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defence matters and make their views known to the member
governments in the WEU Council.
EAST/WEST RELATIONS
18. In pursuit of measures of
detente, the
Government is at present engaged with other members of the NATO Allianc
in negotiations aimed at establishing a safer and more productive relationship with the Soviet Union and the countries of Eastern Europe in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe in Geneva, where neutral and non-aligned countries also participate, and in the negotiations on mutual and balanced force reductions in Vienna. The British Government is playing a full and positive role in both these negotiations. Developments in them are described in more detail below.
19.
But progress depends on both sides being willing to negotiate constructively. Detente must mean the establishment of long-term, fruitful and mutually beneficiul co-operation between states, irrespective of their political, economic and social systems on the basis of full equality and mutual respect. Only such progress can reassure those who fear that detente is viewed by some within the Warsaw Pact as a device to divide and lull the West while the East pursues a goal of progressively shifting the balance of power in favour of the Soviet Union. The West as a whole needs to be convinced that neither force, nor the threat of force will be used against any member of the Alliance or against neutrals, and that verifiable arms control measures can be agreed which will increase rather than diminish the security of both East and West, In this respect the current East-West negotiations are an acid test of the determination of both sides to turn the rhetoric of detente into reality.
The Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE)
20.
35 nations are taking part in the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe. Our aim at the CSCE is to seek to establish
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