Bush Backs East Bloc Reform, Sees No U.S. Role

President Bush, offering a preview of his visit next week to Poland and Hungary, declared Thursday that he would stress his “strong support for the democratic course these nations have chosen” but would avoid raising tensions or driving a wedge between the Soviet Union and its allies.

Speaking of the two Eastern European nations that have displayed the strongest democratic tendencies, Bush asserted at an afternoon press conference, “Their efforts are not only a new beginning in their own countries but can be the beginning of an historic process of European reconciliation, of ending the artificial division of Europe.”

At the same time, he vowed to refrain from “dictating to and fine-tuning the political processes of these countries.”

Huge crowds are expected to greet Bush in both countries, and some U.S. and European officials are concerned that if demonstrations become disorderly, government forces might be used to suppress them.

“There is a pervasive fear of this in many quarters in Europe,” said a U.S. intelligence analyst. “And the China syndrome--the specter of repression in China--adds to the fear.”

Intelligence sources also warn that Bush’s visit could unleash anti-Soviet sentiments in both Poland and Hungary, despite the high regard that the people there hold for reforms initiated by Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

“Anti-Soviet feelings have never been higher,” said one source. “They’re in full bloom in Poland and Hungary.”

The sources did not rule out the possibility that Communist Party hard-liners in the two countries might resort to repressive measures if, as one put it, enthusiasm for change “gets out of hand and becomes a spontaneous combustion.” The fact that Soviet troops crushed an uprising in Hungary in 1956 and a reform movement in Czechoslovakia in 1968 is also adding to the uneasiness in Eastern Europe.

On other subjects at his press conference, Bush said he is “happy” that Oliver L. North, who drew a suspended sentence and a $150,000 fine for his conviction in the Iran-Contra case, was not given a jail sentence. But Bush declined to discuss whether he would consider pardoning North or make any other comment while the conviction is under appeal.

The President also announced that the U.S. government is canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in debt owed it by poor sub-Saharan African countries. The debt involves development loans under various federal aid programs, and U.S. officials said it could total as much as $1 billion.

In his press conference, held mostly for foreign journalists, and later at a symposium on Eastern Europe at the White House, the President talked enthusiastically about prospects for democratic reform not only in Poland and Hungary but throughout Eastern Europe.

“These are historic times,” he told the symposium. “And what’s at stake is not just movement towards economic and political liberalization in Poland and Hungary, but the prospect of ending the post-war division of Europe. And Poland and Hungary, yes, they’re leading the way; but they face enormous economic and political problems, and they need our support in their efforts if they’re to succeed.”

Asked at his press conference whether conditions are right to improve relations with East Germany, Bush said he would insist on “a little more democracy, a little more freedom, a little more openness.” He said he would tell the East Germans:

“Come along with the flow. Things are changing in Eastern Europe; don’t be lagging behind. Get out front. Don’t be afraid of democracy and freedom. It isn’t going to hurt anybody. Indeed, it’s going to help your people.”

Unperturbed by Gorbachev

The President appeared unperturbed that Gorbachev, visiting Paris, had dismissed his recent call for a withdrawal of troops from Poland as unhelpful and as “propaganda.”

He said he was not trying to make things more difficult for Gorbachev, “just as when he goes to France and Germany I don’t think he’s trying to make things more difficult for the United States.”

“We’re in a very interesting period of change,” Bush said. “And I have said I want to see perestroika ( restructuring ) succeed and I want to see glasnost ( openness) succeed, and I’ll repeat it here. And my trip over there is not to try to--through that statement or anything else--drive wedges between the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. That’s not what 1989 diplomacy is about.”

The President, whose European trip will take him to Paris for the July 14-16 economic summit of the seven leading industrialized nations, said he expects the summit to be “fairly general” in how it exhorts the Eastern European countries to implement democratic reforms.

He said the allies should express their concerns about human rights violations and emigration restrictions in the Soviet Bloc. But he cautioned that they should stop short of telling Eastern Europe “how the political process works,” because they can’t agree on that point themselves.

Bush said U.S. efforts at the Paris summit will be just as important as his visits to Eastern Europe in helping end the economic and political division of Europe. “That’s why I will propose ways to work together to assist economic recovery and democratic change in Poland and Hungary,” he said.

The key U.S. economic objective at the Paris summit, Bush said, will be to sustain non-inflationary growth in the seven summit countries--the United States, Japan, West Germany, Britain, France, Canada and Italy.