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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 PARTO 112706 
 
(Note: the unique message record number (MRN) has been modified. The original MRN was 09 PARTO 000006, which duplicates a previous PARTO telegram number.) 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/13/2019 
TAGS: OVIP CLINTON HILLARY PREL PGOV PARM KNNP
ETTC, SG 
SUBJECT: (C) Secretary Clinton's November 14, 2009, 
Conversation with Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo 
 
PARTO 00000006  001.3 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  (U)  Classified by:  Kin Moy, Deputy Executive 
Secretary, S/ES, Department of State.  Reason 1.4.(d). 
 
¶2.  (U)  November 14, 2009; 10:15 a.m.; Singapore. 
 
¶3.  (U) Participants: 
 
U.S. 
The Secretary 
Charge Dan Shields 
Lieutenant General Paul Selva 
DAS Scot Marciel 
Deputy Chief of Staff Huma Abedin 
Deputy Chief of Staff Jake Sullivan 
Senior Advisor Philippe Reines 
Mary-Gardner Coppola (Notetaker) 
 
SINGAPORE 
Foreign Minister George Yeo 
Singapore Ambassador to the U.S. Chan Heng Chee 
Deputy Secretary for Asia Pacific Chua Siew San 
Americas Director Ng Teck Hean 
ASEAN Director Kwok Fook Seng 
Special Assistant Francis Goh 
Americas Assistant Director Jasmine Tan (Notetaker) 
 
¶4.  (C) SUMMARY.  Singaporean FM Yeo said people in the 
region were "sitting up and taking notice" of strong 
efforts by Secretary Clinton and the United States 
Government to deepen U.S. engagement with Asia.  At a 
meeting on the margins of the Asia Pacific Economic 
Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meetings in Singapore, the 
Secretary told FM Yeo that the United States recognized 
Singapore's significant work on nonproliferation and 
encouraged Singapore to take a more proactive role on 
non-proliferation with regard to Burma, North Korea, and 
Iran.  The Secretary requested the FM's views on the 
evolving regional architecture.  FM Yeo said the most 
important regional institution is APEC.  He stressed the 
need for balance in the region as China rises, with 
APEC, China's favored ASEAN-Plus-3, the East Asian 
Summit, and other regional arrangements all playing a 
role.  He expressed concern that Australia's Asia 
Pacific Community proposal did not give enough weight to 
ASEAN.  He noted that India should play a bigger 
regional role, but cautioned that expanding APEC to 
include India and others in the future could make APEC 
too big to function effectively.  The Secretary noted 
U.S. engagement with Burma and urged that Singapore and 
ASEAN do more to promote political dialogue in the lead- 
up to Burma's 2010 elections.  END SUMMARY. 
 
---------------------------- 
NONPROLIFERATION COOPERATION 
---------------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) FM Yeo said people in the region were "sitting 
up and taking notice" of strong efforts by Secretary 
Clinton and the United States Government to deepen U.S. 
engagement with Asia.  The Secretary, after sharing 
impressions from her trip to the Philippines, expressed 
appreciation to FM Yeo for Singapore's leadership within 
the Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) and asked 
how the United States could work with ASEAN and APEC to 
advance counterproliferation efforts.  FM Yeo offered 
the example of the Southeast Asia Nuclear Weapons Free 
Zone (SEANWFZ) as a regional effort worth supporting. 
He said there had been discussion in the region of the 
possibility of the United States' joining SEANWFZ, with 
the clear understanding that this would not affect any 
transit of naval ships.  The key is to keep any 
Southeast Asian nation from seeking nuclear weapons, he 
said.  FM Yeo said the Burmese leaders deny seeking 
nuclear weapons.  The Secretary said the United States 
has seen disturbing indications that Burma was working 
with North Korea to begin to develop capabilities 
 
PARTO 00000006  002.3 OF 003 
 
 
associated with nuclear weapons. 
 
¶6.  (C) Turning to the situation in Iran, the Secretary 
said the United States had worked hard to secure 
Russia's support within the P5+1 to present Iran with 
the proposal to process its uranium outside the country. 
While Iran had accepted the proposal in principle, it 
had not yet agreed to implementation and Iran's internal 
debate seemed to be continuing.  The Secretary asked 
that Singapore urge Iran to meet its international 
obligations.  This was an issue that had the potential 
to destabilize the already troubled Middle East, she 
emphasized, in that Iran's possession of nuclear weapons 
could cause a domino effect in the region that would be 
difficult to control.  Malaysia would be the next chair 
of the IAEA, and it would be important for Malaysian 
leaders to call for an end to nuclear proliferation. 
The Secretary urged Singapore to reach out to its 
Malaysian neighbors, both bilaterally and through ASEAN, 
to emphasize the importance of the IAEA as an 
operational institution with real teeth.  FM Yeo said 
Malaysian PM Najib understood what Malaysia needed to do 
on this issue. 
 
------------------------------------- 
DEVELOPMENTS IN REGIONAL ARCHITECTURE 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶7.  (C) The Secretary elicited the FM's views on how the 
United States could best sustain and enhance its 
regional engagement and participation in the emerging 
regional architecture.  FM Yeo said the most important 
regional institution was APEC, which was developing a 
good culture of cooperation and was moving in the right 
direction.  China recognized APEC's importance, which 
was why China sent President Hu Jintao to APEC but not 
to other regional gatherings.  FM Yeo stressed the 
importance of member economies' maintaining their 
commitment to APEC, particularly as world trade and 
development increasingly becomes Asia Pacific-centric. 
He stressed the need for balance in the region as China 
rises, with APEC, China's favored ASEAN+3, the East 
Asian Summit (EAS), and other regional arrangements all 
playing a role.  The Secretary stated that it was not 
surprising that much of the discussion about regional 
architecture focused on the rise of China.  However, it 
was important to ensure that regional dynamics 
incorporates checks and balances that promote 
accountability and transparency, she said. 
 
¶8.  (C) FM Yeo said most countries in the region, 
including China, appreciated the need for regional 
balance.  He expressed concern, however, over how to 
balance China's increasingly influential position.  The 
Chinese were skilled, he said, at using economics and 
trade to advance political objectives.  China's long- 
term focus was on the ASEAN+3 concept, which includes 
China, Japan, and Korea.  Japan and the ROK seemed 
increasingly prepared, given their major economic 
interests in China, to focus on that approach.  No one 
in Southeast Asia, however, wanted to see China as the 
only big player on the scene, he said.  This is why 
ASEAN continued to focus on ensuring the United States, 
India, the EU, Australia, and others remained engaged in 
the region, he said.  The EAS, which incorporates India, 
Australia and New Zealand, provided some balance. 
Unfortunately, stated Yeo, Australian PM Rudd did not, 
at least initially, see the importance of maintaining 
and consolidating these existing structures.  Regarding 
PM Rudd's proposal for an Asia Pacific Community, FM Yeo 
indicated that Singapore and many of its neighbors did 
not appreciate the fact that the concept as initially 
articulated, excluded ASEAN, except for Indonesia. 
 
¶9.  (C) On India, the Secretary observed that Prime 
Minister Singh had worked very hard to have India assume 
 
PARTO 00000006  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
a leadership position on the international stage, but it 
would require significant changes within the Indian 
bureaucracy before India broke out of its traditional 
role as the voice of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM). 
She noted that it was harder for India, with its 
commendable focus on democracy and economic development, 
to step forward as a world leader than it was for China, 
whose leaders were unencumbered by the concerns of a 
pluralistic society.  FM Yeo agreed and stated that 
Singapore viewed India's resource-constrained Foreign 
Service as severely hampering the country's ability to 
assume more of a leadership position. 
 
¶10.  (C) FM Yeo acknowledged the increasingly important 
role that India occupied within the region, but 
expressed skepticism about the prospect of India's being 
invited to join APEC in the future.  APEC had never 
brought on new members one at a time, said FM Yeo, and 
the non-APEC members of ASEAN, as well as additional 
Latin American countries like Colombia, had expressed 
interest in APEC membership.  Singapore's preference was 
to consolidate the current APEC agenda, which, while not 
perfect, was the region's best chance for building 
institutions that promoted regional integration.  FM Yeo 
believed that if APEC were enlarged, instead of 
deepened, the organization could become too unwieldy and 
this would distract from efforts to ensure that China 
played by the rules. 
 
¶11.  (C) FM Yeo suggested that, when the United States 
hosts APEC in 2011, Washington should consider building 
on the precedent of the existing Foreign Ministers' 
breakfast to expand activities by the APEC Foreign 
Ministers.  The Secretary said the United States would 
consider the suggestion.  The implicit idea, said Yeo, 
was that by expanding the role of Foreign Ministers, 
APEC could take on important political issues in the 
region without running up against China's sensitivities 
about involving Hong Kong and Taiwan in international 
political discussions. 
 
----- 
BURMA 
----- 
 
¶12.  (C) The Secretary noted the United States' recent 
efforts to engage the Burmese senior leadership.  She 
encouraged Singapore to urge Burma's leaders to hold 
elections that could be deemed credible by the 
international community, and to initiate a domestic 
dialogue with key players toward that end.  During 
Assistant Secretary Campbell's and Deputy Assistant 
Secretary Marciel's trip to Burma November 3-5, they had 
passed the message that the United States was ready to 
support trade and development with Burma, but that the 
Burmese generals must reciprocate with tangible 
progress.  Aung San Suu Kyi is determined to find a way 
forward, the Secretary said. 
 
¶13.  (C) The Secretary recognized that behind the scenes 
Singapore has pressed the regime on the importance of 
reform, but Thailand and Indonesia had been much more 
vocal on the matter of late.  She added that Indonesia, 
which has a big stake in the future of Burma, is keen to 
mentor the Burmese on the value of a military 
transition, based on Indonesia's own experience.  The 
Secretary urged Singapore and ASEAN to do more.  Yeo 
confirmed that Singapore would continue to encourage the 
Burmese leadership along the path of reform and would 
hold them accountable for the elections. 
 
¶14.  (C) As the meeting concluded, FM Yeo requested that 
the United States consider supporting Singapore's 
request to become a formal member of the G-20 grouping. 
CLINTON