§ Lord Kennetasked Her Majesty's Government:
What are the grounds on which they have decided that, because naval forces sometimes go elsewhere, they are of no significance in the European balance of forces and what relevance does this have for the negotiation of confidence-building measures in the European seas.
§ Lord GlenarthurBecause of their global capability, it is difficult to identify accurately which naval forces are relevant to the conventional force balance in Europe; and within the two military alliances naval forces fulfil different roles. Such maritime confidence-building measures as have been negotiated hitherto, for example on incidents at sea, have been bilateral in character and global in application.