U.S. AND CHINA SEEK ACCORD ON PLANNED PORT CALL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630068-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 25, 2012
• Sequence Number: 68
• Publication Date: May 7, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

S Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630068-7
'Ivry' LE
NEW YORK TIMES
Fikar 7 May, 1985
U.S. and China Seek Accord on Planne
By BERNARD GWERTZMAN
Special to The Nes York Tune,
WASHINGTON, May 6?The United
States and China are engaged in "deli-
cate negotiations" to decide whether
Navy ships will pay a planned port call
at Shanghai next week, a State Depart-
ment official said today. '
The talks, being held in Peking, have
been going on since China said last
month that the United States had
pledged not to include ships carrying
nuclear weapons. The United States
denied that such assurances had been
given, and the talks have not produced
an accord on what should be said.
The issue is deemed so important by
the United States that a State Depart-
ment official said today that the port
call by three destroyers might have to
be postponed if no accord can be
worked out in the next few days.
The United States has a policy of not
specifying whether any particular war-
ship carries nuclear weapons. When
New Zealand insisted on assurances
earlier this year that a United States
destroyer wishing to pay a port call
would not have nuclear weapons
aboard, the visit was canceled.
Since then, relations between the two
countries have become strained with
- Millz.feTtliMir ? ? I
off from intern ence information and
canceling all joint maneuvers.
e ese case, e issue was re-
vived on April 10, when Hu Yaobang,
the Communist Party leader, told a
group of journalists from Australia and
New Zealand that China had received
American assurances that no ship
visiting a Chinese port would be nu-
clear-armed. -
The next day, the State Department
denied that it had given such assur-
ances. The Chinese Embassy in Can-
berra, Australia, reacted April 15 by
saying:
"United States conventiontlly pow-
ered naval vessels may call at a Chi-
nese port on an informal ceremonial
visit. This is a matter solely between
China and the United States and there
are questions remaining to be settled
, between the two sides."
i Today a State Department official
I confirmed that the ships planning to
, visit China would be conventionally
, powered, but he went out of his way to
I repeat that there had been no easing of
policy over the issue of nuclear arms on
board.
; "Our policy on the fundamental issue
lof ship visits remains the same," he
said. "Namely, that we neither con-
firm nor deny the presence of nuclear
arms on our ships. No U.S. ship visits
can take place anywhere in the world
except under this policy."
He said he "fully expects" that the
ship visit to China will occur, but he
said he could not predict when. 1
The United States and .China have I
viewed the port call as a symbolic
demonstration of the improved state of
relations. American officials said the
Chinese were caught in the middle be-
tween their desire to see the United
States maintain a strong military pres-
ence in the Pacific to offset the Rus-
sians and their desire to play a promi-
nent role in third-world affairs, where'
antinuclear policies are popular. ,
China has had its own nuclear weap-
ons since 1964 and, unlike New Zealand,
has no particular antinuclear policy. It
is seeking to develop a nuclear power
industry and-to maintain nuclear mis-
siles as a deterrent against the Soviet
Union.
,
A Pentagon official said some Amer-
ican officials were speculating that 1
some Chinese officials were wary of
lany appearances.of a military relation-
ship with the United States and were
. working behind the scenes to block the
port calls. The Chinese are currently
engaged in negotiations with the Soviet
UrliThone onUniimtedproS.tvaintesg
repelmatisouns in refus-
ing
ing to say whether a ship is carrying
nuclear arms because countries like
Japan that have an antinuclear policy
would not be able to allow American
ships to call if an explicit statement
had to be issued on which ships were - ?
nuclear-armed.. _ .
or
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/09/25: CIA-RDP90-00965R000302630068-7