Khrushchev Says U.S. “Restarting Cold War”

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29238, 23 June 1960, Page 20

Khrushchev Says U.S. “Restarting Cold War”

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright)

LONDON, June 21

Mr Khrushchev said today that the leaders of the United States were doing everything to throw the world back to the worst times of the cold war, Moscow Radio reported. Speaking at the Rumanian Workers’ (Communist) Party congress in Bucharest, Mr Khrushchev said that the peaceful forces in the world were growing. “War is not inevitable in our time,” he said.

What had happened in Paris (where the summit conference failed last month) was no accident. The realisation that the advance of socialism could not be halted had “deprived certain gentlemen of their senses.” He added that in a nervous and unbalanced state “even those who might not wish to touch off a war could press the wrong button out of sheer fright.” The consequences, he said, would be unavoidable.

Mr Khrushchev said the claim that America's spy flights were needed to safeguard United States security was a “ridiculous invention” and a “brazen lie.” To know where missile bases were situated could be important not to a country concerned about its defence, but only to a country contemplating aggression. “We know that if an aeroplane invades the space of another country without permission, this is a subversive act, a provocation, and that country must consequently defend itself," he said. “What means of defence are there? lb shoot down the aeroplanes and strike at the bases from which they have set out." It was now clear to the whole world that when the United States torpedoed the summit conference it had no constructive proposals to discuss at that conference. The Soviet delegation on the other hand was not going to the conference with an empty briefcase. It had specific proposals, and it was not its fault that these proposals could not be discussed at the conference. Mr Khrushchev said these Soviet proposals had now been circulated among the Governments of all countries and submitted to the 10-nation disarmament committee at Geneva. If the Western Powers had any positive

plans they could by now have made them public. In this way they could have proved to the world that they really did have something to their name when they went to Paris. “But we don’t seem to hear any reasonable proposals from Western shores,” he said. Mr Khrushchev said that although the Paris conference had been torpedoed by the aggressive circles in the United States, this had not removed the pressing international problems which still required solution. To establish normal relations between States and rule out the possibility of a new world war it was necessary to solve the problem of general disarmament, destroy the means of warfare, and disband the armed forces of States under proper international control, he said. It was necessary to abolish the vestiges of World War 11, conclude a peace treaty with the two German States, and solve the problem of West Berlin on this basis.