With only days to go before President Bush and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev begin summit talks, the Bush administration sought to defuse a potential stumbling block over German membership in NATO.
In a series of interviews, Bush, Secretary of State James Baker and national security adviser Brent Scowcroft tried to reassure Gorbachev of the benefits of a reunified Germany joining the NATO alliance of Western nations.In an interview conducted May 24 at the White House by Soviet television's Valentin Zorin, Bush again said he hopes to convince Gorbachev that a reunited Germany with full membership in NATO will not be a threat to the Kremlin.
"A Germany in NATO not only is no threat to the Soviet Union, but preserves the kind of stable Europe that the Soviets should welcome," Bush said in the interview, broadcast Sunday in the Soviet Union.
Baker, in an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation," echoed Bush's statement that it is the president's job to convince Gorbachev that NATO is a defensive alliance and "a force for stability in Europe for 40 years."
"A Germany with full membership in NATO will be a Germany that will not be concerned with establishing its own security requirements," Baker said. "And that's very important to Europe and to the Soviet Union."
Asked if the Soviet Union could block the reunification of Germany, Baker said: "They've got certain legal rights as well as responsibilities as one of the four (post-World War II) powers (with jurisdiction over Germany).
"Of course, they could refuse to permit those rights and responsibilities to devolve," Baker said.
Scowcroft noted that discussions over German unity likely were to dominate an agenda that also will include arms control talks, the independence-minded Baltic states, Soviet Jewish emigration and trade relations between the United States and Soveit Union.
"I think the fundamental issues at the summit are not going to be arms control," Scowcroft told the ABC News program "This Week with David Brinkley." "The fundamental issues are talking about remaking the political map of Europe and also, secondarily, what's going on in the Soviet Union."
Bush, in the interview with Soviet television, said he anticipates a frank, tough, yet civil exchange at his four-day summit with Gorbachev, which begins Thursday.
"We have a responsibility for a broad agenda of items, including world peace," Bush said. "I've got grandchildren and he's got a family, and we can talk about it as human beings. Hey, what are we going to do to make things a little safer?
"If we argue, we will do that pleasantly," Bush said. "He's a tough guy. He'll listen. I've been around him enough to know that he drives his point home."
The president again expressed hope that progress can be made on strategic arms control and cuts in conventional forces in Europe, and said the Baltic states' drive for independence is an issue that cannot be ignored.