VZCZCXRO4783
PP RUEHCHI RUEHFK RUEHHM RUEHKSO RUEHPB
DE RUEHHI #0421/01 0531007
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 221007Z FEB 06
FM AMEMBASSY HANOI
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0890
INFO RUEHZU/ASIAN PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION
RUEHGZ/AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU 0615
RUESLE/AMCONSUL SHANGHAI 0288
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 1313

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 HANOI 000421 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/22/2031 
TAGS: APEC ECON IO PREL TW VM
SUBJECT: TAIWANESE ASK FOR HELP WITH DISCRIMINATION IN APEC 
AND WHO 
 
Classified By: DCM John Boardman for Reasons 1.4 b/d 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: In a February 22 meeting, Taipei Economic and 
Cultural Office Hanoi (TECOH) representatives expressed 
concern over inequitable treatment they claim they are 
experiencing in both the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation 
(APEC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), a result, 
they say, of pressure from China on other economies, 
specifically Vietnam.  TECOH Chief Representative Huang 
Nan-Huei cited problems with the Government of Vietnam,s 
(GVN) hotel room allocations for the November 2006 APEC 
Leaders Meeting and general coordination and communication 
problems in the WHO.  Huang stressed the importance of 
maintaining goodwill in Taiwan,s expanding relationship with 
Vietnam, where 30,000 Taiwanese reside and more than 20,000 
tourists visited in 2005.  An even greater number of 
Vietnamese ) almost 180,000 - live or work in Taiwan. 
Taiwan would, however, like more support from Vietnam in 
these organizations, especially since Vietnam has such a 
critical role in hosting APEC 2006.  A Vietnamese contact of 
the Taiwanese Economic and Cultural Representative Office 
(TECRO) in Washington D.C. suggested the most effective means 
of increasing GVN support of Taiwan would be to ask the 
United States to encourage the Vietnamese and all APEC and 
WHO members to treat each other equitably.  End Summary. 
 
APEC 
---- 
 
¶2. (C) TECOH Chief Representative Huang began his February 22 
meeting with DCM John Boardman by noting that Taiwan was a 
full member of APEC and entitled to equal treatment with 
other APEC economies.  He noted, however, that despite his 
request for 90 hotel rooms for the November 2006 APEC Leaders 
Meeting, Huang received only 20 rooms in a January 25 APEC 
planning meeting led by the GVN.  (Note: As in Korea, the 
host government controls the hotel room allocation process 
for the Leaders Meeting, though they have not been involved 
in making reservations for other APEC events.  End note.) 
Indonesia and the Philippines, who will share the same hotel 
with Taiwan, each received 80 rooms, a far more reasonable 
number for their typical delegation size, said Huang.  He 
recently wrote the GVN,s National Committee for APEC 
requesting that Taiwan receive 60-70 additional rooms, but he 
has not received any response.  A Vietnamese contact in 
Washington D.C. reportedly told TECRO that Taiwan,s problem 
with hotel allocations was a result of strong Chinese 
pressure on the GVN to limit Taiwan,s participation in APEC. 
 The Vietnamese source suggested that high profile U.S. 
support of Taiwan would give the GVN the political cover it 
needs to be more accommodating. 
 
¶3. (C) Huang also expressed hope that APEC meetings of 
particular importance to Taiwan, specifically the Ministers, 
meeting on Women,s Issues, receive support from the United 
States.  This meeting was last held in 2002 in Mexico, and 
Taiwan would like to see it put on the 2006 agenda.  Huang 
encouraged the United States to support a proposal to 
schedule this event. 
 
¶4. (C) DCM Boardman asked Huang if Taiwan had raised these 
APEC concerns with the GVN or with other economies.  Huang 
replied that since Taiwan did not want to embarrass the 
Vietnamese nor have their 20 rooms publicly confirmed, Huang 
did not question the hotel assignments in the January 25th 
meeting but later wrote a letter seeking clarification from 
the GVN,s National Committee for APEC.  Huang said Taiwan 
would like more GVN support in APEC, but also wants to 
protect its flourishing relationship with Vietnam, where 
30,000 Taiwanese live and work and more than 20,000 Taiwanese 
tourists vacation each year.  With 180,000 Vietnamese 
resident in Taiwan, 69 flights per week between the two 
economies and an increasing number of trade opportunities, 
the Taiwanese do not want to offend their Vietnamese hosts. 
 
¶5. (C) DCM Boardman asked Huang several times if Taiwan had 
experienced any other specific incidents of discrimination in 
APEC, but Huang repeatedly stated he had no other examples to 
offer.  Taiwan is worried, however, that there will be some 
similar problems in the future, and would like the United 
States to raise at whatever level we deem appropriate the 
importance of respecting the equality of all APEC members at 
the upcoming Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) informal meeting 
on March 1 or at the plenary on March 2. 
 
WHO 
 
HANOI 00000421  002 OF 002 
 
 
--- 
 
¶6. (C) Huang asserted that Taiwan tries hard to participate 
in WHO meetings both in Hanoi and elsewhere, but Chinese 
efforts to limit their involvement make it difficult.  Taiwan 
has asked the GVN for more support in WHO, but the GVN 
repeatedly claims they cannot offer any support because of 
pressure from the Chinese.  Huang added that Taiwan has tried 
to help the GVN on health matters, noting that Taiwan gave 
the GVN more than 600,000 doses of Tamiflu at the height of 
the avian influenza problem last year.  They would like the 
GVN, in turn, to be supportive of them in health-related 
events. 
 
¶7. (C) Comment: The GVN,s willingness to bow to Chinese 
pressure seems, at present, to be a greater problem for U.S. 
APEC proposals on security issues than on actual Taiwanese 
participation in APEC events.  A GVN contact in Hanoi 
recently told Econoff that the Chinese government had 
demarched the GVN in early February on Taiwan,s APEC 
involvement.  Over the past three weeks, when Embassy Hanoi 
passed on questions from EAP/EP regarding the status of 
several U.S. APEC security proposals, GVN officials 
repeatedly said that they could not support the proposals 
until the question of Taiwan,s participation in them had 
been resolved.  The Taiwanese, however, seem to have 
experienced few actual instances of discrimination that would 
merit an intervention with the GVN.  The USG,s own need for 
more than 900 hotel rooms at the November 2006 Leaders 
Meeting, of which only 400 have been officially allocated to 
us, makes it difficult for us to comment on Taiwan,s need 
for an additional 60-70 rooms.  Their request that the United 
States make a public comment at the SOM regarding the 
equality of all APEC economies, however, would be easier to 
accommodate.  Such a statement of support would reinforce the 
view with which we want other APEC economies to regard our 
own APEC proposals, and help communicate Taiwan,s message to 
both China and Vietnam.  End Comment. 
MARINE