‘Star wars’ not seen as block to arms accord

Press, 17 October 1986, Page 6

‘Star wars’ not seen as block to arms accord

NZPA-Reuter Washington President Ronald Reagan has moved to capitalise on the Iceland summit meeting in the United States political arena and at the Geneva arms talks, even as he continues to push for his controversial “star wars” anti-missile defence programme. During a political trip to Baltimore yesterday,

Mr Reagan urged voters to back candidates who support the programme, in next month’s Congressional elections. At the same time, Mr Reagan, who has steadfastly focused on what was discussed in Iceland rather than the summit meeting’s failure to produce any concrete results, appealed to the Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, to transfer commit-

ments he was prepared to make in Iceland to the arms control bargaining table. Negotiations on all levels of arms control resumed yesterday in Geneva. Meanwhile, the Secretary of State, George Shultz, said the Administration believed that the Soviet Union would accept a separate deal on medium-range missiles

even though the issue was linked with “star wars” in Iceland. He said the United States negotiators in Geneva would formally present an agreement on intermediate nuclear forces that was tentatively reached at the Reykjavik summit. The agreement included the controversial issue of verification, said Mr Shultz