Soviet presence claim disputed

Press, 26 July 1984, Page 21

Soviet presence claim disputed

PA Wellington Two peace groups, Greenpeace and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, have questioned United States State Department figures on Soviet military presence in the Pacific. The United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Mr Paul Wolfowitz, said in an article in “Newsweek” that the Soviet military threat to the Pacific region was growing. The Soviet fleet in the area had grown almost 30 per cent in the last few years and was threatening large portions of the sea lanes in the Pacific, said Mr Wolfowitz. The two peace groups have said that the quotations are out of perspective and out of context. The figure of 30 per cent was

meaningless because it was not compared with anything. They said that 90 per cent of the Soviet fleet was within Soviet Pacific territorial waters. They challenged the United States to produce figures of its own Pacific area build-up. The article was aimed at a New Zealand audience and was related to the antinuclear policy of the incoming Labour Government, the groups said. The meaningless percentages and the unsupported assertions concerning the Soviet build-up lent nothing to a rational and objective discussion about the possibility of a nuclear-free Pacific.

They were designed to put pressure on the Labour Government and create an atmosphere of fear.