Shultz Says U.S., Soviets May Be Nearing Better Ties

Secretary of State George P. Shultz, making a major policy address as the superpowers prepare for significant new negotiations, said Friday that changes in the Kremlin that are being pushed by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev could bring “a far more satisfactory U.S.-Soviet relationship than we have known in the postwar era.”

Shultz, addressing an audience at the University of Washington in Seattle, said that various recent U.S.-Soviet agreements and summit negotiations do not add up to a qualitative change in relations between the two nations.

He said, nevertheless, that Washington and Moscow may be “near the threshold” of a new and sustainable relationship, partly because the Kremlin appears to show “for the first time ever--and as a result of necessity--a willingness to re-examine Soviet security and other interests in ways that are closer to international norms.

“A better relationship between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. may indeed be possible,” Shultz said. He added that it should be based on three principles: “candor to recognize our differences, the initiative to solve them where we can and the ability to manage our differences peacefully where competition endures, as surely it will.”

A State Department official, briefing reporters on Shultz’s speech, called it a timely and important exposition of U.S. views in the wake of such recent developments as December’s summit meeting between President Reagan and Gorbachev, the intermediate-range nuclear forces treaty that they signed, and this month’s impending trip to Moscow by Shultz to continue work on a new arms control accord dealing with long-range strategic missiles and on another Reagan-Gorbachev summit, to be held in Moscow in May or June.

Although Shultz and Reagan both have delivered other speeches on U.S.-Soviet relations, Friday’s address was the most detailed and authoritative statement on the question, in the words of the secretary of state, of “Does the United States want reform in the Soviet Union to succeed or fail?”

Avoids Own Question

Not surprisingly, Shultz stayed away from what the official here termed the “dangerous business” of answering his own question directly. Instead, he took note that Gorbachev’s political reforms have barely scratched the surface and complained that the Soviet leader has not demonstrated any change in the Kremlin’s traditional goal of altering the world beyond its borders.

At the same time, however, Shultz applauded Gorbachev’s economic reforms.

“We should welcome change in the Soviet Union--and wish the Soviet people well--precisely to the extent that the Soviet effort at modernization squares with American hopes for a safer world and a more productive U.S.-Soviet relationship,” he said.

For the next few years, Shultz added, the United States must maintain a “robust defense budget” and “continue a vigorous SDI”--a space-based missile defense program formally called the Strategic Defense Initiative. America should also be prepared to aid “freedom fighters” around the world when they are threatened by Soviet adventurism, he said, an apparent reference to the House’s rejection this week of new U.S. funding for the Nicaraguan Contras.

U.S. Initiatives Cited

The secretary contended that all recent superpower agreements have resulted from American initiatives and proposals, backed by a rebuilding of U.S. military, political and economic strength under the Reagan Administration. He indicated that Soviet reforms were largely forced upon the Kremlin as it fell further behind the West.

Shultz acknowledged that Gorbachev’s “new thinking” holds more promise for improved U.S.-Soviet relations than has occurred with previous Soviet regimes, but he said there are still limits on how much improvement ever can be achieved.

“The relationship will always be unique,” Shultz said, because the world has only two nuclear superpowers and they see individual rights and international behavior in vastly different ways. “It seems unlikely that the U.S.-Soviet relationship will ever lose what always has been and is today a strongly wary and at times adversarial relationship,” he said.

The United States should be flexible and resilient enough to adapt to changed circumstances and expand cooperation when the Soviets are realistic, as well as to maintain a strong position to deal with a return to confrontational policies by the Kremlin, he said.

Optimistic Message

In the end, Shultz’s message was optimistic.

“We recognize that a potentially important experiment is getting under way in the Soviet Union,” he said. “It suggests the possibility of a far more satisfactory U.S.-Soviet relationship than we have known in the postwar era, a relationship that could be a constructive element in a changing world.”

“Americans are willing to work with dedication and creativity to fashion such a relationship,” he added. “It is a goal which is achievable, if the Soviet leadership is willing to join us in making change for the better a permanent reality.”