Guarded U.S. attitude to N-free zone plan

Press, 18 February 1986, Page 37

Guarded U.S. attitude to N-free zone plan

By

TOM BRIDGMAN,

NZPA staff correspondent Washington

The United States is keeping guarded its eventual intent towards the proposed South Pacific nuclear-free zone. A delegation from South Pacific Forum countries, led by Mr David Sadleir, head of the Defence and Nuclear Division of the Australian Foreign Affairs Department, met United States officials late last week to explain the zone proposal.

Both sides emphasised afterwards that the talks were not a negotiating session, and that neither had the United States been expected to reveal its approval or disapproval of the concept. “It was not a session to present views on the treaty,” said Mr James Lilley, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific. He described the meetings as clinical and said the forum delegation gave an excellent explanatory run-down on the nuclearfree zone plans. Mr Sadleir described the talks as excellent and as being held in a good atmosphere. .The forum delegation,

which included New Zealand’s Deputy Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mr Chris Beeby, had earlier visited Peking, Moscow, London and Paris for similar talks with the nuclear Powers which they hope will eventually agree to comply with the zone treaty. A report on the tour’s findings will go to the next forum meeting in Suva in August. The United States Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific, Dr Paul Wolfowitz, said recently that the United States attitude on the nuclear-free zone was tied into both its regional and global concerns.