France Suspends Nuclear Testing for Rest of the Year : Weapons: The move is seen as a ruling-party attempt to attract support of environmentalists.

In a conciliatory gesture to the growing environmentalist movement, France’s Socialist government Wednesday announced the suspension of its nuclear weapons testing program in the South Pacific for the rest of this year.

The announcement was made by new French Prime Minister Pierre Beregovoy in his first speech before the National Assembly since he replaced outgoing Prime Minister Edith Cresson last week.

Beregovoy said the nuclear testing ban is intended to encourage other nuclear powers to make similar commitments. Countries with a still-active testing program include Britain, China and the United States, which conducted its most recent underground test two weeks ago in Nevada.

“In 1993, we will see whether the example is followed and if common sense progresses,” Beregovoy said.

The United States said Wednesday that it is determined to continue conducting its own atomic tests. State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said the U.S. testing program “is determined by our own needs and not by the activities of other countries.”

Beregovoy’s move was widely interpreted as an attempt by the Socialists, who suffered their worst election defeat in 24 years in regional elections in March, to attract the support of growing environmentalist movements.

In the March 22 elections, two environmentalist parties, Ecology Generation and the Greens, had their best showing ever, capturing between them more than 13% of the national vote. The success has made the environmentalists attractive as potential political partners for both the Socialists and mainstream right-wing parties.

Opposition leader Jacques Chirac, leader of the Gaullist party known as the Rally for the Republic, charged that with parliamentary elections scheduled for next March, the announcement of the test suspensions “appeared to be motivated exclusively by internal political considerations.”

Since 1975, independent nuclear power France has conducted nearly 200 atmospheric and underground tests in French Polynesia. The tests have been the focus of protests by international environmentalist and anti-nuclear organizations.