Western Reply On Disarmament Soon

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29227, 10 June 1960, Page 15

Western Reply On Disarmament Soon

(Rec. 10 p.m.) GENEVA, June 9. The West will today continue seeking clarification of the new Soviet three-stage disarmament plan at the 10-nation talks. A full Western reply to the plan is expected in a day or two.

It wiU be accompanied by aj detailed questionnaire seeking information about the exact implications of Mr Khrushchev’s proposals, according to Western sources

The Soviet Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr Valerian Zorin, told the conference he hoped the West would not delay too long in making its reply to the Soviet plan.

The British delegate, Mr David Onnsby-Gore, earlier warned the conference that a nuclear weapons ban without conventional disarmament would be a fraud if a conventional war started, nuclear weapons would certainly reappear within a year. “Any attempt to hurry through a programme of nuclear disarmament, leaving conventional forces to be dealt with later, would be tv create false hopes,” he said. One could easily destroy nuclear weapons and the. factories that produced them. But it was impossible to destroy human knowledge. He told the Soviet delegate that the British Government was giving Russia's latest disarmament proposals the most careful and thoughtful examination. There were, however, differences between the text of the proposals circulated by the United Nations and that circulated by the Soviet delegation in Geneva. Turning to discussions during the first part of the conference in March and April, Mr OrmsbyGore said he was inclined to agree with Mr Zorin that they had served a useful purpose and certain areas of possible agreement had emerged. Speaking of the four principles said that the Soviet, side had not rejected this document. He summarised the four principles and between nurtOSF aoE • conventional disarmament. Effective and continuing international controls and the prevention of evasion The building of international confidence and the need for disarmament measures to be negotiated progressively. The Deputy Polish Foreign Minister (Mr Marian Naszkowski) said the new Soviet proposals took into consideration a number of points made by the Veal during the first part of the conference. & The three-nation talks

nuclear test ban also resume today at Geneva. At yesterday’s session, Russia caused some surprise among Western delsuates by putting forward what they called a pletely new concept? concerning nuclear research programmes. ; The Soviet delegate, Mr Semyon Tsarapkin. said Russia regarded the United States research programme into underground testa as a unilateral venture which had nothing to do with any throe-nation co-ordi-nated programme laid down in the treaty. , Russia was only taking part in order to ensure that the devices detonated were not used for military purposes. This required a close examination of each device tested—e thing the Americans refused to permit, be said.