, 
and that the Czech government strongly supports this position. 
 
D.  China arms embargo:  With Kaiser, and in discussion the 
same day with the MFA Political Director, Martin Povejsil, we 
emphasized continued sensitivity of China arms embargo, 
drawing attention to pending US legislation that could impose 
sanctions on entities selling arms to China.  Kaiser did not 
expect any GAERC decision on China.  Both Kaiser and Povejsil 
stressed no change in Czech policy:  an eventual lifting of 
the embargo depended on an effective strategic dialogue with 
EU partners, including the US, and expressed confidence that 
the toolbox and Code of Conduct would be more effective than 
the current embargo.  Kaiser stressed that Czech policy would 
continue to prohibit the export of any material to China that 
might be used for repression (e.g. guns), or any advanced 
technology or other goods that could increase or advance 
China's capabilities; he noted their position is similar to 
the UK's.  (Note:  past discussions at the Czech MFA have 
also stressed the need for Chinese human rights improvement 
as a prerequisite for lifting the embargo; omission from 
these discussions was likely an oversight, but we will 
follow-up.) 
DODMAN