Allies Agree to Reshape NATO Strategy : Summit: Bush says U.S. will never be the first to use force and extends ‘hand of friendship’ to old adversaries.

Western leaders agreed Friday to transform NATO’s nuclear strategy, and President Bush said the alliance was offering a “solemn commitment to non-aggression” to the Soviet Union and the new democracies of Eastern Europe.

At a news conference wrapping up a two-day NATO summit, Bush said there would be negotiations to limit a unified Germany’s armies after the United States and the Soviet Union conclude a treaty reducing their conventional forces in Europe. Diplomatic sources said a reduction of 165,000 German troops might be possible.

“Our alliance extends the hand of friendship,” Bush said. “We reaffirm that we shall never be the first to use force.” He said “NATO is changing,” and that the Soviet Union should no longer regard the Western alliance as posing a military threat.

In Moscow, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev said he was ready to accept the NATO leaders’ invitation to address a meeting of the Western alliance, probably in December.

“I am always ready to go,” Gorbachev said during a break in a contentious Communist Party Congress at the Kremlin. The Soviet leader said he had not received a formal invitation.

Soviet foreign ministry spokesman Gennady Gerasimov said, “We welcome the results of the (NATO) session.”

Bush renewed his support for Gorbachev’s reforms but said he has “big problems” with direct U.S. assistance to the Soviet economy so long as Moscow spends $5 billion annually for Cuba and billions more on military modernization.

Bush said there may be ways to help the Soviet economy by extending financial credits before moving on to direct government loans.

Diplomatic sources said Gorbachev wrote British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher during the NATO summit with an appeal for economic aid.

From London, Bush was flying to Houston and this week’s economic summit of the world’s seven leading industrialized nations. The issue of direct Western aid to the Soviet economy is regarded as certain to dominate discussions in Houston, and Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney told reporters, “I think there will probably be substantial progress on it.”

The summit powers offered to eliminate nuclear-tipped artillery shells in Europe and, in a dramatic shift in longstanding policy, declared that the Western alliance would use nuclear arms only as weapons of last resort to defend against a Soviet-led invasion.

NATO leaders made a dramatic overture to the Soviet Union, expressed by Bush this way: “We say to President Gorbachev, come to NATO.” NATO Secretary General Manfred Woerner was dispatched to brief Gorbachev this week.

The NATO meeting was called to consider Western security needs in light of the virtual collapse of the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact in Eastern Europe, whose member nations have thrown off communist control.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded after World War II as a military counterweight to the Soviet military bloc in Europe.

Even as he offered friendship to East European countries, Bush made it clear that he is not ready to accept any of the former Soviet satellites into NATO. Asked whether he would oppose Hungary’s application, Bush said, “Not forever.”

Woerner said the changes in NATO policy would ease the threat of war.

“At long last we have the chance to make for the first time in history military aggression in Europe materially impossible and also politically meaningless,” he told reporters at a separate news conference.

On nuclear weapons, Woerner said the NATO leaders said they will “modify and adapt the tasks of their nuclear deterrent forces” and offered to eliminate all nuclear artillery shells from Europe “in return for reciprocal action by the Soviet Union.”

In another important development, the allies proposed that once a treaty is signed--probably next fall--on limiting conventional arms and military equipment, talks would begin immediately on reducing the number of U.S. and Soviet troops in Europe.

“With this goal in mind, a commitment will be given at the time of signature of the CFE treaty concerning the manpower levels of a unified Germany,” a closing communique said.

Government sources in Bonn have said this could amount to cutting about 165,000 troops from the current levels, down to 400,000. West Germany now has about 465,000 active-duty troops, while East Germany has about 100,000 military personnel.

The arms talks are being held between the NATO and Warsaw Pact nations to sharply reduce tanks, artillery and other non-nuclear weapons in Europe. The United States and the Soviet Union already have agreed to limit each side to 195,000 troops in the central region. The United States would maintain an additional 30,000 in Britain and southern Europe.

The NATO leaders congratulated themselves on a successful two-day meeting.

Thatcher said the summit outcome was “good for NATO and good for Mr. Gorbachev.” West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl said “the chemistry is right” between him and Bush.

French President Francois Mitterrand remained hostile to the changed doctrine on nuclear strategy, saying “it was impossible to reach unanimity.”

He said the new strategy “totally contradicts the French strategy, which is not to take the initiative to use force, but to bring to bear whatever force is necessary when appropriate.”

The commitment by West Germany to limit the forces of a united Germany was seen as a key move to reassure the Soviet Union. Western leaders want a unified Germany to be part of NATO, but Gorbachev is opposed.

Overall, Bush described the NATO decision as a “historic turning point” and said, “The London Declaration transformed NATO’s nuclear strategy.”

In a written statement, the leaders proposed a mutual non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and the other nations of the fading Warsaw Pact alliance.

The 20-paragraph communique:

* Tightened the trigger guard on European nuclear missiles by stating they would be used only as a last resort.

* Invited the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria and Romania “to come to NATO, not just to visit, but to establish regular diplomatic liaison.”

“The walls that once confined people and ideas are collapsing,” the NATO leaders declared. “Europeans are determining their own destiny. . . . They are choosing a Europe whole and free.”

* Proposed the eventual elimination of nuclear artillery shells by “reciprocal arrangement.”

Asked what message he wants Gorbachev to receive from the London meeting, Bush said: “Here’s an alliance that you should view, Mr. Gorbachev, as defensive, not threatening, and please convince your military and others in the Soviet Union of that fact.”