UN General Assembly
1985

Substantial reductions and preferably complete elimination of land-based intermediate-range missiles are of specific relevance to the Netherlands. On this matter my Government has taken a position of utmost restraint. In June 1984 we made a strong appeal to the Soviet union to reverse the trend of the ever-increasing build-up of 3S-20 missiles, in which case we would be prepared to forgo deployment of intermediate-range nuclear missiles on our territory. Unfortunately, our participation in deployment of intermediate-range nuclear missiles now seems to have become inevitable, since that appeal to the Soviet Union has remained unheeded. Nevertheless, for our part, together with our allies, we shall not cease to contribute to constructive and imaginative thinking on how an equitable, balanced and verifiable agreement can be attained in Geneva on this category of weapons.