Settlement of Arms Rift Seen Near, Baker Says : Mitterrand Meets Bush, Backs U.S. Proposals on Short-Range Nuclear Weapons in Europe

Secretary of State James A. Baker III confirmed Saturday that the United States and its NATO allies may be close to resolving the contentious issue of negotiations over the future of the West’s short-range European nuclear arsenal.

U.S. proposals to end the dispute won the support of visiting French President Francois Mitterrand, who met here with President Bush.

Appearing at a joint press conference with Baker, French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas said the U.S. proposals are “very close” to positions that Mitterrand outlined in Paris earlier this week. “We definitely support them,” he said.

The dispute over the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s short-range missiles has been the alliance’s major sore spot ever since West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl called last month for early negotiations with the Soviets aimed at eliminating the weapons.

The United States, backed by Britain, has been insisting that no negotiations on that subject begin until after the Soviets agree to reduce the Warsaw Pact’s huge conventional forces in Europe.

The quarrel has aggravated a recurring strain in NATO over the continued use of nuclear weapons to deter a Soviet attack. And the problem has been threatening to spoil the NATO summit to be held in Brussels on May 29-30.

U.S. and West German officials have been discussing ways to finesse the issue for several weeks and save face for both sides, and those discussions apparently bore fruit Friday in talks in Washington between Baker and Bonn Defense Minister Gerhard Stoltenberg.

Baker discussed the progress with reporters here Saturday after several hours of meetings between Bush and Mitterrand.

Although France does not participate in NATO’s unified military command, U.S. officials hope that Mitterrand may be able to assist them in reaching an agreement with the West Germans. The French have generally supported the American position about the need to keep nuclear weapons as the centerpiece of the alliance’s defense strategy.

In their talks, Baker said, Bush and Mitterrand “stressed the absolute need to maintain nuclear deterrence in Europe and that we should concentrate now on conventional force negotiations.”

During Friday’s meetings with the Germans, Baker said, the U.S. presented a proposal to the Germans under which NATO would commit itself now to negotiate with the Soviets on the missiles issue but would make that commitment conditional on “significant progress” in the negotiations over conventional forces reduction.

In effect, that formula would allow Kohl to tell voters in West Germany that he had won a promise to negotiate while, at the same time, preserving the U.S. position that conventional-force negotiations must come first.

Kohl Under Heavy Pressure

Kohl has been under heavy pressure at home on the nuclear issue. His government has been losing ground politically, and short-range weapons are highly unpopular in his country because, in the event of war, NATO’s plans call for the weapons to be used on German soil to stop any advance by Warsaw Pact armies.

At the same time, the U.S. proposal would put off until 1992 any decision about modernizing NATO’s aging force of Lance short-range missiles. The U.S. would continue, in the meantime, to develop a newer version of the Lance.

Although U.S. officials are hopeful that their proposal may break the logjam over short-range weapons, several potential problems remain. The center of contention now is defining how much progress would have to be made in the conventional force negotiations before negotiations over short-range nuclear weapons could begin.

After meeting for several hours with Mitterrand, Bush went fishing while the French President worked on the commencement speech that he will deliver today at Boston University where he is to receive an honorary degree.

Bush then took his guest on a 45-minute walk through the Maine woods. Appearing relaxed and comfortable together, the two posed for photographers as Bush described his catch.

“ Un grand mackerel,” he said although he later told reporters that he did not plan to eat the fish.