U.S. Rejects Soviet Offer On Bases

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28540, 20 March 1958, Page 11

U.S. Rejects Soviet Offer On Bases

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

(Rec. 8 p.m.) WASHINGTON, March 18. The Secretary of State, Mr John Foster Dulles, today rejected as “not very acceptable” Russia’s proposal that the United States liquidate its overseas bases as a price for an agreement to control outer space.

“They are mixing up two things that are quite unrelated,” Mr Dulles said on arriving back from a 10-day Far Eastern trip.

Mr Dulles described the Soviet proposal as “nothing new” a few moments after he stepped off an Air Force plane, ending a visit to the Philippines, (for the South-East Asia Treaty Organisation conference) and to Formosa.

Mr Dulles said the United States had been pushing for the last six months President Eisenhower’s proposal for an agreement to limit use of outer space to peaceful purposes. “At last it seems the Soviet is beginning to respond,” he said, “although this precise response is not in a very acceptable form.” Mr Dulles was commenting on the proposal which the Soviet Foreign Office announced on Saturday. This called for creation of a United Nations Outer Space Agency. Moscow coupled with this a demand that American overseas bomber bases, especially those in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, be dismantled.