BIG FOUR TALKS

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29916, 1 September 1962, Page 11

BIG FOUR TALKS

Error By State Department

i N.Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) WASHINGTON. August 30

A misunderstanding by the United States State Department led to President Kennedy’s premature statement that Big Four Western Foreign Ministers’ talks would be held before the opening of the United Nations General Assembly next month, officials said today. The President told his press conference yesterday there had been agreement in principle that “there will be a meeting of the foreign Ministers” before the United Nations session, which will begin in New York on September 18. Officials said the State Department had briefed the President for his reply to a question, but had incorrectly assumed that full agreement had been reached.

Prospects for the Allied talks on the tense Berlin situation and other issues were in fact highly uncertain, chiefly because of French reluctance to take part in them the sources said. French officials in Washington confirmed their Government’s belief that Berlin talks at the Foreign Ministers' level at this time, as proposed by West Germany, were not justified and might encourage the Soviet Union to increase pressure on Berlin

Typhoon Awaited.— Hong Kong today prepared for a buffeting as typhoon ’’Wanda,’’ with centre winds of over 85 knots, continued roaring across the South China Sea in the general direction of Hong Kong.— Hong Kong, Aug. 31.