Reagan Urged to Stress Cut in Arms : Thatcher Cites Soviet Propaganda Gain; He Emphasizes Broad Agenda

President Reagan, beginning three days of meetings that he hopes will lay the groundwork for the U.S.-Soviet summit next month, met Wednesday with Third World leaders and was also urged by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to stress his commitment to arms reduction because the Soviets are winning the propaganda battle before the summit.

Thatcher declared that many Third World leaders--chiefly from British Commonwealth nations in Africa and South Asia--seem unaware of U.S. arms control plans and apparently believe that Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev has advanced the only reasonable offer, a proposal for a 50% reduction in offensive nuclear weapons.

But while Thatcher urged Reagan to focus on arms control, the President continued to stress the Soviet Union’s occupation of Afghanistan and its treatment of dissidents as equally important issues for the Nov. 19-20 summit in Geneva.

Regional Tensions

In an interview with the Times of India, released by the White House on Wednesday, Reagan declared:

“To establish the foundation for a truly more constructive relationship, I want to talk with General Secretary Gorbachev not only about arms control but also about regional tensions, about our bilateral relationship and about the obligation of both our nations to respect human rights. All of these issues are as important to us as the question of nuclear arms.”

Thatcher and Reagan, in New York for the 40th-anniversary celebration of the United Nations, discussed summit issues during a half-hour session in the President’s suite at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.

In addition, Reagan also will meet this afternoon with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze to discuss plans for the summit, the White House announced Wednesday night. Shevardnadze also met with the President last month when he brought him details of Gorbachev’s arms control proposals.

Today’s meeting was announced shortly after Reagan spoke animatedly with the Soviet foreign minister during an evening reception for leaders attending the U.N. celebration.

Before the session with Thatcher, a British spokesman said that the prime minister planned to urge Reagan to “restate and reformulate” U.S. arms control positions to recapture the momentum from the Soviets in the remaining weeks until the summit.

A senior U.S. official here said after the meeting that Reagan shares Thatcher’s concern that Gorbachev’s single-minded concentration on arms control had overshadowed the longstanding American commitment to arms reduction. But the official said the British prime minister agreed with Reagan that other issues should be discussed in Geneva.

“They both expressed concern about the amount of publicity being given to Soviet proposals, as though there were no U.S. proposals,” the official said. “She discussed the fact that in the course (of a Commonwealth conference in the Bahamas that ended Monday), she sensed a lack of understanding that there had been a U.S. proposal on the table for some time.”

Thatcher and Reagan reportedly agreed that the sagging Soviet economy is probably Gorbachev’s first priority--which might make the Soviets more flexible on other issues, including arms control.

In his interview with The Times of India, Reagan said that because the Soviets contend that they would like to negotiate an end to the war in Afghanistan, he will ask Gorbachev to “address the crucial issue: withdrawal of the more than 100,000 Soviet troops in Afghanistan and the restoration of that country’s independence and non-alliance.”

To Challenge Soviets

Reagan, who is expected to make a toughly worded speech at the United Nations today accusing the Soviets of aggression, told the Indian newspaper that Moscow’s 10-year pattern of wars and its imposition of “Marxist-Leninist” regimes on Third World nations is a problem that “simply has to be addressed.”

“The Soviet Union, as we see it,” he said, “is too often supporting, and sometimes directing, these wars. In such cases the flow of arms from outside is a major concern, and we want to do something about it.”

He said he will take up the matter both in his speech today and in his discussions with Gorbachev in Geneva.

Reagan said that frank discussion of U.S. concern about Soviet behavior, “particularly its attempts to expand its influence by force and subversion, is an important part of our effort to focus on the sources of world tension, not just the symptoms.”

‘Far-Reaching Initiative’

The President’s U.N. address will contain “one broad, far-reaching initiative” on U.S.-Soviet relations that the Administration hopes will lead to a positive response from the Soviets, White House spokesman Larry Speakes told reporters. He refused to be more specific.

In addition to meeting with Thatcher on Wednesday, Reagan also met separately with Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and Pakistani President Zia ul-Haq and attended a luncheon and receptions with about 80 heads of state and government here for the U.N. celebration.

The meetings seemed intended to underline Reagan’s plan to make Afghanistan a major issue at the summit. Both India and Pakistan are neighbors of Afghanistan, and both have expressed concern about the Soviet role there.

In the meetings with Gandhi and Zia, Reagan called for improved relations between India and Pakistan, which have fought four wars since they obtained their independence in 1947. The President also urged both nations to forgo nuclear weapons development.