N.A.T.O. CHALLENGE Ford allays fears, may cause upset

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33857, 31 May 1975, Page 15

N.A.T.O. CHALLENGE Ford allays fears, may cause upset

Sy

PETER LISAGOR,

of the Chicago Daily A’civs.” through N.Z.P.A.)

BRUSSELS. May 30. President Ford has confronted the North Atlantic I reaty Organisation with a blunt challenge to deal with faint-hearted or part-time members—and the plain talk may produce new discord in the uneasy Atlantic Alliance. I he President s opening salvo at the summit meeting of 'the 15-nation alliance, designed as a mutual reassurance session, turned into an unexpectedly bold critique of N.A.T.O. weaknesses and neglected needs.

President Ford vigorously allayed any fears among the European, partners about America’s post-Vietnam and; post - Watergate sound-1 ness. strength and resolve. He paid fealty to N.A.T.O.’s validity and purpose, according to ad-; vance expectations.

Then he threw a verbal - grenade in the elegant half of assembled statesmen. ,

President Giscard I d’Estaing, in the best Gaull-! ist-tradition of selective par-1 ticipation in the works of! N.A.T.0., wasn’t present to) hear the blast. But it caught i up to him later when he! attended the King Baudoin’S; dinner and later conferred! with Mr Ford before return-! ing to Paris. Among the six primary) tasks facing the Alliance.) President Ford said, was; that its “quality and integrity” must be preserved “on) the basis of unqualified participation, not on the basis of partial membership or special arrangements.” The summit meetings final day will again be used for a host of private bilateral

talks between various lead-) ers on the vexed Cyprus! problem and other internal! alliance issues. Mr Ford is trying to get) the Greek and Turkish Prime; Ministers, Mr Constantine' Karamanlis and Mr Suley-i man Demirel, to narrow ! their differences on the! Cyprus issue but so far has; evidently met with little) success. The British Prime Minister) (Mr Harold Wilson) will) today hold separate meetings) with Mr Karamanlis and Mr) Demirel after having break-! fast discussions with the) American President and his! Secretary of State (Dr Henry) Kissinger). Mr Ford, who flies to! Madrid tomorrow and next! week holds discussions in Salzburg, Austria, with Pres-) ident Anwar Sadat, of) Egypt, has impressed; N.A.T.O. , leaders with what! authoritative conference) sources described as. quali-i ties of candour and sincer-i ity. They see in him what one; European delegate said is a; thoughtful person who has left his allies in no doubt about the United States determination and capacity to be a strong N.A.T.O. ally.

A Reuter report said that N.A.T.O. leaders would today reaffirm their solidarity after President Ford’s pledge that the United States was still totally committed to defend its allies j from attack. A communique at the end : of the two-day N.A.T.O. summit conference would warn any would-be advers- j ary that the allied nations) would consider an armed at-; tack against one of them as; an attack on them all, con-) ference sources said. Yesterday in a major pol-j icy speech, Mr Ford dis-' peiled any fears that the) United States might waver) in its pledges to N.A.T.0.: following the collapse of its! policies in Indo-China. Meaning clear | ; His meaning was unmista-i keabie: “The United States; of America unconditionally) and unequivocally remains) true to the commitments! undertaken when xv'e signed the North Atlantic treaty,! including the obligation mi Article Five to come to the! assistance of anv nation sub-! ject to armed attack.” Though America’s European allies warmly welcomed this pledge, some of them were concerned at the President’s call in a statement last night for closer ties between N.A.T.O. and Spain. This may lead to some argument at today’s final ses-l sion of the summit meeting but this will not be reflected - in the communique. Social democrat leaders in; the Netherlands, Denmark,) Norway and Britain —I which have Social Democrat! and Labour Governments —I have already made clear that ; they are against . defence) links between N.A.T.O. and) Spain while General Fran-, cisco Franco is in power and! that arrangements for the! Americans to have naval! and air bases in Spain must continue to be outside the) .N.A.T.O. framework.