Bonn Unveils Reunification Defense Plan : Security: Membership in NATO, single army and 16-state government seen.

West German officials today unveiled plans for a military defense strategy for a united Germany that would include NATO membership, a move opposed by the Soviet Union.

The government also announced plans for a 16-state government that would encompass West and East Germany.

West German Defense Minister Gerhard Stoltenberg met with reporters today to discuss a common security concept that he said is being drafted by his ministry.

“Defense obligations are indivisible and cannot be weakened for a whole Germany,” Stoltenberg said, noting that military integration would be an important initial step in a single German state.

He said that a cornerstone of the joint force would be its membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The Soviet Union has insisted that a united Germany be neutral.

Despite Stoltenberg’s proposal, the military alignment of a united Germany is to be the subject of reunification talks this year among the German states, Soviet Union, the United States, Britain and France.

Washington wants at least the West German portion to remain in NATO. East Germany is a key component of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact.

Stoltenberg said there likely would be a transition phase during which the East and West German armies would be merged. “But we are not going to have two different armed forces in a united Germany for long,” Stoltenberg said.

There was no immediate comment from the Soviets or opposition leaders.

The governors of West Germany’s 11 states met today to discuss how a united Germany would be administered. They voted unanimously to pursue a 16-state federal structure once the Germanys are united.

They proposed that the East German territory be divided into five states along the borders of the traditional regions, Brandenburg, Mecklenburg, Sachsen, Sachsen-Anhalt and Thueringen.