N.A.T.O. worried by Soviet sea threat

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33083, 25 November 1972, Page 15

N.A.T.O. worried by Soviet sea threat

(N.Z.P.A.-Reuter —Copyright) BONN, November 24. The North Atlantic Assembly, its political guidelines fixed for the coming year, today faces a final day of talks that will centre on how N.A.T.O. can avoid being outflanked and isolated by the Soviet Union.

The. assembly has also issued an urgent call to member Governments to fight hijacking and terrorism by cutting off flights and foreign aid to countries harbouring air pirates. The 200 delegates, representing 14 N.A.T.O. Parliaments, will be asked to endorse a series of recommendations which, once approved, will be passed on to N.A.T.O. as future policy suggestions. Proposals include the building of a Turkish-Iranian pipeline, to ensure an adequate supply of N.A.T.O. oil from the Persian Gulf in the event of hostilities.

Another suggestion says the Suez Canal should be fully blocked in the event of hostilities, in order to help contain hostile Soviet vessels in the Mediterranean. It was suggested also that the Baltic Straits be mined. The Soviet fleet could sever Western Europe’s supply and communication lines almost immediately in the event of war, a delegate said yesterday. “PRESSURE ON GREECE” At a committee press conference, Mr Paul Thyness, of Norway, said: “If the Soviet Union took the initiative in hostilities, its fleet could cut off Western Europe almost immediately. “It would take months before Western Europe could restore these links, and isolate part of the Soviet fleet.”

The recommendations also called on N.A.T.O. Governments to exert political pressure on the Greek Government for a restoration of Parliamentary democracy there.

Delegates yesterday approved several political recommendations, largely urging that N.A.T.O. close ranks in a gesture of solidarity during the present moves towards an East-West detente. N.A.T.O. is not bound by the resolutions, as the assembly has no official status. The assembly, however, groups the Parliaments which decide on national contributions to N.A.T.0., and, as such, is regarded as having some weight. The attention of delegates yesterday also focused on misgivings in Western Europe about President Nixon’s intentions as he pursues a course of direct dealings with Peking and Moscow. A resolution urged N.A.T.O. to enter into permanent high-level talks with

the United States, in order to ease these and other economic tensions. Delegates said that without this transatlantic involvement, the Western alliance could disintegrate. PERMANENT BODY A measure of the assembly’s independence was that it urged that an eventual allEuropean security conference —preparations for which began earlier this week in Helsinki—should lead to a permanent body for East-West negotiations. The N.A.T.O. secretary (General Joseph Luns) said the day before that such a body should be viewed with scepticism. Today’s talks will also urge the creation of a sixnation sub-committee to keep close watch on exploratory consultations towards mutual and balanced force reductions in central Europe, which Western allies would like to open on January 31.