Reagan Sees Hope for Sturdier Peace : Expects Difficult Arms Talks but Says U.S. Will be Patient and Determined

President Reagan said Wednesday that the Geneva agreement to resume arms control talks offers hope for “a more stable peace” and pledged that the United States will be “flexible, patient and determined” in negotiating with the Soviet Union.

At the same time, Reagan cautioned that differences with Moscow are “many and profound” and said that the new negotiations “will be difficult, as we grapple with the issue so central to peace and security for ourselves, our allies and the world.”

The President smiled broadly and seemed unusually buoyant as he opened a televised press conference with a statement on the agreement, which has been widely hailed as a major breakthrough that ultimately could enable his Administration to reach an arms control treaty with the Soviet Union.

Strengthens Reagan Hand

More immediately, the Geneva agreement--and the wide support it has received--should strengthen Reagan’s hand in dealing with Congress on a range of defense issues, including the controversial MX missile program, “Star Wars” funding and the overall defense budget. Congressional opponents of the President’s defense initiatives can expect to see themselves portrayed as undermining Reagan in his arms control efforts.

The President praised the teamwork of the U.S. delegation to Geneva as “American diplomacy at its best” and said that, despite its differences with the Soviet Union, the United States will “persevere.”

While this country “must continue to resist actions of the Soviet Union that threaten our freedom and vital interests and those of other nations,” he said, “we must also be prepared to work together wherever possible to strengthen peace.”

As if to underscore his own determination to show flexibility, Reagan emphasized that there are “no preconditions” for the talks. He referred to them as “new” negotiations, a polite bow to the Soviets, who insist that they are not resuming the negotiations they walked out of 13 months ago.

Reagan also said that his “Star Wars” program to seek a space-based shield for the United States will be on the table for discussion. The Soviets have objected strenuously to the program, known officially as the Strategic Defense Initiative, contending that it could destabilize the nuclear balance and endanger world peace. During the press conference, however, Reagan reiterated that the United States plans to go forward on research.

Willing to Negotiate

“But we’ve also made it clear,” he said, “that if that research does come up, as we hope, with something that could be the defensive weapon we’re talking about, non-nuclear, then we would be willing to go into negotiations and discussions with the other nations of the world and with our allies about what to do and whether and how to deploy.”

During the wide-ranging news conference, the President also said that he:

--Sympathizes with people who feel terrorized by criminals but said, in connection with the New York City case in which Bernhard H. Goetz is accused of shooting four young men said to be harassing him, “there is a breakdown of civilization if people start taking the law into their own hands.”

--Is “not retreating” from support of anti-Sandinista guerrillas in Nicaragua, suggesting that the Administration will renew its efforts to fund them.

--Has no plans to offer an Administration post to Richard M. Nixon, although he talks with the former President from time to time.

--Would welcome a new era of detente if that should flow from the arms talks, “as long as it is a two-way street. Our problem in the past has been it’s been too much a one-way street and we were going the wrong way on that street.”

Reagan, who has often accused the Soviet Union of violating existing arms agreements and once labeled it an “evil empire,” was asked whether he believes verification of compliance with a new agreement would be possible or if the Soviets would try to violate any treaty that may be signed.

The President, showing more flexibility than he has in the past on the verification issue, said that while the Soviets have a record of violating agreements, “we know also that absolute verification is impossible.”

“But verification to the extent possible is going to be a very necessary feature in our negotiations,” he said, “and I would like to also point out that because they themselves have expressed the desire to totally eliminate nuclear weapons, zero nuclear weapons is far easier to verify than if you’re simply reducing the numbers and have to continue trying to count numbers.”

Reagan’s optimism on the outlook for arms control was reflected Wednesday by private arms experts, who expressed cautious hope that the Geneva agreement would lead to a new treaty.

In a television interview, William Hyland, editor of the influential Foreign Affairs quarterly and a national security official in the administrations of Nixon and Gerald R. Ford, said he believes that Reagan probably will sign a new treaty within two years.

And Alexander M. Haig Jr., who preceded George P. Shultz as Reagan’s secretary of state, called the Geneva agreement “a substantial success,” suggesting that Reagan’s decision to name Treasury Secretary Donald T. Regan as White House chief of staff may make it more likely a treaty can be achieved. Haig said Regan should be able to unify Administration officials behind an arms control initiative.

Despite Reagan’s pledge that “Star Wars” will be on the table, the President said he remains strongly committed to the research program--an attempt to devise weapons that could knock down incoming nuclear missiles. He insisted that there is no conflict between moving ahead with that program and negotiating with the Soviet Union on defensive and space weapons.

Because “Star Wars” remains in the research phase, Reagan argued, it need not be covered by negotiations over space weapons. “We don’t even know what kind of a weapon, if we’re able to come up with one, that this would be,” the President said. “ . . .I never mentioned space or anything. I don’t know. I’m not a scientist.”

The research effort, he maintained, does not violate the 1972 anti-ballistic-missile treaty, which outlaws the deployment of most defensive systems.

“All through history we’ve always been able to come up with a defensive weapon,” he said. And, returning to the emotion-charged themes he used in first presenting the “Star Wars” idea in March, 1983, he added:

“Isn’t it worth researching to see if there isn’t some weapon that is more humane and moral than saying that the only defense we have in the nuclear age is that if they kill tens of millions of our people, we kill tens of millions of theirs? We’re searching for a weapon that might destroy nuclear weapons . . . destroy weapons, not people.”