Baker Tour Outshone by Gorbachev : Secretary Finds It Hard to Compete in European Swing

Secretary of State James A. Baker III, on his first diplomatic tour of West European capitals, is finding it difficult to compete with the public relations blitz of Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, a senior U.S. official said today.

Baker also is having his problems with West German leaders and their reluctance to support the upgrading of NATO’s tactical nuclear missiles, the official said. But after touching base in six of the 15 allied capitals, Baker’s biggest problem is Gorbachev and the inroads he has made in Western European public opinion.

“There is just an attraction, an intriguing quality to Gorbachev that you have to answer somehow,” said the official, who participated in most of the meetings Baker has held on his trip.

“We have no answer,” the official told reporters as Baker flew back to West Germany for talks with Chancellor Helmut Kohl and Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher.

Disarmament Trends

Responding to strong disarmament trends among the German people, Kohl last week proposed a delay of two or three years in upgrading the short-range Lance missile deployed in the country.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization faces a decision in a few months on whether to double the range of the U.S.-built rockets from 70 miles to about 150 miles.

Kohl told reporters he wants NATO to build into its defense strategy a disarmament mandate if the allies go ahead with a plan.

After talking to the chancellor, Baker told reporters that he hoped the issue could be settled at a NATO summit meeting, which is being planned for late May in Brussels.

He said Kohl gave assurances that he was not “backing off” West Germany’s approval of a NATO declaration last year, saying the allied defense should mix nuclear and conventional weapons that “will continue to be kept up to date.”

Covering 15 capitals in eight days is testing Baker’s endurance. Today, for example, was a three-country day with stops in Denmark, Norway and West Germany. Tuesday will be no easier, with Baker going to Turkey, Greece and Italy.