"Accuses Europeans of Regionalism"

Right-center Frankfurter Allgemeine reported that the document "makes clear that many problems of the U.S.-Europe relationship have yet to be resolved and that there are considerable differences" of positions. It said "Washington observers" judged that the message was characterized by "rare candor" in expressing the Nixon Administration's "dissatisfaction with the state of U.S.-European relations.

"The core of the differences is reflected in the reference to 'fundamental problems' in economic matters. The Europeans are accused of egotism and economic regionalism."

Some papers stressed the report's rejection of unilateral troop withdrawal from Europe and its assurances that the U.S. would never compromise Europe's security or the interests of America's allies.

"A Reproach as Nixon-Brandt Talks End"

First-day comment and analysis was sparse, but commentators assessing the Brandt-Nixon talks and reviewing Mr. Kissinger's "new Atlantic charter" speech touched on issues noted in the foreign policy report.

Pro-Christian Democratic Rheinische Post of Duesseldorf stated in an editorial today that Chancellor Brandt had rejected an effort by President Nixon to link defense burden sharing with trade matters and said:

"On the last day of the Nixon-Brandt talks, an alarming passage in the President's foreign policy report became known which reproaches the Europeans for creating a regional economic entity and simultaneously wanting American protection...."

"Nine Do Not Want New Doctrine"

An editorial today in independent Sueddeutsche Zeitung, Munich, said that Mr. Brandt had obtained the agreement of the other EEC government heads and "persuaded Nixon to drop Kissinger's idea of a new Atlantic charter...."

"None of the Nine wants a new doctrine with new institutions.... Therefore there is naturally no reference to Kissinger's idea in

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the communique.... Brandt himself envisages preparation by this
autumn of a document which would reformulate the aims of the
Atlantic Community as well as permitting Nixon, after his
visit to Europe, to announce that, for him, 1973 had indeed been
the 'year of Europe!' "

"Brandt Achieved Modification of Kissinger Ideas"

Frankfurter Allgemeine's Washington correspondent said today that "two
successes" achieved by Mr. Brandt in his meetings with President Nixon were
obtaining Mr. Nixon's agreement to meet the European Community Council during
his European visit and "Nixon's renunciation of the security-trade-monetary
policy linkage hinted at in Kissinger's statements....

"The idea of a new Atlantic charter remains attractive; however, its
significance has been somewhat modified by the German argument
that substance is more important than form. There is agreement on
the need for a constructive transatlantic dialogue and for a search for
commonalities which lend the Alliance added importance.

"Nixon's coming talks with other European statemen probably will
lead to even more modification of Kissinger's ideas.... Brandt's
success is also due to the fact that in view of the tremors created
by the Watergate scandal, Nixon needs reaffirmation of the world-wide
significance of U.S. Presidential action in foreign policy. Brandt's
presence, reflected in his reception by the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee and the National Press Club, came in handy for Nixon and
made him amenable to concessions."

Right-center *Die Welt* of Hamburg suggested that many important issues were
not mentioned in the communique, and concluded:

"Anyone content with appearances will be gratified.... Others will
feel uneasy in view of the feeling of German self-confidence which
pervades the communique."

"Brandt as Europe's Spokesman?"

Pro-Social Democratic Westfälische Rundschau, Dortmund, asserted that "only
Mr. Nixon's trip next fall will reveal whether the Americans will eventually

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succumb to the temptation to offset their weaknesses in trade and monetary policy
against European dependence on America for security.

"By listing the percentages of European burden sharing Brandt has made clear that the days of an overwhelming American majority are gone, and that a new European consciousness is about to prevail. Even though trying not to act as Europe's spokesman, the Chancellor came rather close to that role...."

"Three Fears Remain"

Influential independent weekly *Die Zeit*, Hamburg, yesterday carried an article by editor Theo Sommer in which he said that Mr. Kissinger had launched his plan for a "revival" of the Atlantic Alliance "under the most unfavorable circumstances" because the Watergate affair made it impossible to predict "whether Nixon can keep Kissinger's promises." He argued however, that Mr. Kissinger's proposals deserved "careful attention because for the first time in many years, Washington again shows a central interest in a partnership with West Europe....

"But he has failed to eliminate the three fears which beset Europe about American foreign policy. The first is, will America's Asia-oriented policy of withdrawal also apply to Europe? The second is the President's strange 'pentagonal concept'...which, keyed as it is exclusively to balance of power, leaves no room for community of interests, close interdependence, or the special U.S.-Europe relationship.

"...The third fear is prompted by Nixon's personal style... His diplomacy is keyed to magnificent spectacles and their lack of substance suggests a lack of seriousness....

"The suspicion cannot be completely suppressed that by propounding his concepts, Kissinger is merely pandering to the passion of his President for pompous platitudes.

"Thus the Shanghai and Moscow declarations would be followed by a European-American charter whose home truths would permit all concerned to go their individual ways. Nevertheless, Kissinger has marked out the area in which transatlantic dialogue must be conducted...."

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## West Berlin: "Report Raises Questions"

Front-page stories in West Berlin papers stressed the "criticism" of Europe and the "warning" to Hanoi.

In a dispatch relating the Brandt-Nixon talks and the foreign policy report, Hans B. Meyer, Washington correspondent of independent *Tagesspiegel*, said today that Chancellor Brandt had emphasized to Mr. Nixon that there were relatively few bilateral U.S.-FRG problems and that more issues were in fact becoming multilateral. Meyer wrote:

> "The concern over the supply of energy, which is connected with Middle East strategy, may be a touchstone. The question was broached between the two, but it can only be treated multilaterally. The web of responsibilities and actions has become a dense thicket and everything is interlocked....

> "Nixon's report inspires new deliberations on the Alliance's strategy to consider rising costs, the missions of its armed forces, their structure and the role of tactical nuclear weapons...and the possible consequences of mutual force reductions. Here too only questions are raised, but no connection is made to economic and financial-monetary negotiations."

## French See "Threats" and "Blackmail"

French media judgments of current American foreign policy intentions, based on inferences drawn from the foreign policy report, Mr. Nixon's talks with Chancellor Brandt and the Kissinger "new Atlantic charter" speech, were marked by such terms as "threat" and "blackmail" and suggested a cleavage between the U.S. and the FRG on some basic points.

## "We Shall Have to Renounce 'Regionalism'"

In middle-of-the-road *Figaro* of Paris, Roger Massip declared today, "We Europeans are now well forewarned: If we wish to continue to benefit from U.S. military protection we shall have to renounce what the U.S. President calls 'economic regionalism.'"

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The paper's Washington correspondent, Jacques Jacquet-Francillon, reporting yesterday on the Brandt visit, interpreted the Chancellor's views as "the opposite of Dr. Kissinger's position in his recent speech in which he proposed to Europe a new form of partnership in all fields of diplomatic, military and economic cooperation.

"In Kissinger's mind, all these various aspects of 'the common enterprise' appear closely linked, but Brandt obviously does not share this opinion. For Brandt, the concrete form the 'new Atlantic charter' might take matters little; what matters in his eyes is the possibility of a 'constructive dialogue' between the U.S. and the enlarged European Community."

The correspondent added, however, that "the Chancellor reportedly got sufficient assurances from Mr. Nixon in this regard so as not to feel he had wasted his time in Washington."

## "A Clear Threat"

A by-line writer in financial *Les Echos* asserted today, "The threat contained in the state of the world message is perfectly clear. If they want to continue enjoying U.S. military protection the Nine will have to give up their 'regionalist' economic policy." She continued:

"The warning is not new... but it is the first time that Nixon himself has with such bluster linked the commercial and military relations between Europe and the U.S.....

"However, though the power of the U.S. and the disunity of its partners give Washington a position of strength in the coming confrontation, the tarnished image of its President deprives it of a major trump card. The Watergate scandal and renewed inflation have dispelled the aura Nixon enjoyed during his first term. Rejected by an increasing number of the American public, the Chief Executive is in no position to give the rest of the world lessons in economic and political management.

"Will the Europeans know how to turn this brief respite to their profit, to regroup their forces and confront American demands with a common front?"

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# "Brandt Dissociated Self from Nixon-Kissinger Policy"

Independent-left *Le Monde* carried the assertion of its Washington correspondent, Jacques Amalric, that Chancellor Brandt "dissociated himself rather clearly from the European policy of Nixon and Kissinger." Stressing that "the final communique does not mention the 'new Atlantic charter' which according to Kissinger the European leaders should be prepared to ratify solemnly during the Nixon visit to Europe," Amalric declared that "for the first time some U.S. officials admit Brandt behaved more as a European leader than as a West German Chancellor....

"In both his private conversations and public statements, Brandt rebutted several points of the American position, in particular Kissinger's contention that political, military and economic questions are tied together in Atlantic relations."

On Tuesday the paper ran an editorial declaring that "the satisfaction over the Kissinger speech officially displayed in Bonn is not unmixed. His suggestions are likely to put Bonn in an embarrassing position toward both its EEC partners and its interlocutors in the socialist countries. The implicit claim of the U.S. to direct East-West negotiations would reduce West Germany's freedom of action in its Ostpolitik. Its maneuvering room would also be limited in the West."

"In proposing a global negotiation on relations among the U.S., Europe and Japan, President Nixon makes light of the existing European institutions, none of which encompasses all aspects of the problem...."

"It remains to be seen whether Europe can best find its own individuality through opposition to the U.S., as Paris still appears to believe, or by continuing to go along with the U.S., as Bonn believes."

# "Mercantile Blackmail"

A commentator in independent-left *Combat* of Paris wrote today, "Hardly had the ink dried on the German-American joint communique when President Nixon warned Europeans that they must renounce their pursuit of economic regionalism if they want to continue enjoying American military protection. Thus the 'Atlantic charter' proposed by Kissinger and to a degree already discarded by Chancellor Brandt shows forth clearly for what it is: blackmail--crude, mercantile blackmail."

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"The President declares (should we believe him?) that the U.S. will never compromise the security of Europe, that it will maintain its forces here. If that is the truth, it is only because such a course is clearly in the interest of the U.S. --an interest for which West Germany is already paying a high price in currency compensation. This is no way serves the economic and commercial interests of 200 million Europeans...."

The writer concluded that "the only satisfactory thing in the European part of the foreign policy report is the call for joint examination of energy problems. The Six never knew how to formulate a coherent doctrine in that field and so Europe is still lagging. In this regard it has something to gain."

Vienna: "Dissonances Remain"

Washington correspondent Marlene Manthey wrote today in Vienna's independent *Die Presse* that while Chancellor Brandt had been successful "in defusing the rather intransigent American demands set forth in Kissinger's April 23 speech...Nixon's foreign policy report is couched in much harsher language than the German-American communique."

The paper said in an editorial today that "dissonances" remain after the Brandt-Nixon talks on the Europe-U.S. relationship. It said the EEC countries wanted "their vision of a united Western Europe accepted--even though 1980 is still a long way off...."

"Will Nixon be talking to individual European leaders, as Kissinger put it, or to a community of states, the European Union?"

People's Party Suedost Tagespost of Graz said the foreign policy report "is unlikely to have the impact" of earlier reports because "the integrity of the White House, the prestige of the American Presidency and Nixon's place in history are at stake" on account of the Watergate affair.

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Tokyo: Mixed Reactions

Japanese media reported today that the Government of Japan had received
the Nixon foreign policy report "calmly" and that officials "foresaw no new
rise in U.S.-Japan tensions" as a result.

Television commentators, however, were strongly critical and maintained
the report "sounded like a threat to Japan."

"Lumping Economic and Political Problems?"

Publicly-financed NHK-TV said, "Japanese Government circles are concerned that the U.S. will lump together economic problems with political problems such as the U.S.-Japan security system." It declared:

"As a means of improving the trade imbalance, the U.S. may ask Japan to increase its share of the cost of stationing U.S. forces in this country and ask Japan to purchase more U.S. weapons."

However, the network said, Foreign Ministry sources contended that "such measures would lead to stronger criticism of the U.S.-Japan security system in Japan and result in deterioration of relations between the two countries."

Fuji-TV carried a report from a Washington correspondent that President Nixon had stressed correction of the U.S.-Japan trade imbalance and that "the tone of the warning could be taken as a threat." It asserted:

"When President Nixon said, 'It will require a conscious effort of political will not to make the key decisions according to short-term economic or political advantage; this is more than a problem of bureaucratic management, it is a test of statesmanship,' this sounded like personal criticism of Prime Minister Tanaka."

The network concluded, "This year's report seems to be more rude than frank."

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# "A Reflection of U.S. Internal Situation?"

No newspapers were published in Tokyo this morning because of a press holiday. Kyodo news service reported that Japanese officials had said the report "only reemphasized 'with comprehensiveness' America's current economic policy toward Japan." It said:

> "Finance Ministry sources noted that the House Ways and Means Committee will start deliberating the new trade bill next Wednesday, and that it was necessary for Nixon to show a stern attitude toward Japan in order to get concessions on trade matters."

The agency said the Foreign Ministry's "attention was first drawn to the strongest words ever used officially by Washington in describing economic relations between Japan and the U.S.," but that the Ministry had said unofficially that this could be construed as a "natural reaction" to Japan's increased economic power. It added:

> "Some sources close to the Foreign Ministry, however, indicated they saw it as a reflection of the difficult internal situation that has arisen from the Watergate affair and other domestic troubles."

## Hong Kong: "No Mention of ROC"

The Chinese-language press in Hong Kong gave wide coverage to the report, using wire-service accounts and USIS translations of the introduction and excerpts.

The English-language pro-Nationalist *Express* said that "only a few sentences mentioned the U.S. relationship with the Nationalist Government. More 'interesting' is that he mentioned the 15 million people of Taiwan without mentioning the Republic of China at all."

The pro-Communist *Hong Kong Commercial Daily* declared:

> "It is only natural that the broken signboard of the 'Republic of China' has been taken down in Nixon's message. In fact, this has been done in many official or semi-official U.S. documents since the Shanghai communique. This shows that the normalization of Sino-American relations is well on its way."

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## Seoul: "Urges Asian Cooperation"

The story topped headlines in South Korea today. The report was generally viewed as a reaffirmation of America's commitments to its allies.

The Washington correspondent of leading *Donga Ilbo* of Seoul wrote:

> "The report points out to the nations of Asia, which have achieved remarkable economic growth and an atmosphere of detente in recent years, that now is the time for them to turn greater attention to mutual cooperation."

Influential *Joongang Ilbo* noted that the President "reiterated the three-point principles of the Guam doctrine" and added, "However, he alluded to the limits of U.S. support to Asian countries at several points."

## "U.S. Must Not Neglect Asia"

Yesterday conservative *Kyunghyang Shinmun* of Seoul saw the series of meetings President Nixon has had or plans to have with European leaders as a signal of shift to a "Europe First" policy. It responded:

> "Maintenance of the status quo in Asia is a far more complicated job than in Europe and the tension in this region is more serious. Under this circumstance, the U.S. must not attempt to turn its eyes from Asia. If the U.S. neglects Asian affairs in what it calls the Year of Europe, we must warn that the consequence may be catastrophic."

## Dacca Headlines

Newspapers in Dacca headlined: "Recognition of Bangladesh a Must for Peace: Nixon" (*The People*); "Recognition Key to Subcontinental Peace: Nixon" (*Sangbad*) and "Normalize Relations by Recognizing Bangladesh: Nixon" (*Ittefaq*).

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