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428080721
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Telephone Call from Chancellor Helmut Kohl of the Federal Republic of Germany, May 30, 1990
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document
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id
428080721
contentType
document
title
Telephone Call from Chancellor Helmut Kohl of the Federal Republic of Germany, May 30, 1990
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collections
Records of the National Security Council (George H. W. Bush Administration)
Presidential Telcon Files
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Germany
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428080721
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30
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1990-05-30
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5
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1990
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nara-archive
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f2859fb96c5bc737
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CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
4292
THE WHITE HOUSE
WASHINGTON
MEMORANDUM OF TELEPHONE CONVERSATION
SUBJECT:
Telephone Call from Chancellor Helmut Kohl of
the Federal Republic of Germany (U)
PARTICIPANTS:
The President
Helmut Kohl, Chancellor
Robert Hutchings, NSC Staff (Notetaker)
Gisela Marcuse (Interpreter)
DATE, TIME
May 30, 1990, 7:34 - 7:43 a.m.
AND PLACE:
The Oval Office (c)
The President: Helmut! (U)
Chancellor Kohl: Good morning! How are you? (U)
The President: I am getting ready for the big visit. I am glad
to hear your voice. (U)
Chancellor Kohl: That is why I am calling. I wanted to exchange
views for a couple of minutes. One thing, George: you can rely
on our fullest support. I acknowledge very much what you have
done for us and appreciate your friendship and reliability. One
thing that is very important for Gorbachev to understand is that
irrespective of developments, we will stand side by side. And
one sign of this cooperation are the links between us by the
future membership of a united Germany in NATO without any
limitations. You should make this clear to him, but in a
friendly way, and also make it clear that is the view I hold.
There should be no doubt about that. A second point: we can
find a sensible economic arrangement with him. He needs help
very much. He should also know that we have no intention of
profiting from his weakness. A final point: it is of immense
importance that we make further progress in disarmament. (C)
The President: I appreciate your comments very much. On the
German Question, as it is called, I don't expect much
breakthrough. I won't change my views, but I will assure him we
are side by side. We will lay out our views on the Two Plus
Four, including the need to terminate Four Power rights at the
time of unification, with no new constraints on German
sovereignty. We want him to come out feeling he has had a good
Summit, even though there are no major breakthroughs. I think we
can do it. We have a wide range of agreements to sign. On the
economic side, I remember your private conversation with me.
Subsequently, that has been raised, with Jim Baker. We have
problems with that, related to Lithuania. But I will take your
advice. I don't want him to think we are taking advantage of him
CONFIDENTIAL
DECLASSIFIED
Declassify on: OADR
CONFIDENTIAL
PER E.O. 12958,
AS AMENDED
(SI
5/17/99
CONFIDENTIAL
CONFIDENTIAL
because of his weakness. We will move the arms control agenda
forward, but he must realize that on conventional forces, those
are Alliance decisions. We can talk about this in general terms,
but on matters like the levels of German forces, beyond those
already on the table, we cannot make commitments. We really
appreciated your offer to help on levels of the Bundeswehr, but
we feel it is a little premature. Brent Scowcroft has gotten to
Horst Teltschik on that. But it was a very generous offer on
your part.
(e)
Chancellor Kohl: George, to make this very clear: the wind blew
some rumors my way, and I instructed Teltschik to approach Brent
Scowcroft. I said we can discuss everything, but we have to
agree beforehand before we reach agreement. Nothing is going to
change on that. You can rely on it. (e)
The President: Good. I think we are up to date. I look forward
to seeing you next week. (U)
Chancellor Kohl: I am very much looking forward to it. (U)
-- End of Conversation ÷-
CONFIDENTIAL
CONT CONFIDENTIN IDENTIFE