VZCZCXRO2764
PP RUEHCHI RUEHDT RUEHHM RUEHNH
DE RUEHBY #1202/01 3360926
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 010926Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY CANBERRA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0596
INFO RUCNASE/ASEAN MEMBER COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING PRIORITY 9266
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI PRIORITY 1129
RUEHUL/AMEMBASSY SEOUL PRIORITY 9625
RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO PRIORITY 3308
RUEHWL/AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON PRIORITY 5539
RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE PRIORITY 5800
RUEHBAD/AMCONSUL PERTH PRIORITY 4070
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY PRIORITY 4010

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CANBERRA 001202 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/RSP AND EAP/ANP 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2018 
TAGS: PREL ECIN EFIN AS
SUBJECT: AUSTRALIAN VIEWS ON DECEMBER ASEAN MEETINGS IN 
THAILAND 
 
REF: STATE 101453 
 
Classified By: Acting POL Chief John W. Crowley for reasons 1.4 (b)(d) 
 
SUMMARY 
------- 
¶1. (C) Australia expects only modest outcomes from the ASEAN 
meetings in Thailand during mid December, to include adoption 
of the ASEAN Charter and the development of the Human Rights 
Body, but believes these achievements could be threatened by 
Thailand's current political tensions.  In the ASEAN Plus 
Three, Australia expects China to seek a further evolution of 
the Chiang Mai Initiative - moving from bilateral to 
multilateral currency swap arrangements -- to help ease 
current financial difficulties.  In the East Asia Summit -- 
the only meeting in which Australia is a full member -- the 
GOA anticipates approval of a Thai proposal on Disaster 
Management and an Australian-proposed Statement on Finance 
aimed at bolstering conclusions reached at the recent G-20 
meeting in Washington.  Australia also hopes the 
ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement can be 
signed during the ASEAN sessions.  Prime Minister Rudd will 
attend the East Asia Summit, where he will promote his vision 
for an Asia Pacific Community by 2020.  End summary. 
 
¶2. (C) Poloffs discussed the December 15-18 ASEAN round of 
meetings in Thailand with Lynda Worthaisong, Director for 
ASEAN Regional Issues, Department of Foreign Affairs and 
Trade (DFAT), on November 25.  Worthaisong noted Thailand, as 
ASEAN Chair, has struggled to maintain focus in the midst of 
its political difficulties, as evidenced by the almost daily 
revisions of agenda items.  One result of the unrest was to 
force the Thai Government to move the ASEAN venue from 
Bangkok to Chiang Mai.  Moreover, Thailand's domestic 
political stalemate also has meant the Thai Parliament must 
approve any decision by the Royal Thai Government (RTG), 
which could delay or block Thailand's ability to join 
consensus on key ASEAN outcomes, such as the entry into force 
of the ASEAN Charter, she explained.  Accordingly, Australia 
had only modest expectations for the ASEAN meetings. 
 
¶3. (C) In addition to the ASEAN Charter, Worthaisong 
identified the development of a Human Rights Body as another 
possible outcome of the ASEAN Summit, but caveated that with 
a caution that the terms of reference agreed might make the 
entity ineffective.  She added Australia hoped the 
ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) 
ccould be signed during the ASEAN meetings.  Negotiations for 
the AANZFTA, originally proposed in 2004, were concluded at 
the 13th ASEAN Economic Ministers - Closer Economic Relations 
consultations in Singapore in August 2008. 
 
¶4. (C) At the ASEAN Plus Three, Worthaisong said China was 
expected to propose a statement that would expand and 
mulitlateralize the system of bilateral currency swaps and 
repurchase agreements that had been established under the 
2000 Chiang Mai Initiative.  The statement would call for 
some International Monetary Fund conditionality, for example 
in the case of Japan. 
 
¶5. (C) Worthaisong said Australia anticipated two main 
outcomes from the East Asia Summit.  The first was a 
RTG-initiated Disaster Management Proposal that would aim to 
institutionalize cooperative arrangements required to respond 
Qinstitutionalize cooperative arrangements required to respond 
to regional disasters, building on the experience of the 
December 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami.  The second, 
expected to be finalized after consultations with Japan, was 
an Australian proposed Statement on Finance that would seek 
to build confidence in East Asia's financial handling and to 
reinforce the conclusions of the G-20 meeting in Washington 
on November 14-15, 2008.  The Statement, prefaced by a 
discussion of the regional impact of the global financial 
crisis, would encourage fiscal stimulus in East Asia; endorse 
the G-20 leaders' approach; reject protectionism; strongly 
urge a conclusion to the DOHA round; and commend the ASEAN 
Plus Three financial statement, if issued.  The Statement 
would refer to the G-20 conclusions on the adequacy of 
resources of the International Monetary Fund and regional 
development banks, and call for reform of interantional 
financial architecture, including an insistence that 
developing and emerging markets must be part of the global 
 
CANBERRA 00001202  002 OF 002 
 
 
solution.  According to Worthaisong, Australia planned to 
suggest a study of East Asia's financial sector 
capacity-building needs, but acknowledged that there were 
suspicions within ASEAN related to Australian, New Zealand 
and Indian interests in the finance sector. 
 
¶6. (C) Other issues on the agenda for the EAS, according to 
Worthaisong, included Burma, DPRK, finance, energy security, 
education, avian influenza, and the long-standing Japanese 
proposal for an FTA among the 16 members of the East Asian 
Summit.  An initial feasibility study on the EAS FTA was 
completed earlier in the year, she noted, and the EAS was 
expected to endorse further Track II discussion.  While there 
were some advantages of an EAS Free Trade Agreement over the 
ASEAN Plus Three FTA, Worthaisong said there were 
sensitivities that the EAS FTA not be seen to be competing 
with the ASEAN Plus Three FTA.  Nonetheless, Australia wanted 
to see both FTA proposals move in parallel with one another. 
An EAS FTA would complement Australia's bilateral FTAs with 
Malaysia and Singapore, as well as a proposed bilateral FTA 
with Indonesia. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Worthaisong noted Prime Minister Rudd, who would be 
participating in the East Asia Summit for the first time, 
would use the occasion to promote his vision of an Asia 
Pacific Community (APC).  She added that Richard Woolcott, 
the former DFAT Secretary and veteran diplomat named by Rudd 
to be his special envoy for the APC, hoped to visit 
Washington as early as possible, preferably in February 2009, 
in order to brief and seek support of the incoming 
administration, including the new President, Secretary of 
State and U.S. Trade Representative, about the Asia Pacific 
Community concept. 
 
MCCALLUM