European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 02, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Cheney urges caution on troop cuts Page 28 the Star s and of ripes authorized i vol. 48, no. 291 Friday. February 2. 1990 a do Good morning d 8693 a Bush Calls for drastic cuts in ., soviet troop Levels by Chuck Vinci Washington Bureau Washington spurred by the frantic Pace of change in Eastern Europe. President Bush called for deeper cuts in the number of And soviet troops in Central Europe in his first slate of the Union address. The president s Surprise proposal wednesday to re Duce And soviet troops in Central Europe to 195,000 was his second dramatic Call for conventional Force reductions in less than a year last year s proposal called for cutting troop Levels on each Side to 275,000. Which would have meant a reduction of about 30.000 Troops and More than 300.000 soviet troops. That plan is still on the negotiating new proposal would Cut Art additional 50.000 troops and bring each Side s forces in Europe Down to 225.000. With a limit of 195.000 in Central Europe. For the United states thai Means West Ger Many the Netherlands and Belgium. Almost All the soviet Union s 565.000 troops in Europe Are in what is considered to be Central Europe and it would have to reduce that number to i95.0 x. Theoretically the soviet Union could maintain up to 30.000 troops outside the Central zone in Romania. Bulgaria an Hungary. But a Pentagon analyst said those countries were not Likely to support such a deployment. The United states could have an additional 30.000 forces outside the Central one. It currently has More than 60.000 military people stationed in great Britain. Greece. Turkey. Spam Italy and Portugal according to European come before his nationally televised speech. Bush called soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev to advise him of his proposal. He later characterized Gorbachev As receptive and willing to consider it. As late As his december meeting in Malta with Gor continued on Page 3 negotiators expected to begin discussing Bush proposal soon president Bush addresses Congress. Vice president Dan Quale loft and speaker Thomas Foley applaud. By David tar Rantand Dave Diqiu. Staff writers Strong Allied support for president Bush s plan to drastically Cut superpower troop Levels should ensure that the proposal reaches the negotiators quickly pos Sibly As soon As next week. The plan has provoked quite a positive response from nato allies said Elizabeth Pryor. A spokeswoman for the Delegation to the conventional forces Europe or cafe. Negotiations in Vienna. Austria. And in a larger sense it has demonstrated the flexibility of the arms forum and its capability to allow dramatic improvisation in the Middle of the program defense experts can t pretend that the announcement can t have any said Marc fielder a defense specialist at the London based Royal United sen ice s Institute. It will make it Clear. That this is an ongoing see Bush on Back Page Modrow Calls for United Neutral Germany Berlin a communist Premier Hans mod Row appealed thursday for negotiations with West Germany to forge a common plan for a United fatherland that would eventually be Neutral and governed from Berlin. Modrow called for a reasonable time horizon for re unification to be mutually determined apparently seeking to gain control Over the galloping Pace of events drawing the two Germany together. The Premier s announcement marked a turnaround in the communist dominated government s position on the German question. The East Berlin leadership had previously resisted reunification efforts As Prema Ture and destabilizing. But mounting economic woes and an Accle ratio exodus of skilled workers to the West arc forcing the nation s interim leaders to address Public pressure for a merger with prosperous West Germany. At a press conference to announce his Unity plan. Modrow rejected suggestions that he was Angling to win votes for the communist party which faces a possible departure from the corridors of Power after the nation s first free elections set for March 18. West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl new to West Berlin on thursday to meet with East German opposition leaders to discuss possible Campaign assistance for their Challenge of the communists. Modrow made Clear that the unified German state he envisions would have to be free of ties to both military German foreign minister Hans Dietrich Gen Schur had proposed a Compromise on wednesday that East German Premier Hans Modrow. Proposes treaty Community he suggested would provide a Security guarantee for the Kremlin which depends heavily on East Germany As its front line against the West s nato Alliance. Genscher proposed that the territory now constituting West Germany would remain Loyal to the nato political Alliance while the area East of the Elbe River. East Germany would be militarily Neutral. . Ambassador to West Germany Vernon Walters warned that loyalty to nato was one of the conditions for German reunification but left unclear whether it would also include the military integration into the Alliance of what is now East Germany. Wallers made the remarks in a speech in Stuttgart the text of which was distributed by his office in Bonn. Modrow said both Germany would have to Disen Gage themselves from military blocs. About two thirds of the 565.000 soviet troops deployed in Eastern Europe Are based in East Germany. Likewise. West Germany hosts the lion s share of the 305.000 Troops stationed in Central Europe to defend against a possible attack by the soviet led w a saw s plan Calls for an initial treaty Community to draw the two German states closer together then a confederation status that would create some joint executive and parliamentary committees. The final step to be endorsed in a National referendum would scat a joint parliament and government in Berlin and draft a joint Constitution. Modrow did not make Clear what would happen to Bonn the West German capital that has endured a see Germany on Back Page
