GENEVA TALKS LIKELY

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29749, 16 February 1962, Page 9

GENEVA TALKS LIKELY

Summit Later This Year Expected (N .Z.P.A-Reuter—Copyright) WASHINGTON, February 15. A summit meeting is likely to be held in Geneva later this year. Yesterday, President Kennedy made it clear to the Soviet Prime Minister (Mr Khrushchev) that he is willing to go to a summit conference, but not early as next month and then only after “careful preparation at the lower levels.” He politely rejected, in a letter delivered in Moscow, Mr Khrushchev’s proposal that heads of government should open the 18-nation disarmament negotiations in Geneva on March 14.

President Kennedy Uer outlined his views on “summitry” at his weekly press conference.

“My view is the same as it has been—that is, that a summit is not a place to carry on negotiations which involve details, and that a summit should be at a place where, perhaps, agreements which have been achieved at a lower level could be finally and officially approved by the heads of government; or. if there was a major crisis, which threatened to involve us all in a war, there might be a need for a summit.” he said.

Together with the British Prime Minister (Mr Macmillan). who sent a separate letter to Mr Khrushchev, the President reiterated in his formal reply to the Soviet Prime Minister’s summit proposal the British and American suggestion that the disarmament negotiations open at the Foreign Ministers’ level.

“I do not mean to question the utility or perhaps even the necessity of a meeting of heads of government." the President told Mr Khrushchev.

“Indeed. I am quite ready to participate personally at the heads of government level at any stage of the conference when it appears that such participation could positively affect the chances of success."

The question, he said, was one of timing. The British Prime Minister in his letter said the procedure proposed by himself and President Kennedy for the Geneva conference to open at Foreign Ministers’ level was the one which, in their considered view, was best designed to give a practical start to the work of the co-’ereo-e Mr Macmillan said his thought was and remained that some attempt should first be made to explore in de’ail the differences between Soviet and Western positions and search for means of overcoming them

“Of course I sftall take a close personal interest in the negotiations from the first.” Mr Macmillan said “I am not so much concerned with routine procedures and arguments as with results”

Mr Macmillan agreed that heads of Government should take direct personal interest in the work of the conference. but he felt that a meeting between them would be more likely, practicable and fruitful when the main problems had been clarified and some progress made “Meanwhile. I think meetings at Foreign Ministers’ level would be the best instrument for achieving pro-g-ess at op ning stages." Mr Macmillan said He said he trusted that Mr Khrushchev would give his “most seious consideration” to the suggestion that the Foreign Ministers of Britain, the United States and the Soviet Union should meet in advance of the disarmament conference to concert plans for its work. '

The belief grew in Washington that, provided the disarmament conference made some initial advances, the prospects of a summit conference later in the year were fairly good. The President at his press conference confirmed the statement made yesterday by Mr Macmillan that there would be no resumption of atmospheric testing at Christmas Island before the opening of the Geneva disarmament conference on March 14

But he intimated that preparations for such tests were continuing to be made. He said nothing in the events of the past week in the correspondence exchanged with Mr Khrushchev had changed United States plans with regard to possible testing. The analysis of the military significance of the recent Soviet series of tests would be concluded by the end of the month when the United States would be in a position to decide whether atmospheric testing should be resumed.

Some Moscow observers felt that Mr Khrushchev might arrive at the Geneva conference with an entourage of Soviet bloc leaders. This, said the Associated Press, would provide him with a suitable forum for the Soviet disarmament line.

In any event, he is not expected to announce his decision until the last minute. The British Prime Minister’ and the American President are agreed that they cannot go to a summit without prior expectation of success. One view in Moscow is that the Soviet Union will probably object to this, the British United Press reported. The Russian press has recently been accusing the West of lacking any real desire to make a success of disarmament. Now. according to the Associated Press, its theme is expected to picture the West as trying to sabotage the conference while preparing for a new series of American atomic tests in the atmosphere. “Pravda” today criticised

Western reluctance to accept Soviet proposals for a summit as “an irresponsible step which must alarm the world.” The Communist Party newspaper charged Western governments with trying to sweeten their negative attitude to Mr Khrushchev’s invitation “by all sorts of reservations which can only confirm the absence in the West of any serious arguments, and, alas, sincerity.”

In Montreal. Canada’s Prime Minister (Mr Diefenbaker) last night supported the idea of a disarmament summit conference. He said the West should agree to the Heads of Government meeting if there was an indication from the Soviet bloc that such a meeting would make progress on disarmament. In a speech for the members of the Temple of Emanuel, Mr Diefenbaker said: "Should it appear at any stage that a meeting at the Heads of Government level would facilitate further progress on disarmament, such a meeting should be held,” the Canadian Press reported.

The Prime Minister said that "in recent weeks cracks have begun to appear in the cold war ice which has chilled East-West relations since May, 1960. “These signs are always welcome, even though such Soviet initiatives must be, and are being, carefully considered by the Western Powers in consultation,” he said

“The Western desire for peaceful solutions cannot be misled or diverted by tactical manoeuvring for momentary advantage.” Mr Diefenbaker said the 18-nation talks opening in Geneva on March 14 “will start from a base of agreement on broad principles. The occasion should be seized to convert these principles into practical measures of disarmament.”

The presence of Foreign Ministers would ensure “direction and guidance” for the early stages of the conference. But if the Foreign Ministers detected any sincerity behind Mr Khrushchev's proposal, the West should be quick to respond, Mr Diefenbaker said.