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C O N F I D E N T I A L MONTEVIDEO 000570 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR WHA/AS TSHANNON 
DEPT ALSO FOR WHA/BSC DBARNES, CCROFT, BFRIEDMAN AND SMURRAY 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/21/2016 
TAGS: PREL ECON ETRD PINR OTRA CH JA KS UY
SUBJECT: CHINESE AND KOREAN AMBASSADORS' PERSPECTIVES ON 
LATIN AMERICA 
 
REF: STATE 70035 
 
Classified By: Charge D'Affaires James D. Nealon 
for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: Charge met separately with Ambassadors from 
the Peoples Republic of China (PRC) and South Korea to 
discuss regional perspectives in the wake of Assistant 
Secretary Shannon's trip to Asia on April 8-15. Chinese 
 
SIPDIS 
Ambassador Wang Xioyuan said he had been briefed on A/S 
Shannon's visit to Asia, and termed his engagement "important 
and constructive." Korean Ambassador Tae-Shin Jang also said 
he had been briefed on the Assistant Secretary's visit to 
Asia and similarly characterized it as constructive. Both 
Ambassadors implied that Uruguay was not especially 
significant for their respective countries, but that their 
missions were needed to maintain a presence in the region. 
Charge has also requested a meeting with the Japanese 
Ambassador (who has been traveling) and expects to consult 
with him when he returns. End Summary. 
 
China 
----- 
 
¶2. (C) Charge met June 16 with Ambassador Wang at his 
residence.  Wang arrived in Uruguay three months ago from 
Equatorial Guinea.  He has served previously in the region, 
in Cuba and Mexico.  He speaks excellent Spanish.  Charge 
opened the conversation by mentioning Assistant Secretary 
Shannon's recent trip to Asia, and the Ambassador cut in and 
said "Yes, I've been briefed on the visit. It was important 
and constructive."  Wang told Charge that he is here to 
"improve trade".  He said that China's current trade in Latin 
America is about 50 billion dollars per year, and that "it 
needs to be much more." He added that fourteen billion 
dollars of trade is with Brazil and five billion is with 
Argentina. Regarding political developments in the region, 
Wang refused to be drawn in saying, that "We have good 
relations throughout the region. Political labels like left 
and right are not important to us."  The issue of Taiwan did 
not surface. 
 
¶3. (C) Turning to the PRC's relations with Uruguay, Wang 
couldn't put a figure on total Uruguay-China trade.  When 
asked, as the press has reported, if Uruguay has approached 
China about a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), Wang laughed and 
said "I've read the same stories. I've had neither formal nor 
informal talks about free trade, though I would like to."  He 
opined that Uruguay should emulate Chile and open up to the 
world and reported that China's FTA with Chile, negotiated in 
less than a year, has led to a boom in trade between the two 
countries.  Asked about Chinese investment in Uruguay, Wang 
said there are three substantial investments: a hardware 
company selling to the state-owned fixed-line telephone 
company, a small fishing fleet and an effort to assemble 
trucks in the Colonia free zone, which has been on-and 
off-again.  On bilateral trade, Wang said that China is 
Uruguay's top customer for wool.  China buys very little 
beef, because Uruguay cannot compete with Australia on price. 
Uruguay sells some high-end beef for tourist restaurants, 
Wang said. 
 
Korea 
----- 
 
¶4. (C) Charge met on June 20 with Korean Ambassador Jang. 
Jang speaks excellent English and some Spanish, having served 
previously in Norway, Peru, Russia and Indonesia.  He has an 
MA from SAIS, and his wife attended the University of 
Maryland. The couple has an eight-year old son living with 
them. Jang is reportedly recovering from liver cancer and 
sticks to a strict diet of Korean food. He enjoys Karaoke 
singing and has a wry sense of humor. 
 
¶5. (C) Jang had also been briefed on A/S Shannon's meetings 
in Korea, and termed them "constructive."  Jang described 
 
Korean-Uruguayan relations as excellent, "but there is very 
little going on", and indicated that Seoul was not much 
interested in Uruguayan domestic politics.  Bilateral trade 
is 60 million dollars a year, "negligible" according to Jang. 
 Korean businessmen know nothing about Uruguay and it is hard 
to get them interested.  The internal market is too small, he 
said, and Mercosur doesn't work well enough for Uruguay to be 
attractive as a regional center. He said that Korean products 
are too expensive to compete here, especially because of 
shipping costs. Korea has not considered an FTA with Uruguay 
because the trade volume wouldn't justify the time and 
effort. Korean investment in Uruguay is tiny. Its largest 
investment is in a fleet of 40 high seas fishing boats, 
though Koreans (Reverend Moon group) owns the downtown 
Radisson hotel and the daily newspaper "Ultimas Noticias". 
 
¶6. (C) Turning to the region, Jang described Korean relations 
with Latin American countries as "excellent" across the 
board.  He noted that China has done a superb job of 
cultivating a soft, benign image in the region, in direct 
contrast to the current image of the United States in Latin 
America.  He said that, ironically, China is now seen in many 
places as neutral, whereas the U.S. is perceived as having a 
political agenda. (Note: In another setting, Jang said he 
believed that the US handling of North Korea was purposely 
"bellicose" to justify the presence of the Seventh Fleet and 
US military bases in the Far East." 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶7. (C) Chinese Ambassador Wang was predictably guarded in his 
comments about his country's activities in Uruguay and the 
region. Korean ambassador Jang, while more forthcoming, 
downplayed the importance of Uruguay to Korea and obviously 
enjoyed being at post that was quiet and not high on Seoul's 
radar screen. Both diplomats appeared willing to engage in 
future conversations about Latin America in the future. End 
Comment. 
Nealon