Cablegate: China: Central Bank Interested in Anti-Money Laundering

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TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 8991
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E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ECON EFIN PREL EINV CH PTER
SUBJECT: China: Central Bank Interested in Anti-money Laundering
Cooperation

SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED; PLEASE PROTECT
ACCORDINGLY

Ref: (A) Glaser-Loevinger e-mail 7/14/08
(B) Beijing 2941 and Previous

1. (SBU) Summary: China's Central Bank official responsible for
anti-moneylaundering (AML) issues confirmed Chinese concerns
regarding the Financial Action Task Force's (FATF's) recent draft
guidance papers on implementing the financial provisions of UNSR
1803 regarding Iran. The Chinese welcomed bilateral discussions
following examination of FATF's draft guidance papers and also
discussed Chinese progress on meeting FATF standards. Receptive to
further cooperation, he agreed AML issues might have a place in SED
V, and asked for an update on U.S. relations with Iran. End
summary.

Consultations on FATF Welcomed
------------------------------

2. (SBU) On July 23, FinAtt and Econoff met with the People's Bank
of China (PBOC) Director General for Anti-money Laundering Xu Tang
to discuss FATF's recently issued draft guidance papers on
implementation of UNSCR 1803.

3. (SBU) Xu confirmed Chinese concerns about FATF's approach (see
ref A), and said further discussions would be welcome and useful.
As the draft guidance had just been released, PBOC would like to
study the information first and would then respond to our offer.

4. (SBU) Xu requested that after the September FATF mutual
evaluation mission, given China's progress in meeting FATF's core
standards, the United States agree to support dropping the special
procedures that China had agreed to when joining FATF. (Note: When
China joined FATF, it agreed to special procedures such as reports
on progress made in implementing core standards to be delivered at
every plenary. End note.)

SED and AML
-----------

5. (SBU) Responding to a suggestion from FinAtt, Xu said PBOC would
be willing to consider including anti-money laundering issues in the
SED V to promote greater cooperation. On trade-based money
laundering, Xu acknowledged the need for a better way to share
bilateral information, and noted PBOC's openness to suggestions on
how to implant FATF best practices on countering such practices .

Relations with Iran
-------------------

6. (SBU) Xu asked whether the news that the United States was
opening an office in Iran indicated a softening of the USG's Iran
policy. He asked to be kept abreast of any changes in the U.S.
stance toward Iran as it would have implications for their own
policies.

RANDT

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