SHULTZ SEES U.S.-SOVIET THAW AS A RARE CHANCE TO DISARM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000606120031-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 2, 2010
• Sequence Number: 31
• Publication Date: February 6, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000606120031-4
A"UE
?N P-11GE
WASHINGTON TIMES
6 February 1986
Shultz sees U.S.-Soviet thaw
i as a rare chance to disarm
By Martin Sieff
THE NMSMN4OTON TIMES
WASHINGTON - Secretary of
State George Shultz told Congress
yesterday that the current thaw in
U.S.-Soviet relations presents "a
rare moment of opportunity" to
achieve nuclear disarmament.
Asked by Rep. Tbm Lantos, Demo-
crat of California, whether he was
not being too optimistic, Mr. Shultz
replied: "We have to aspire in order
to achieve great things. We do not
want to get into the habit of saying,
'Let's lower our expectations: "
The Geneva . summit between
President Reagan and Soviet leader
Mikhail Gorbachev last November
showed the possibility of such "con-
structive negotiations;' Mr. Shultz
said.
In a statement remarkable for its
optimism, Mr. Shultz said that even
should Moscow challenge U.S. inter-
ests in Latin America and else-
where, the administration should
still pursue "constructive relations"
because of the nuclear threat.
Mr. Shultz's remarks apparently
reflected the State Department's in-
terest in exploring Soviet sincerity
by offering matching concessions
for Mr. Gorbachev's post-summit of-
fer to eliminate all nuclear weapons
on earth and in space by the end of
the century.
But Mr. Shultz gave no details to
back up his optimistic forecast. He
did not say how the president would
respond to Mr. Gorbachev's pro-
posal.
The U.S. Arms Control and Disar-
mament Agency is believed to be in
sympathy with the State De-
partment's views, but the Pentagon
is believed to prefer standing firm on
past U.S. proposals.
"We approached the Geneva sum-
mit in a spirit of both aspiration and
realism;' Mr. Shultz told the House
Foreign Relations Committee. "We
will bring that spirit to our nego-
tiations with the Soviets through the
coming year.
"We will pursue the Geneva nego-
tiations with energy and good faith,
and without artificial deadlines," Mr.
Shultz said. "We will also pursue
them with a sense that we may be at
a rare moment of opportunity."
No date has yet been set for a sec-
ond summit meeting this year be-
tween the president and Mr. Gorba-
chev U.S. officials said on Tuesday
they doubted a decision would be
made before the Soviet Communist
Party Congress is held later this
month.
The officials said the party ses-
sion also was holding back a decision
on when Mr. Shultz would next meet
Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard
Shevardnadze or when U.S. and So-
viet negotiators would hold talks on
troubled areas such as the Middle
East and Afghanistan.
Mr. Shultz said the planned sum-
mit agenda would cover the same
four sets of issues that were dis-
cussed at Geneva: arms reductions,
regional conflicts, human rights and
U.S.-Soviet relations.
The secretary of state also gave
the committee a glowing report on
Latin America. Pointing to a map, he
said more than 90 percent of the peo-
ple in the region and in the Carib-
bean now enjoyed democratic gov-
ernment, compared to less than
one-third in the early 1980s.
In the last six years, he said,
elected civilian leaders had replaced
authoritarian regimes in Argentina,
Bolivia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Gre-
nada, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru
and Uruguay.
But Mr Shultz tempered his op-
timism with the warning that the
most immediate danger to democ-
racy in Central America remains in
communist Nicaragua. He pledged
the Reagan administration would
not abandon the democratic resis-
tance there.
Apparently-re referring to vert -
or secret - U.S. milita aid to the
rebels Mr. S u tz sai " e wi be
discusstng with the Congress what
this moral and strategic imperative
requires '
This story is based in part on wire
service reports.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/09/02 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000606120031-4