ACCESSION NUMBER:00000
FILE ID:96032601.POL
DATE:03/26/96
TITLE:26-03-96  PERRY SAYS U.S. ANXIOUS TO MOVE AHEAD WITH START PROCESS

TEXT:
(U.S., former USSR "ahead of schedule" on disarmament) (760)
By Jacquelyn S. Porth
USIA Security Affairs Writer

Washington -- Defense Secretary Perry says the United States and
Russia are "ahead of schedule" in the nuclear weapons disarmament
process established under the first Strategic Arms Reductions Treaty
(START I) and Washington is "very anxious to get on with START II".

The START I process, which will reduce the level of strategic nuclear
weapons from 10,000 to 6,000 per country, is being implemented in
advance of established time lines, Perry said. He told the American
Business Conference in Washington March 26 that the former Soviet
states of Belarus, Ukraine, and Kazakstan also are "ahead of schedule"
in the START process and are on their way to becoming "non-nuclear
nations."

The START II agreement, which would further reduce nuclear weapons to
the 3,500 range, already has been negotiated, signed and ratified by
the United States and now awaits action by the Russian parliament.
Perry said it is unclear whether the parliament will ratify the second
START accord before the Russian presidential elections to be held in
June. Still, he said, "we are very anxious to get on with START II."

Both Russia and the United States are already thinking about START
III, the secretary said, although he cautioned that that process
should not begin until there is agreement on START II. Perry also
suggested that the next round of the process could conceivably bring
in other nations besides the United States and Russia.

In a question-and-answer session with members of the American Business
Conference, the secretary noted that the "number one priority" for the
United States is to prevent the "fragile" new democracies of eastern
and central Europe from reverting back to militaristic societies. "If
the democracies in any of those countries lapse, there is a danger of
reversion to a militaristic, authoritarian regime that could be
hostile to the West," he explained. Perry said the U.S. Defense
Department can provide "useful support" to the forces that are seeking
"to sustain democracy" in the region.

Asked to speculate on the status of the latest round of
Chinese-Taiwanese tensions, Perry said that "this particular crisis is
behind us now." He noted that the Chinese military exercises, which he
described as counter-productive, "have ended" and their troops are
returning to barracks.

While the Chinese-Taiwanese situation veered "off-track" some six to
eight months ago, the secretary said, he expects it to get back on
track with the two sides beginning to deal with each other again "in a
friendly way" through increasing trade and cultural and business
exchanges.

Perry told a questioner on terrorism that that "important
destabilizing factor" is not related to Islamic fundamentalism but to
"Islamic extremism." The problem is not the religion, he stressed,
noting that the United States has "strong relations" with a number of
Islamic countries around the world, but, rather, members of the
religion who are willing to use force and terrorist tactics to try to
promote their views and philosophic cause. He cited as examples recent
terrorist incidents in Israel and the bombing some years ago of a Pan
American flight.

The secretary also expressed his concern regarding stability in North
Korea. That country is experiencing "enormous economic difficulties,"
he noted, which could produce political and military unrest. North
Korea has expressed hostility over time toward South Korea and the
West, Perry said, making it a country "we must be very much concerned
with."

The secretary told his audience the United States is pursuing a
three-pronged strategy against the threat of weapons of mass
destruction: prevention, deterrence, and developing robust ballistic
missile defenses. The National Missile Defense (NMD) system the U.S.
envisions for the future, however, he said, would defend against a
limited threat of only several dozen ballistic missiles and not the
several thousand envisioned by the Reagan administration's Strategic
Defense Initiative (SDI).

On other subjects, Perry noted that the United States wants to
"reinforce democratic moves" which have occurred in Latin American
countries "by forming strong relations with the ministries of defense"
there.

On the status of the U.S. defense budget in recent years, the
secretary noted that military manpower has been reduced by 33 percent
and infrastructure by 25 percent. Military bases have been greatly
reduced in the past six to seven years, he said, with 50 bases
authorized for closure in the last round of decision-making.
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