Shultz Defends French A-Testing to Skeptical Samoans

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, faced with a barrage of skeptical questions from Samoan journalists during a brief stop here en route home, defended French nuclear testing in the South Pacific as environmentally safe and strategically necessary.

The press conference gave Shultz a firsthand look at the depth of resentment throughout the South Pacific over the French tests at Mururoa atoll and took some of the gloss off his good-will visit to this remote island nation 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii.

Wearing a jaunty blue and white Polynesian shirt and bright flower lei, Shultz cheerily told Samoan reporters that he was in town to express his “genuine sense of friendship with the people of Samoa and the people of the Pacific.”

But that mood did not last long. Almost all of the questions were hard-edged, and most of them were critical of U.S. and French nuclear policy.

The first questioner wanted to know why the United States did not persuade France to test its nuclear devices in Nevada instead of the South Pacific.

Necessary for Deterrence

Shultz responded by defending nuclear tests as necessary for deterrence but pledging that Washington would do its best to reach an agreement with the Soviet Union to sharply reduce nuclear arsenals or ban the weapons altogether.

“That will take a long time,” the questioner said. When Shultz agreed that it is, indeed, a lengthy process, the reporter continued, “Meantime, the water of the South Pacific will be completely contaminated by nuclear fallout. People on this side of the world, the South Pacific, who have nothing to do with nuclear tests will be the ones that suffer.”

Shultz said, “I am informed by technical experts that I trust that the (French) testing that is taking place is safe.”

France conducted atmospheric testing for longer than any of the other nuclear powers, but it now detonates its devices underground. Shultz said he has been assured that France has not permitted radioactive debris to escape into the air.

A senior State Department official said after the press conference that French nuclear weapons play a part in the West’s strategy of deterrence. He said the United States is unwilling to equivocate in its support of France’s right to test just to appeal to South Pacific public opinion.

Shultz stopped for five hours in Western Samoa, the oldest independent nation among the tiny island states of the region, on his way home from talks in Australia. It was Tuesday when he left Australia, and by the time he finished his visit, it was Tuesday in most of the rest of the world, but it was still Monday in Samoa, which lies just east of the international date line.

The islands of the Pacific have a special attraction for Shultz, who fought there as a Marine during World War II. He was last in Samoa in 1943 preparing for his part in the battles that over the next two years spelled the defeat of imperial Japan.

Although senior diplomats from the major powers seldom visit vest-pocket nations like Western Samoa, which has a population of only 162,000, Shultz has made a point of visiting the region regularly. During the last four years, he has also visited the U.S.-controlled territories of American Samoa and Palau and the independent nation of Fiji.

His objective this time was to warn the island nations to beware of the blandishments of the Soviet Union and Libya, both of which have shown new interest in the region.

In an arrival statement, Shultz said, “It is a great pleasure to be back in Apia after 44 years. . . . Although I can stay only a few hours, my visit is a sign of the importance the United States places in its friendship with the independent nations of the South Pacific.

“The region must determine its response to efforts by countries not traditionally part of the Pacific scene to carve out a role for themselves,” he said.

A Samoan remarked later during a reception in Shultz’s honor that residents of this nation are concerned about Soviet encroachment but they are far more worried about French nuclear testing because “it is more real.”

At the press conference, Shultz was told that his presence demonstrated U.S. interest in the South Pacific but he was asked why he did not come “until the Russians tried to make friends in the region.”

Shultz replied that the American interest in the area “is longstanding.”

The Western Samoa visit was the last stop on a marathon tour which also took Shultz to Italy, Iceland, the Philippines, Singapore and Australia and kept him out of Washington during most of June.

State Department officials conceded that they could point to few dramatic accomplishments from the trip, although they said it is important for the secretary of state to touch base with foreign leaders.

Shultz planned to rest today at his home on the Stanford University campus before returning to the capital Thursday.