Denies Attempt to Distance Himself From Tanker Plan : Shultz Says He’s Involved in Gulf Policy

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, returning to the capital after his longest official trip, sought Thursday to deflect criticism that he has distanced himself from Administration policy on the Persian Gulf.

Talking to reporters aboard his aircraft on the flight home from a 19-day trip that spanned four continents, Shultz said he was fully involved in devising and defending the Administration’s plan to provide U.S. Navy protection for 11 Kuwaiti oil tankers.

He said he was puzzled by suggestions that he was remote from the controversial plan.

“I don’t see why there should be any doubt about my views,” he said. “The fact that I’ve been in Asia means that I haven’t been in Washington, by definition. But I think it was very important to carry through on the presence at the ASEAN meeting and the Australian meeting. Those were important things to do.”

Globe-Girdling Trip

Shultz left Washington on June 7 to join President Reagan at the economic summit meeting in Venice. He then traveled to Reykjavik, Iceland, for a meeting of North Atlantic Treaty Organization foreign ministers, to Manila to confer with Philippine officials, to Singapore for a meeting of the foreign ministers of the Assn. of Southeast Asian Nations, to Sydney for talks with Australian officials and to Western Samoa for a show-the-flag stop in the South Pacific. He spent Wednesday at his home on the Stanford University campus.

Shultz said he will meet today with Assistant Secretary of State Gaston J. Sigur, who was returning from a visit to violence-torn South Korea. Sigur had conferred in Seoul with government officials and opposition leaders.

Shultz said Sigur made it clear to South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan that the United States is strongly opposed to the imposition of martial law, a step the Seoul government has suggested it might take if anti-government demonstrations continue.

Martial Law Avoided ‘So Far’

“So far, they have avoided martial law and we think that should continue,” Shultz said.

He repeated the U.S. view that Chun and opposition leaders should resume talks on political reform. But he refused to say whether, in the U.S. view, Chun went far enough when he offered to renew the talks during a meeting Wednesday with opposition leader Kim Young Sam.

Shultz said Washington wants to see a “peaceful transition of power” in Seoul next February when Chun’s term ends. He insisted that it is premature to assume that Roh Tae Woo, Chun’s choice for his successor, will be the next president. Opposition leaders have said that without major reforms, the government will rig the election, guaranteeing a Roh victory.

Shultz said he is ready to meet Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze to begin preparations for a meeting between President Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev but that no date has been set.

Good Progress Being Made

U.S. and Soviet officials have said for months that Shultz and Shevardnadze would meet, once progress toward an arms control agreement seemed to warrant such a session. Shultz said good progress is being made in the weapons talks in Geneva.

“I think it’s fair to say the discussions are very positive, including the discussions between Ambassadors (Max) Kampelman (the U.S. chief negotiator) and (Yuli) Vorontsov (the Soviet chief negotiator) at Geneva,” Shultz said.

He said good progress is being made toward a treaty to ban intermediate-range weapons in Europe and that some headway is also being made in other phases of the U.S.-Soviet arms talks.