Secretary Clinton’s Upcoming Trip To India And Thailand

[chuenjit]

From http://www.uspolicy.be/Article.asp?ID=F30A...6E-D064F1978DB7

"The Secretary’s trip to Thailand kind of has two parts, both physically and in terms of policy objectives. Part one is, if you will, a brief bilateral visit to Bangkok, where the purpose of that is to talk with our good friends, our Thai allies, about the broad range of issues in the bilateral relationship and also how we see the region and how we can work together even more in the region.

As you know, the Thais, a longtime ally, our oldest diplomatic relationship in Asia. So the visit is a great opportunity for the Secretary to talk to her Thai partners about the relationship, to emphasize the importance of it both in terms of her own meetings as well as public events, and to talk about some very real issues, including in the region. The Thai also, of course, are the chair of ASEAN. And so we’ll be talking to them a little bit about ASEAN and the ASEAN regional forum.

Then she will go on to Phuket for the – for a couple of events. There is the ASEAN post-ministerial conference. And the key piece of that, if you will, is the Secretary will meet with her ten ASEAN counterparts. The ASEANs do a rotating series of meetings with their dialogue partners. So she will sit down with her ten ASEAN counterparts to talk about ASEAN. And then the next day is the ASEAN regional forum ministerial, where the ministers from the 27 ARF countries talk more broadly about regional security.

Let me just make – highlight a couple of points. On the multilateral side, in ASEAN – in the ASEAN event, as you know from the Secretary’s travel to Jakarta in February, the Administration is very focused on improving our relationship with ASEAN. We want to see ASEAN succeed. It’s in our interest for the countries of Southeast Asia to further integrate and to grow stronger. And so she’ll emphasize our interest in ASEAN, our interest in further building our own direct relationship with ASEAN, as well as improving our relationship with the ASEAN member countries. I expect that issues such as Burma will come up in that meeting and – but it’s an opportunity for her and for the ten ministers all to raise any issues they want. I think the focus of that meeting itself is going to be mostly on the U.S.-ASEAN relationship.

The ARF ministerial with – again, you have 27 countries represented – it’s – they have pretty much a half-day session. And each minister can raise whatever security issues, both traditional and nontraditional, that he or she wishes. So it’s likely to cover a wide range of issues, everything from climate change and disaster relief to pandemic influenza to North Korea to Burma, and there could be, and likely will be, many other issues raised. So it’s a very broad discussion.

A couple of other things that she will do there: She will do some bilateral meetings. As I said, we have 27 countries represented there, almost all at the foreign ministerial level. So she’s likely to do some bilateral meetings. Those are still being finalized. She will also do a meeting with the foreign ministers of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Thailand together. This will be the first time that a Secretary of State’s done such a meeting, at least the first time I’m aware of. And that’s to talk about some common issues that affect particularly the Mekong River region. It’s going to, I think, talk more about health, environment, and those types of issues in that meeting.

She also will see, in addition to seeing the prime minister of Thailand in Bangkok, she will see the foreign minister in Phuket. And the reason she’s seeing him there is because he’s in Phuket the whole week to host other series of meetings that are going on there.

Let me stop there and, like Bob, take your questions.

Q: Glenn Kessler with the Post. Scot, in terms of Burma, it seems like the Burma review has not been completed, and she’s headed there without necessarily a policy in hand. What – I wonder if you could confirm that as well as the reasons for why that review has not been completed. And are there any kind of principles that she’s going to lay out, any kind of core U.S. interests in dealing with Burma that she can bring to ASEAN to lay some markers down?

MR. MARCIEL: Right. It’s a good question, Glenn. As you know, the policy review has been underway since she announced it in February. It’s been slowed, I guess I would say, because of the new developments, specifically the Burmese arrest and prosecution of Aung San Suu Kyi, and that ongoing trial is certainly factoring into our policy review.

But I would disagree slightly with your premise that she’s going there without a policy. I mean, we – the fact that we haven’t completed this policy review doesn’t mean that we’re without diplomatic tools or fundamental policy. The fundamental policy remains the same, which is to do whatever we can to try to encourage progress in Burma. And by progress, I mean the beginning of a dialogue between the government and the opposition and the ethnic minority groups, release of political prisoners and improved governance and, we would hope, more of an opening to the international community.

So those fundamental principles, if you will, haven’t changed. The policy review is really looking at what can we do that might help us better achieve those goals, and that’s still very much under review.

Q: And just to follow up on that, hasn’t, though, the fact that you don’t have a review completed kind of hampered your ability to, for instance, talk about the border incursions that are going on, you know, because of the offensive against the Karen. As far as I can tell, the first time the U.S. really made a statement on that was at the UN earlier this week. And – you know, hasn’t that been a hindrance to you?

MR. MARCIEL: No, I don’t think the policy review has hindered us at all from both speaking out publicly and from being very active diplomatically. I mean, we’ve been extremely active diplomatically on Burma policy. Because, as I said, the basis of our policy, the fundamental principles of our policy are set. It’s – the policy review is sort of trying to figure out the details, or how can we be more effective. But we’re not left empty-handed or frozen, if you will, by the fact that the review’s not completed.

Q: So is she going to express concern about what’s happening on the border with Thailand when she’s there?

MR. MARCIEL: I don’t want to try to predict exactly what she’s going to say. I’m confident that she will raise Burma and express our concerns quite clearly.

MR. KELLY: Let me go to Arshad Mohammed with Reuters.

Q: One question for Secretary Blake: Do you expect any – do you expect to sign the EUM agreement, the end use monitoring agreement, when you’re in India? And do you have any reason to believe that India may announce sites for the U.S. sort of designated nuclear power plants?

And then, Mr. Marciel, on North Korea, it’s our understanding from the organizers that North Korea is going to be represented by an ambassador, not by its foreign minister, in Phuket. Is Mr. Bosworth going, and are there any plans for contact at any level between U.S. officials and whoever is the North Korean representative?

ASSISTANT SECRETARY BLAKE: Arshad, with respect to your question about the end use monitoring agreement, we hope to be able to sign that, and obviously, that will take place on Monday of next week. On the question of the two nuclear sites, again, we hope that that – we’ll be in a position to be able to announce publicly those two sites where U.S. companies can have exclusive right to locate reactors and sell reactors to the Indians. And we think that that’s a major opportunity for American companies. It opens up as much as $10 billion worth of new exports to India. So again, we hope to be in a position for both sides to announce it.

MR. MARCIEL: Arshad, on your North Korea question, we too have seen the same reports that the North Koreans will be represented, I think, by an ambassador-at-large or something – someone besides the foreign minister. Ambassador Bosworth is not planning to go. At this point, we are not planning any meetings with the North Koreans. We certainly expect North Korea to be discussed extensively in the visit. I guess I wouldn’t completely rule out the possibility of a discussion with the North Koreans, but at this point, there’s nothing set. And I think there’s going to be, Ian, a background briefing, right, on North Korea?

MR. KELLY: Yeah. We’re trying to arrange a background briefing later this afternoon with senior Administration officials on North Korea.

Q: One more on that. Is there likely to be a meeting of the five, you know, parties in the Six-Party Talks other than North Korea on the sidelines in Phuket?"

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