VZCZCXRO7196
RR RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHGP #1638/01 2470838
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
R 040838Z SEP 07
FM AMEMBASSY SINGAPORE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3924
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHINGTON DC

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 SINGAPORE 001638 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/04/2017 
TAGS: PREL PHUM ECON PGOV SN
SUBJECT: SINGAPORE CONFIDENT ASEAN CHARTER WILL ADDRESS 
"COMPLIANCE" 
 
REF: SINGAPORE 1545 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Patricia L. Herbold.  Reasons 1.4(b)(d) 
 
¶1. (C) Summary: The ASEAN Charter is close to completion 
and should be ready for ASEAN leaders to sign at the 
November Summit in Singapore, MFA told us August 31.  After 
the November Summit, Singapore will use its position as 
ASEAN Chairman to push for "transitional arrangements" to 
move ASEAN from the Charter to a more integrated and 
cohesive organization.  Singapore has been a driving force 
to include mechanisms to address "compliance" with ASEAN 
agreements as part of the Charter and believes it has 
agreement on this from the other members.  The Charter will 
also create a human rights body, but its mandate and the 
standards it will apply have yet to be defined.  End Summary. 
 
ASEAN Charter 
------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) ASEAN's draft Charter is close to completion with 
most of its key provisions already agreed, MFA ASEAN 
Directorate Senior Assistant Director Chua Ying Ying told 
us August 31.  During the last Senior Officials Meeting in 
Manila, the officials agreed to include in the Charter the 
establishment of a human rights body and to authorize the 
principle of "ASEAN minus x" for economic agreements. 
Under this formula, one or more ASEAN members could opt out 
of an initiative while the rest of the organization moved 
forward. 
 
"Compliance" With ASEAN Agreements 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶3. (C) Singapore believes it has achieved agreement on 
mechanisms in the Charter to ensure that members live up to 
their agreements with ASEAN.  This is in response to a 
recommendation from ASEAN,s Eminent Person,s Group (EPG) to 
make ASEAN a more "rules-based" organization.  ASEAN has 
signed many agreements, but their utility is limited by 
countries that do not implement them, Chua observed. 
Singapore strongly supports this effort, and is largely 
responsible for language on "compliance" in the draft 
Charter, according to Chua.  Under the proposed provisions, 
the ASEAN Secretariat would be given the authority to monitor 
the compliance of ASEAN members with organization agreements. 
 If a member state were in "breach" of an agreement, the 
Secretariat would engage in discussions and arbitration with 
 
SIPDIS 
the state to encourage it to remedy the situation.  If 
arbitration failed, the matter would be referred to the 
leaders level for resolution.  Recalling earlier discussions 
of possible penalties or sanctions against recalcitrant 
members, Chua said the Charter would neither provide for nor 
preclude them.  The leaders could decide to punish a member, 
although she acknowledged that four decades of ASEAN custom 
has been to take decisions by consensus. 
 
Outstanding Issues and The Way Forward 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (C) Member states have not thus far expressed reservations 
about the Charter infringing on their sovereignty, Chua 
observed.  Contrary to her expectations, Burma had been 
cooperative so far in the development of the Charter, 
including provisions providing for dispute settlement and 
discussions of possible disciplinary action against members 
judged to be in "breach" of their agreements. 
 
¶5. (C) Regarding outstanding issues, Chua said the drafters 
of the Charter are still working out how to define lines of 
authority among various ASEAN-related bodies, including the 
ASEAN Standing Committee and the Senior Officials Meeting. 
The other key outstanding issue is what powers to give to the 
ASEAN Secretariat.  The ASEAN foreign ministers will meet in 
late September in New York to review the draft text, which 
would keep things on track for ASEAN leaders to sign the 
final document at the November Summit in Singapore. 
 
¶6. (SBU) The Charter is intended to be a "living document," 
Chua said.  It will include a reference on the need to 
review it on a regular (although not defined) basis.  After 
the November Summit, the GOS plans to use the rest of its 
ASEAN Chairmanship to push for "transitional arrangements" 
to move ASEAN from the Charter to a more integrated and 
cohesive organization. 
 
ASEAN Economic Community and the Environment 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶7. (SBU) In addition to signing the Charter at the November 
Summit, the ASEAN leaders will also sign the blueprint for 
 
SINGAPORE 00001638  002 OF 002 
 
 
the ASEAN Economic Community, which aims to create a single 
market for the region by 2015, Chua indicated.  She 
characterized the blueprint as a "legally binding" agreement. 
 (NOTE:  Chua noted that the Philippines recently took over 
as chairman of ASEAN's "economic track," which runs on a 
schedule roughly one year behind -- rotating at the time of 
the ASEAN Economic Minister,s Meeting -- the "political," or 
foreign-ministry led track that Singapore currently chairs. 
END NOTE.)  The other main focus of the November Summit will 
be the environment.  Chua said that ASEAN would issue two 
declarations, one on environmental sustainability and the 
other on promoting "livable cities." 
 
Human Rights Body 
----------------- 
 
¶8. (C) The Charter language on the ASEAN human rights body 
is relatively vague, Chua admitted.  There is only 
agreement on establishing it.  The Charter does not discuss 
what powers the body will have nor what human rights 
standards it will apply.  (Note: The GOS has already 
indicated publicly that the creation of the human rights 
body will not lead to any changes in Singapore's laws, 
which include restrictions on freedom of speech and 
assembly.  During question time in Singapore's Parliament 
on August 27, Second Foreign Minister Raymond Lim said, "I 
do not see the human rights body affecting Singapore's 
domestic laws or foreign policy.  It will, however, raise 
ASEAN's international standards."  End Note.) 
 
Closing the Development Gap 
--------------------------- 
 
¶9. (C) At the urging of the newer ASEAN members (Burma, 
Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam), the Charter will include a 
provision to establish a fund into which ASEAN members and 
ASEAN dialogue partners may voluntarily contribute funds 
for development assistance.  The newer ASEAN members have 
long urged the older and more economically-developed ASEAN 
members to provide aid and technical assistance to help 
them close the development gap, Chua said.  Singapore is 
presently the largest contributor of assistance to the 
newer members -- it has focused on providing human resource 
development through a variety of training courses 
(Reftel).  The GOS does not believe in providing any cash 
assistance, Chua added. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶10. (C) The GOS appears pleased with the progress to date on 
the ASEAN Charter and the apparent lack of obstructionism on 
the part of less-developed members on promoting mechanisms to 
ensure compliance with the organization,s agreements.  The 
more difficult struggle will lie ahead, however, in turning 
some of the vaguer precepts in the Charter into actual 
practice and transforming ASEAN into a more integrated, and 
rules-based, organization. 
 
Visit Embassy Singapore's Classified website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eap/singapore/ind ex.cfm 
HERBOLD