Baker Seeks Better Ties With Allies Before Arms Talks

Secretary of State James A. Baker III set out on a weeklong, 14-country blitz of Western Europe on Saturday, carrying a message that the Bush Administration wants to re-cement its ties with restive NATO allies before entering new arms negotiations with the Soviet Union.

“The alliance is extremely important to the United States and to our East-West relations,” Baker told reporters on his flight to this rocky, snow-covered island. “The focus of this trip (is) to show them that we are serious about consulting--to show them that we want them to be in on the takeoffs so that they can be in on the landings.”

Baker’s mission--his first trip overseas as secretary of state--reflects longstanding concern in Washington that maintaining joint positions within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on East-West issues is becoming increasingly difficult in the face of conciliatory moves by Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

The backbreaking tour, which will take Baker through all 15 NATO capitals--as many as three countries in a single day--is also designed to establish some personal rapport between Baker and the allied leaders, many of whom he has never met.

“I want . . . to give them a chance, and to give me a chance, to establish a personal relationship,” Baker said.

Hence his hourlong meeting at the airport here--the diplomatic equivalent of a campaign whistle-stop--with the foreign minister of NATO’s smallest country, Iceland’s Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson. He later flew to London.

To Reassure Allies

Baker said he plans to reassure the allies that the Bush Administration’s review of U.S. policies toward the Soviet Union--a review which is still only getting under way--is not merely a stratagem to slow down the strategic arms reduction talks on long-range nuclear weapons.

Some Bush advisers have suggested that the conclusion of a START agreement should await progress toward an accord on non-nuclear weapons.

Several of the NATO allies have privately expressed concern about such a position, U.S. officials said.

“The purpose of reviewing our negotiating position in START . . . is to build on the progress that we’ve made to date,” Baker said. “It’s in no way to delay.” But he said he was still unable to say how long the review might take.

East-West talks on conventional arms reductions are scheduled to begin in Vienna next month. Baker confirmed Saturday that he will meet with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze at the conference on March 7.

Baker also said he plans to talk with the allies about the desire of some NATO countries to end a ban on Western high-technology exports to the Soviet Union.

The United States instituted the ban after the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Now that Gorbachev is withdrawing his troops from Afghanistan, British officials have proposed ending the ban and reverting to an earlier arrangement under which such exports were reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

Last week, Baker said he favors maintaining the ban until the Soviet Union made some further international concessions. But he has since emphasized that his position on the issue is not firm, and he said Saturday that he wants to learn “the extent and strength of (the allies’) feelings” before he makes up his mind.

Baker faces another, unexpectedly difficult issue for the alliance following a call by West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl to delay a scheduled NATO decision on building a more modern short-range nuclear missile.

In an interview published Friday, Kohl said the time for a decision on modernizing short-range missiles “will be in 1991-1992.” The United States and Britain hoped that a NATO summit this spring would yield an accord to modernize the missiles.

Most of the short-range nuclear arsenal is deployed in West Germany, and polls there have shown a clear majority in favor of delaying the decision.

Baker said he would not comment on the new Bonn position “until I’ve had a chance to sit down with the chancellor.” He is scheduled to meet with Kohl on Monday.

Baker began his NATO tour in Ottawa, the capital of Canada, which he visited along with President Bush on Friday.

This week he will touch down in Britain, West Germany, Denmark, Norway, West Germany (again), Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium (again) and France before returning to Washington on Friday.

The manic schedule is partly symbolism, partly good politics, Baker explained--”to let them know that we really do want to meet with them in their countries on a one-on-one basis.”

Baker said he will offer the allies “certain basic principles that are going to guide the Bush Administration’s foreign policy”:

First, “that the NATO alliance will play a central role.”

Second, “We’re committed to pursuing the strategy of defense and dialogue with the East.”

Third, “We are determined to play a constructive role in promoting peaceful settlements of regional conflicts.”

Fourth, “Collective action on transnational issues . . . such as environment, drugs and terrorism.”

He added, however, that the Administration’s interest in joint action against terrorism would not foreclose the possibility of unilateral American moves against terrorists.

Finally, Baker said, “We’re dedicated to preserving an open international trading system and a global and dynamic international trading system.”