VZCZCXRO2681
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHBD #0496 2710734
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 280734Z SEP 06
FM AMEMBASSY BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3544
INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0403
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON 0071
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0375
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 0484
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL 0365
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 0060

C O N F I D E N T I A L BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN 000496 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR EAP/MTS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/28/2016 
TAGS: PREL ETRD PTER BX
SUBJECT: BRUNEI: WAIT AND SEE ON EAS, PREFERS APEC 
 
REF: CANBERRA 1461 
 
Classified By: DCM Justin Friedman, reasons 1.5 (b) & (d) 
 
¶1. (C) Foreign Minister II Lim Jock Seng, in a wide-ranging 
conversation with Ambassador and DCM (septels) on September 
21, told us that Brunei had very limited expectations for the 
East Asia Summit (EAS).  Lim said that in shaping the EAS 
agenda, China was deferring to ASEAN to take the lead. 
ASEAN, for its part -- both collectively and among individual 
members -- did not have its act together to drive this 
initiative.  He added that this left the field open for 
Australia and New Zealand to shape the EAS agenda.  Brunei 
has adopted a "wait and see" approach to EAS, hoping for 
something useful to come out of it, but approaching the 
upcoming events with low expectations. 
 
¶2. (C) On regional groupings more broadly, Lim said that the 
GoB finds APEC and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) the most 
useful and effective among the plethora of regional 
groupings.  Lim confirmed that the Sultan planned to attend 
this year's Leaders' Meeting, observing that the Sultan 
values and enjoys them more than any other regional 
gathering.  Lim continued that Brunei welcomes the inclusion 
of counterterrorism issues on the APEC agenda as well as in 
the ARF. 
 
¶3. (C) COMMENT: Lim's remarks about Australia's and New 
Zealand's potential influence on the EAS agenda are 
particularly interesting in light of Embassy Canberra's 
comment in reftel that the Australaians have taken a 
deliberately passive stance in the EAS to date.  END COMMENT. 
SKODON