President Bush (Hansard, 10 May 1989)

§ 4. Mr. Couchman
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will report on the outcome of his recent meeting with President Bush.

§ The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Sir Geoffrey Howe)
When I met President Bush in 845 Washington on 17 April, we discussed a number of current issues including East-West relations, short-range nuclear forces, the middle east, Lebanon, southern Africa and Latin America.

§ Mr. Couchman
I thank my right hon. and learned Friend for that answer. In the course of his wide-ranging discussions, did he have an opportunity to discuss the initiative by President Bush in seeking to control narcotics, especially in relation to south American countries, and did he discuss the possibilities of further co-operative action between our two countries on this serious problem?

§ Sir Geoffrey Howe
We certainly welcome the initiative of President Bush to which my hon. Friend refers. As he knows, it is an accepted part of our common policy for co-operation that we are engaged in a partnership in the worldwide war against drugs, with particular reference to Latin America. The first agreement, which I signed myself, for bilateral co-operation for the tracing, freezing and confiscation of the proceeds of drug transactions, was signed with the United States and came into force last night.

§ Mr. Denzil Davies
During the discussions on short-range and battlefield nuclear weapons, did the Foreign Secretary explain the British Government's policy? Is it the British Government's view that short-range and battlefield nuclear weapons are necessary to counter Soviet conventional superiority and would they still be necessary if there were parity of conventional forces?

§ Sir Geoffrey Howe
It is the view of the whole Alliance that we need to maintain short-range nuclear weapons, among others, in a capable and up-to-date condition. The Alliance agrees in rejecting a third zero and that remains the position in all circumstances.

§ Sir Peter Blaker
Can my right hon. and learned Friend say whether President Bush shares the view that there is one question in East-West relations that is even more important than disarmament—whether the Soviet Union has abandoned its desire to expand at the expense of other countries and to dominate them? Does he agree that that has not yet been established?

§ Sir Geoffrey Howe
The President of the United States and his Administration, together with the other members of the NATO Alliance, share the view that it is necessary for the Alliance to maintain a firm and effective defensive capability against the risks of deployment or the threat of the use of military resources, and one cannot regard that threat as having come to an end.

§ Mr. Alex Carlile
Are we to accept reports that President Bush believes that the cold war is now over? If not, in the light of the Foreign Secretary's meeting with Mr. Bush, will he tell us how he would apportion blame for the continuance of the cold war?

§ Sir Geoffrey Howe
The continuance of the tension, which gives the North Atlantic Alliance its continuing purpose, is due to the overwhelming preponderance of forces, and the capability to threaten the use of those forces, in Europe among other places. The fact that most of the countries of eastern Europe are still host to Soviet 846 occupation forces is only one of many reasons for thinking that there are still powerful reasons for being apprehensive about the security of western Europe.