West Seeks Counter To Soviet Berlin Move

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28758, 2 December 1958, Page 15

West Seeks Counter To Soviet Berlin Move

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, December 1; The United States and its Western Allies were expected to urge the Soviet Union to agree to a Four Power meeting to discuss the entire German problem as well as the question of European security, officials said today, the United Press International reported. However, the officials dismissed as sheer propaganda the reported suggestion of the Soviet Premier, Mr Khrushchev, of a Big Four “round table” discussion on the Berlin crisis alone. Britain, France and the United States already have begun a series of Ambassadorial meetings in Western capitals to hammer out a counter-proposal to Mr Khrushchev’s proposal last week that the Western Allies evacuate Berlin and turn their sectors of the former German capital into a “demilitarised free city.” - :

Officials in Washington said the Western Big Three were seeking a formula for a counter-proposal which in general would call for a Big Four meeting on the entire German question, instead of merely Berlin. Diplomatic sources said Mr Khrushchev emphasised at a Moscow reception that unless the West met his six-month deadline for a start on negotiations on Berlin, Russia would proceed with the plan aimed at making a “demilitarised free city” out of West Berlin. It was expected that the West would make a formal proposal to Russia for talks on the entire German question after the December 16 meeting in Paris of N.A.T.O. Foreign Ministers. A Reuter correspondent m Washington reported today that United States officials said Mr Khrushchev had opened the prospect of a whole series of EastWest exchanges on the German question in months to come.

One high-ranking official said the Soviet Premier’s proposal for a “free city,” although unacceptable in itself, had left the door ajar. The United States, for its part, wanted to push the door wide open and discuss a wide range of issues extending far beyond the limited Berlin enclave.

The Washington correspondent of the "New York Times,” James Reston, said today the United States was preparing for a long series of negotiations, first with its allies and then with the Soviet Union, on the future of Germany and the security of Western and Central Europe. The United States Secretary of State, Mr Dulles, had proposed a meeting in Paris in a few weeks with the British and ' French Foreign Ministers to discuss the Soviet manoeuvre, Reston said.