W. German Again Rejects Need to Upgrade Missiles
West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher rejected again Monday the warnings Bonn has received from Washington and London that NATO needs to upgrade its short-range nuclear missiles, rather than negotiating to cut their number.
Washington and London say it is essential to update the aging Lance short-range nuclear weapons, which are based in West Germany, rather than negotiate a low East-West ceiling on them.
The issue is not new--the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had discussed the possibility of East-West talks on reducing the weapons in 1987 and 1988--and should be dealt with now, Genscher told the Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper.
“The point . . . is to give reality to the intention stressed in two important alliance decisions,” Genscher said. “It should be possible to find a way to do this.
“I do not doubt the good will of all the alliance partners involved,” he said in the interview released by the Foreign Ministry ahead of newspaper publication today.
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher spelled out her interpretation of NATO policy to Chancellor Helmut Kohl during a daylong visit to West Germany on Sunday, insisting on updating the Lance and avoiding the negotiations issue.
The question of the weapons, which have a range of up to 300 miles, is expected to be the main theme at NATO’s 40th anniversary summit in Brussels on May 29-30.
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