[Australia]: Message to the United States [SEC=SECRET]

[Owen]

​

AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED STATES​

SECURITY CLASSIFICATION: TOP SECRET (ENCRYPTED)​

17 January 2004

Dear Ms. Yoshimitsu, I have been informed that the President has personally requested that Australia-United States relations begin to restart a once prosperous and close alliance. As the former Prime Minister of Australia I had the privilege of being able to foster such relations under my government. Now that I have been appointed as Ambassador to the United States, I am eager to do it once more for the Gillard Government. We find ourselves thrusted into many security issues ongoing in our region and around the world; Thailand, New Caledonia, the Vatican City, Iraq. These are no easy tasks, but they make them easier when you have trusted and reliable allies in different corners of the globe. Australia finds itself in a challenging time with increasing threats to its sovereignty. Whilst we believe Thailand is beginning to thaw its relations with western powers (and I will be honest: we have been having a level of friendly dialogue with them whilst maintaining an appropriate distance and restriction of information with them), everything they say or do needs to be taken with a grain of salt. Australians take for granted our unique geography and position in the globe, but every day we see that peace of mind increasingly become threatened as other nations seek to use the Pacific and immediate region for their own imperialistic aims. I propose that we organise a meeting between yourself and I at the Embassy here in Washington, along with representatives from the Australian Defence Staff here in Washington D.C., the Australian Federal Police and the Australian Trade and Investment Commission. Prime Minister Gillard has also informed me she wishes to have a state visit to the United States in the near future, something we can also discuss. I expect it to be a fruitful and productive discussion. Yours sincerely, Ambassador Kim Beazley.

Embassy of Australia, 1601 Massachusetts Avenue NW, WASHINGTON D.C. 20036 Telephone: +1 202-797-3000​

Protective Marking:	Business Impact Level:	Compromise of Information Confidentiality:	Required to be Encrypted:
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OFFICIAL	Low Business Impact	No or insignificant damage. This is the majority of routine information.
OFFICIAL: Sensitive	Low to Medium Business Impact	Limited damage to an individual, organisation or government generally if compromised.
PROTECTED	High Business Impact	Damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals.
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TOP SECRET	Catastrophic Business Impact	Exceptionally grave damage to the national interest, organisations or individuals.

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

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OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR EAST ASIAN AND PACIFIC AFFAIRS​

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ENCRYPTED MESSAGE​

TO: Kim Beazley, Australian Ambassador to the United States of America ( Owen )​

FROM: Kitagawa Yoshimitsu, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs

Ambassador Beazley,

Thank you for reaching out and for your kind message. The international situation is certainly unique at the moment, to say the least. I would be happy to meet with you, in person, at the Australian Embassy here in Washington. Thank you for your invitation. I cannot promise that I will have answers and solutions to everything, but hopefully we will be able to find some common ground and come to some proper solutions to the problems facing the world, or at least ourselves. I look forward to opening a dialogue with you and meeting you in person.

Best regards,

Kitagawa Yoshimitsu
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
​

Two armed agents from the Diplomatic Security Service would drive Assistant Secretary Yoshimitsu to the Australian Embassy at a predetermined time that was appropriate for both parties. She would arrive right on time and be escorted to the Embassy where she and her security detail would request to be admitted so that she could meet with the ambassador.

 

[Owen]

​

The Australian Embassy in Washington would not have a fence or gate of any sort, as Australia knew that the United States was a safe country to operate an embassy in. There would be a rotating door and a main lobby floor where there would be metal detectors, security guards and reception. Ambassador Beazley would be down in the lobby waiting to welcome the Assistant Secretary with other members of the staff; Defence Attache, Deputy Head of Mission and Military Representative to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

​

The Ambassador would welcome the Assistant Secretary to the Embassy.

"Ms. Yoshimitsu, what a pleasure it is to finally meet you. I've been anticipating this meeting for several months now. A few things have changed since my original letter, but please, let's go and discuss those." He would gesture and walk her up to the elevator where they would take it up to the top floor. They would walk into the Ambassador's main office where other members of the Embassy staff would be waiting around the meeting table in that office: tea, coffee and biscuits from Australia would be provided.

​

"Ms. Yoshimitsu, let me introduce you to some of our Embassy staff. Commodore Allison Norris our Liaison Officer to your Joint Chiefs of Staff, Commander Andrea Quinn of the Americas Branch of the Australian Federal Police, Air Vice Marshal Alan Clements our Defence Attache, Nigel Morris our Minister Counsellor Defence Material Organisation, Air Commodore Jim Brown our Air Force Advisor and Michael Thawley, the Deputy Head of Mission. Welcome.

We hope this can be a fruitful discussion, we have had a relationship that we believe has never faltered and we have always seen eye to eye on most matters. We hold a deep trust for the United States and we hope it is reciprocated. It is safe to say that the Asia-Pacific region is becoming increasingly volatile and we need a strong United States to make its presence known there otherwise peace-loving and free nations like ourselves will find themselves at the end of the barrel of a gun I'm afraid. Any opening remarks Madam Secretary?"

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

Private​

Assistant Secretary Yoshimitsu was a polite and quiet woman, but she was also very professional. She had ascended to her position through sheer hard work and dedication to the craft of diplomacy and some tradecraft she had done in the CIA. Those days, however, were over. She now had a comfortable job in the State Department that allowed her to enter into discourse with nations from her family's original homeland and other interesting places like Australia, Vietnam, and the Pacific islands. She greeted the ambassador and thanked him for inviting her to visit and discuss relations between the two countries as well as modern geopolitics. She would also greet the other people that she was introduced to and she started to hope that she wouldn't be out of her depth with the conversation that they were about to have.

"I just want to say that I am happy to be here and to jumpstart the continuation of relations between our countries. Since I am here at your invitation, I am happy to begin discussing whatever topics that you have prepared," she said politely.

Owen

 

[Owen]

"Well let's begin with the region shall we. As I mentioned in my original letter... "Australia finds itself in a challenging time with increasing threats to its sovereignty." Notably to these threats is Thailand. Now I did mention a warming in Australia-Thailand relations in that letter, but since then they have taken a massive dive. We see Thailand's diplomatic efforts as confusing and highly reactionary. The smallest incident that may arise between our nations is met with a certain fanfare from the Thai Government. Recently withdrawing their Ambassador and revoking recognition of Australia's sovereignty over a minor misunderstanding. It is highly concerning that a nation of their military size and influence should react in such ways. We see this as one of the most challenging times we have faced since the Second World War in terms of threats to Australia's sovereignty. The Australian Defence Force will have its work cut out for it as it continues to patrol and monitor our northern approaches.

We also have issues with other nations such as Poland having a prolonged presence in New Caledonia. We are concerned about this and we do believe they may have no plans of leaving, using New Caledonia as a base for Pacific operations. This is highly unacceptable obviously and we see the United States being able to play a diplomatic role there, we understand you maintain quite an influence over Poland. All round, we need the United States to play a strong diplomatic and military role in the Asia-Pacific going into the future."

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

"If you don't mind," the Assistant Secretary said, "can you expand on what the situation is between Thailand and Australia at this moment? We can talk about New Caledonia next.... I would like to understand how Thailand is threatening Australian sovereignty. It would be helpful if I could understand the situation best so that I can give you a complete answer and also tell you how we may respond, if a response is needed," she said.

The Assistant Secretary of State politely requested a sparkling water, if any was available. While other diplomats often engaged in conversation and tried to remember everything off the top of their heads, Assistant Secretary Yoshimitsu was not embarrassed to take notes. She took out a small notepad from an interior pocket of her jacket and uncapped an expensive ink as she started to write some things down.

Owen

 

[Owen]

"Thailand has withdrawn recognition of Australia's sovereignty, which is obviously a concern as they may feel the right to just enter Australian territorial waters or airspace without consequences as they don't recognise as us even exercising any right over it.

Thailand has in the past, sailed vessels extremely close to Australian territorial waters and in and around New Caledonia, which borders the Australian territory of the Coral Sea Islands. Everywhere we look around Australia's northern approaches we see Thailand projecting its military power. Thailand has made it clear they see their role in that broader South East Asia as the "defenders", which may see them trying to stop Australia in exercising its sovereign rights to defend its borders. We think it is only a matter of time until they make a move that violates that sovereignty. Australia has just signed a comprehensive military pact with Singapore, which I may add, has provisions in it to allow the United States to use Australian bases in Singapore on permission of the Singaporean Government. Singapore is obviously worried about Thailand too and they have recently become worried about Polish vessels transiting the Strait of Malacca in what we can only describe as a complete overreaction to the internal situation in Singapore. One Indian national died and suddenly they feel like its time to evacuate Polish citizens."

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

"Can you elaborate about Thailand withdrawing recognition of Australia's sovereignty? I take you at your word, Ambassador, but that is very... radical. Did the Thai nation send a message, or make a statement, in which they said that the Australian government is not legitimate? Or are you referring to Thailand withdrawing their ambassador?

"I have to say... It is extremely troubling if Thailand is actively sailing its ships into Australian territorial waters, or trying to violate Australian, or Singaporean, sovereignty. I can only hope that this is all a misunderstanding of some kind," she said.

Owen

 

[Owen]

"They told the Minister for Foreign Affairs in a message, I believe that is all the steps they have taken on that matter. It is very radical and took us by surprise, believe me. They also did tell us they were withdrawing their Ambassador but at this present time I do believe he still resides in Canberra.

Not quite sailing directly into Australian territorial waters, but coming extremely close. They are definitely pushing the boundaries of acceptable movements. As you can understand, this is not a new phenomena.

We do believe the time is right to deepen our relationship and build on areas where previous administrations have tried. We have still yet to sign any free trade agreement with the United States and are eager to do it, making it the third country after the United Kingdom and Singapore we have signed such agreement with. We plan on establishing institutions and bodies to represent the relationship, we have already established the US/Australia Parliamentary Friendship Group. In terms of defence, we did have that proposal for a security treaty which didn't progress further than a discussion, but the full text was put on the table. We feel like the relationship is at a point where we have the high regard for each other, throughout administrations, but no formalisation of the relationship. It seems to be no matter who is in The White House or The Lodge, we will always have a strong bilateral relationship.

The Prime Minister, who is currently conducting a state visit to Singapore, wishes to make a state visit to the United States in the near future to hopefully sign agreements and solidly strengthen this relationship and make it formal. I obviously understand that neither of us are in a position to sign agreements of such nature, but this discussion is hopefully the way we can get the ball rolling."

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

"I can't speak to free trade agreements, but I know that the United States does most certainly support trade between Australia and the United States. Outside of that, though, there are other modes of cooperation that we can talk about. But, going back to what we were just discussing, what exactly is your understanding of the situation in New Caledonia with Poland? If I remember correctly, the Polish were invited there by the French themselves. I admit that they have been there for some time, but nevertheless they are there at the invitation of the French. Do you think they have some malicious motives?" she asked.

Owen

 

[Owen]

"They were invited by the French and we don't think they have malicious motives at this point in time, but the overstaying is obviously a concern to our Government, as I'm sure you'd have the same concerns about any foreign force stationing itself in Cuba for any prolonged period of time, even if the Cuban Government invited them or not. We do not welcome non-Pacific nations projecting military power into the Pacific, particularly when we have such strong frameworks such as the South Pacific Forum in place. We hope that the Polish do begin to wrap up their operations soon. Which does bring me onto another point, we are looking at expanding the South Pacific Forum's capacity to take in multiple areas of cooperation which we think would be greatly beneficial to the United States' Pacific territories. We plan on having a Forum meeting in the near future to sign off on new areas of cooperation."

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

"I can fully understand concerns that you may have with another European nation - one that has not historically had ties to the Pacific - occupying a territory that it does not own. Nevertheless, I cannot imagine that the Polish government has any interests that are not in the interests of France, as they are allowing them to operate there..... Regardless, I know that the Navy plans to send a small flotilla through the Pacific. If this flotilla, which would consist of less than a dozen ships, would have the opportunity to refuel in Australia, it would be greatly appreciated. Perhaps the flotilla could navigate through some of these more troubled regions that you have brought up," she said as she adjusted her glasses.

"Do you think that could, perhaps, be helpful?" she asked.

Owen

 

[Owen]

"To be frank Madam Secretary, all Australian Defence Force bases are open to any branch of the United States Armed Forces at any time. We have a relationship where we believe that is not only expected, but necessary. Fleet Base East, which consists of six bases around Sydney Harbour is the main base on the east coast of Australia and for the Pacific Ocean. Also on the east coast facing the Pacific is HMAS Cairns in Cairns, HMAS Melville in Darwin which also has a Naval Fuel Installation at Stokes Hill and HMAS Creswell in the Jervis Bay Territory as well as small depots in Brisbane, Townsville and Newcastle.

Now I do understand its not your purview but we do require some equipment for the ADF, particularly in the realm of aircraft. Some more critical than the others. The most critical being the P-3 Orion, AP-3C variant for crucial maritime patrol tasks as well as the Boeing 737BBJ, so the Prime Minister can travel further. There would be more required down the track, but if you could pass this on to the relevant authorities so we could hopefully get some approval to either locally produce or import these aircraft that would be greatly appreciated. We're actually hoping the P-3 will only be a stop-gap measure to fill a critical capability until such time as we could potentially acquire the P-8 Poseidon in the future, which is something to be discussed in further meetings and I don't expect it to happen overnight."

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

"That sounds more than reasonable. While you may not need this many, I can authorize a limited production license for both of these aircraft for you today - twelve aircraft each. This will come at a cost of $100,000,000 and your government will be able to order the productions without them being blocked by any company or the Federal Government," she said.

"I can assure you that the Pentagon will be in touch when that deployment is made to your region of the world, and we may very well take advantage of the ability to refuel and replenish in Australia. From what I have heard, this may be a joint Navy-Coast Guard deployment to the area. Regardless, I think it will be productive," she said, and nodded.

"What else can I help you with today, Madam Ambassador?"

Owen

 

[Owen]

"Madam...." The Ambassador would think to himself. "Anyway..."

The Minister Counsellor Defence Material Organisation, Nigel Morris would speak up.

"We're actually looking to acquire 20 of the AP-3C Orions, in order to field two squadrons of 10. As you may be aware, we have a very large coastline and a large EEZ, 10% of the world's surface. We need a large fleet of maritime patrol aircraft to monitor these extensive maritime boundaries. We only need 2 of the Boeing 737BBJs, as this is only a VIP aircraft for the Prime Minister, one operating and one backup. I'm sure we can trade off the 10 extra 737's for 8 extra Orions."

The Ambassador would speak again. "Thank you Nigel...

Let's just recap where we're at Madam Secretary... so the Prime Minister wishes to make a state visit to the United States, have meetings with the President and address Congress. Are there any particular times this year which will work best? We also want to have a South Pacific Forum Leaders Meeting to sign off on further cooperation, which will require the signature of someone in the United States Government on behalf of American Samoa, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands, but also to have the leaders of those territories in the meeting. Will the Secretary of State be available soon for that?"

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

"Mister Ambassador, we can certainly approve this acquisition. I will be sure to get in touch with my contacts at the Pentagon and Boeing once we conclude this meeting. If your government transfers $125,000,000 to the United States, then your government will automatically be issued a Limited Production License which will be valid until the end of July, 2004 to build two 737s and twenty AP-3C Orions. Once the transfer has been made, please make my office aware," she said.

The Assistant Secretary listened carefully to the Australian request for a state visit and nodded her head. "That is a wonderful proposal that you have made. Right now, President Gore is in London for a state visit in the United Kingdom. Afterwards, we will be in the middle of campaigning for the next presidential race. Elections will be held in November and the next president will be sworn in during January of 2005. It would probably be best for both of us if the state visit waits until then so that we have plenty of time and so that your government will have a solid relationship with the new president, whomever he may be," she said.

Owen

 

[Owen]

"Thank you Madam Secretary, that has been sorted by the Treasury.

That would be perfectly acceptable and makes perfect sense. Just an unfortunate timing I guess. We are also expecting an election in the new year, April at the latest. Hopefully there are other ways we can continue to build the relationship. We propose an annual forum between our Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence and your Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense, the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultation "AUSMIN". This will allow us to keep building the relationship regardless of election cycles and hopefully we can sign off on some minor agreements in this forum. We would be happy to host the first consultation in Canberra and then have it be hosted on an alternating basis. We can have this happen in the next couple of months, though I must warn you, it is very cold in Canberra at this time of year so make sure they don't come expecting the beach and sunshine." He would chuckle.

"If the AUSMIN idea is all well and good, then we can conclude the meeting Madam Secretary, all other matters can be brought up in that forum."

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

"Depending on global events, I cannot always commit that the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of State themselves will always be available, but if they are, there shouldn't be any issue at all. Worst case scenario, they could send their deputies in their place if need be. I like the AUSMIN idea and I believe that the State and Defense Departments will as well. Thank you for taking the time to call this meeting, I feel that this was a productive exchange of ideas," she said. With that, if there was nothing else to add, she would bid the Australian Ambassador farewell and make her way back to her post at the State Department. She would deliver the information that she gathered to the State Department and make plans for some of the things that were discussed.

Owen