Memorandum, State Department Summary of Telegrams

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE DECLASSIFIED WASHINGTON E.O. 12065, Sec. 3-402 State Dept. Guidelines, March 6, 1982 By, DEB NLT, Date 9-4-85 April 10, 1951 SECRET SUMMARY OF TELEGRAMS FOUR-POWER At the 26th session of the Paris talks EXPLORATORY TALKS yesterday Gromyko said on several occasions that the Soviets desire to state directly in the agenda that the Foreign Ministers shall discuss the armaments question from the standpoint of the reduction of armaments, and that such discussion will be followed by concrete action toward this end. He said he felt that the difficulty on this item was not one of word- ing but of different conceptions on the part of the Soviets and the Western Powers. Gromyko also reaffirmed the Soviet position on the necessity for having "German demilitarization" as the first subheading under item 1 and for including the Soviet proposal concerning the NAT and the US bases. In replying to Gromyko, Mr. Davies said all parties agree that the armaments question should be examined; he pointed out, however, that in the Western Powers' view the present level of Soviet armaments is the principle cause of tension and has made it necessary for the West to look to its defense. He noted that Gromyko's statement had made the Soviet position clearer than ever before, but he pointed out that it was not for the Deputies to prejudge the conclusions the Foreign Ministers would reach in discussing armaments. The meeting lasted four hours. It provided encouraging examples of solidarity among the Western delega- - tions, but insofar as any progress with the Soviets was concerned, the Western Deputies were of the impression that the meeting represented a step backward. JAPANESE TREATY A British Foreign Office official has given Embassy London the text of a British draft treaty for Japan. The official commented that the UK had given the text to Commonwealth High Commissioners in London and would give it shortly to the French and the Dutch, but had no thought of SECRET