U.S. urges harder line

Press, 16 March 1982, Page 8

U.S. urges harder line

NZPA-Reuter Bonn An American delegation led by an Under-Secretary of State, James Buckley, begins a West European mission in Bonn today designed to persuade America’s allies to take a harder line on sanctions against the Soviet bloc. The team from Washington will be trying to strengthen what the Reagan Administration regards as Western Europe's half-hearted response to martial law in Poland.

After day-long talks at the Foreign and Economics Ministries, the delegates will leave Bonn, for talks in London, Paris, Rome, and Brussels.

Washington believes that ' soft loans from European countries eager for trade with the East are allwoing Moscow to spend scarce currency reserves on armaments. ' Bonn said on Thursday that it had approved 1.2 billion marks (SNZ6S3 million) in State-backed guarantees for exports to the Soviet Union since January 11, when North Atlantic Treaty Organisation members threatened economic sanctions unless military rule in Poland was lifted. The United States has long criticised a multi-billion dollar deal under which the Soviet Union will supply huge quantites of Siberian

gas to Western Europe from 1984. Recipient countries will subsidise construction of the 4500 km pipeline through cheap credits. The West German Foreign Minister (Mr Hans Dietrich Genscher) and the Economics Minister (Mr Otto Lambsdorff) staunchly defended the project in recent visits to Washington and Chancellor Helmut Schmidt has said it will go through however much “squawking” is -heard. Diplomats say the Reagan Administration appears to have given up attempts -to persuade West- Germany, France. Italy, and other countries to pull out of the contract with Moscow.