E. German Asks Larger Arms Cuts by Soviet Bloc

East German Foreign Minister Oskar Fischer called Thursday for conventional arms reductions in Europe that would mean sharper cuts by the Warsaw Pact nations than by those of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Fischer, in an address at a conference sponsored by the Institute for East-West Security Studies, a nonprofit foundation based in New York that seeks greater accord between the East Bloc and the West, said that imbalances in weapons systems and troop levels “must be removed.”

He said the reductions should not be followed by the modernization of weapons that are retained.

Fischer’s views are in line with suggestions made recently by Soviet leader Mikhail S. Gorbachev, recognizing that there is asymmetry in the balance of forces between the Warsaw Pact and NATO.

Although manpower is roughly equal on the two sides, depending on what kinds of troops are included in the estimates, the Warsaw Pact has a 2-1 or 3-1 advantage in offensive systems, particularly in tanks and artillery.

An admission by senior Warsaw Pact officials that their advantage in equipment must be reduced tends to improve the possibility for a realistic reduction of conventional weapons in Europe. These could in turn make it easier for negotiators to agree on a reduction in nuclear weapons. Talks on conventional arms are being held in Vienna and Geneva.

Powerful Weapons

Fischer noted that the destructive power of conventional weapons becomes “more and more equal to that of nuclear weapons.”

“It is evident,” he said, “that a conventional war would turn a densely populated, industrialized region like Europe into a . . . chemically polluted, uninhabitable desert.”

He said he supports a proposed 50% reduction in U.S. and Soviet strategic missiles, and he called for the removal of all short-range nuclear weapons based in both East Germany and West Germany.

He said his government believes that “immediate and effective disarmament is imperative for human survival.”

Fischer also urged that the superpowers and their allies agree on setting up a chemical weapons-free zone in Central Europe.

He said the division of Europe is not something to be argued by the superpowers, and he added: “It is not helpful to anybody to lament over the partition or the division of Europe and to call for ending it. The Socialist countries accept realities as they exist, and expect others to do likewise.”

Fischer also said the fact that there is peace in Europe does not result from a nuclear “balance of terror.” Rather, he said, it is because “responsible action prevailed even at the most trying times because dialogue and mutual understanding finally gained the upper hand over confrontation and rigidity.”