WikiLeaks: EAP/ANP Director McGann's visit to NZ

September 19, 2006 EAP/ANP Director McGann's visit to NZ: Pacific meeting

date:2006-09-19T01:27:00 source:Embassy Wellington origin:06WELLINGTON733 destination:VZCZCXRO6699 RR RUEHPB DE RUEHWL #0733/01 2620127 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 190127Z SEP 06 FM AMEMBASSY WELLINGTON TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 3278 INFO RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0316 RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 4537 RUEHPB/AMEMBASSY PORT MORESBY 0599 RUEHSV/AMEMBASSY SUVA 0512 RUEHIN/AIT TAIPEI 0070 RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI RHHJJAA/JICPAC HONOLULU HI RHEHAAA/NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL WASHDC RUEKJCS/OSD WASHINGTON DC classification:CONFIDENTIAL reference:06BEIJING8333|06SUVA350|06WELLINGTON536|06WELLINGTON655|06WELLINGTON733 ?C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000733

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/FO, EAP/ANP NSC FOR VICTOR CHA SECDEF FOR OS... ?C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 WELLINGTON 000733

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/FO, EAP/ANP NSC FOR VICTOR CHA SECDEF FOR OSD/ISA LIZ PHU PACOM FOR JO1E/J2/J233/J5/SJFHQ

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/16/2016 TAGS: PREL, PGOV, NZ, XV, US, CH, TW SUBJECT: EAP/ANP DIRECTOR MCGANN'S VISIT TO NEW ZEALAND: PACIFIC MEETING

REF: A. WELLINGTON 655 B. BEIJING 8333 C. WELLINGTON 536 D. SUVA 350

(U) Classified By: Deputy Chief of Mission David Keegan, for reason 1.4(b) and (d).

1. (C) SUMMARY: U.S. officials are interested in participating in a U.S. special session proposed by the Pacific Island Forum (PIF), EAP/ANP Director Steven McGann told the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) at a September 12 meeting in Wellington. McGann and MFAT agreed the USG and GNZ should work together to develop a PIF agenda that focuses on donor coordination, security coordination and transnational crime. MFAT remains concerned that China-Taiwan competition threatens GNZ efforts to promote good governance in the region, and worries as well about potential instability in Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Fiji. END SUMMARY.

2. (C) Identifying poverty as the Pacific Island region's most significant issue, MFAT Director for Pacific Affairs Heather Riddell told McGann and EAP/ANP Econoff Alisa Wong that the Pacific is second only to sub-Saharan Africa in being least able to meet Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for good governance and economic development. She reiterated New Zealand concern that competition between China and Taiwan is undermining GNZ's efforts to promote good governance in the region. McGann agreed, and said he had discussed this issue with Chinese officials during his April trip to Beijing (Ref B). Riddell said MFAT officials have also spoken with the Chinese, including during Vice Foreign Minister He Yafei's trip to Wellington earlier in the year (Ref C). NZAID officials have also traveled to Taiwan to deliver "a stern message" to Taiwan officials. McGann said that "China and Taiwan need to participate in a framework approved by regional partners and the PICs themselves."

3. (C) Niels Holm, MFAT Deputy Director for Pacific Regional Affairs, said that although the PRC says the right things regarding responsible development, it practices the opposite when it comes, as it almost always does, to competing with Taiwan. He added that although most Chinese migration and transnational crime are beyond the Chinese government's oversight, they have real potential to exacerbate poverty in the PICs. GNZ's message to Pacific Island leaders is that they need to ensure their countries are not the weak links in regional law enforcement and security. McGann agreed, noting that it was not ethnic Fijians that introduced methamphetamine to Fiji, but organized crime based out of Mainland China. Holm said GNZ is drafting a strategy paper on countering PRC negative influence in the region, including through approaches to senior leaders. They are also trying to work with PRC think tanks, although NZ's Beijing embassy says this has not been effective as the PRC central government tends to control the think tanks' work. Riddell reemphasized NZ's desire to work with us to deliver consistant messages to China and Taiwan.

4. (C) McGann was pleasantly surprised to learn that GNZ was the originator of PIF Secretary General Greg Urwin's proposal to hold a special U.S session on the final day of PIF Leaders meeting in Nadi, Fiji on October 25 (ref D). Riddell and McGann agreed this could be a more constructive meeting than the Post Forum Dialogue (PFD) and NZ and US officials should work together to quickly develop an agenda. McGann suggested one goal should be to get China to take more responsibility for Chinese-originated crime in the PICs. Riddell suggested that regional research and development into identifying feasible fossil fuel alternatives might be another area for discussion. Speaking of the PFD, Holm said that for years partners had not gotten enough from the session, and it will be important to find a way to give more attention to dialogue with major players such as the United States in order to ensure that senior respresentatives from dialogue partners continue to attend the PIF. Leaders will hopefully decide at this year's PIF on a more substantive

WELLINGTON 00000733 002 OF 002

process to engage third country partners.

5. (C) Riddell and McGann next reviewed the situation in Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Fiji. On PNG, Riddell suggested that the Expanded Cooperation Program (ECP) is helping to push back the state of emergency in the Southern Highlands but can do no more than preserve the long-standing dysfunctional society. Riddell said the commission of inquiry into the cause of the Solomon Island riots was having some "push back" effect on the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands (RAMSI). She agreed to provide the DCM with a more detailed GNZ assessment of Taiwan's role in the inquiry before his September 19 lunch with Taiwan's trade rep in Wellington. Riddell said New Zealand believes the new government in Fiji has contributed to a more stable environment, but cited disagreement on foreshore ownership as a potential cause of political instability. McCormick

ENDS

© Scoop Media