Troop talks to resume

Press, 24 January 1984, Page 10

Troop talks to resume

NZPA-Reuter Washington The United States and the Soviet Union have agreed to resume talks on March 16 on reaching conventional forces in Europe, but a Soviet return to talks on nuclear arms control remains in doubt, American officials say. The Secretary of State, Mr George Shultz, in a television interview yesterday, confirmed the new start-up date for the mutual balanced force reduction talks in Vienna that were suspended late last year.

He declined to list the American position in the talks, saying only that a key factor would be “adequate measures” to verify whether any agreements reached were being honoured. Mr Shultz, echoing views expressing by Administration officials in the last week, said that Moscow had shown no willingness to return to separate suspended talks in Geneva on either medium-range or longrange nuclear. weapons.

“In the field of nuclear arms; they have declined to set a'date for resumption of the strategic arms reduction

talks and have said they have left the intermediate range talks ... I don’t know whether they will come back or not,” he said. Asked whether the threat of nuclear war had diminished he said: “Yes, I think so. I think deterrent strength diminished the temptation of somebody to use their strength against you.”

Mr Shultz said that resumption of the nuclear arms control talks would have to be up to the Soviet Union, but he said that the two super-Powers were conducting “pretty good” informal discussions bn related aspects of arms control such as the “hot line” between the White House and the Kremlin.

“Our position is to be realistic about what they’re doing, to be strong in our own capabilities and to be ready to engage in a reasonable negotiation,” he said. Mr Shultz, who held long talks with the Soviet Foreign Minister, Mr Andrei Gromyko, in Stockholm last week, described the state of United'' States-Soviet relations as a “mixed picture.”