1
CONFIDENTIAL
DSR 11C
VISIT OF THE AMERICAN VICE PRESIDENT : 9/10 FEBRUARY
STEERING BRIEF
!
1. Vice President Bush comes to London at the end
of a European tour which takes in Bonn, Berlin, the
Hague, Brussels (for meetings with NATO, the EEC and
the Belgian Government), Geneva (to address the
Committee for Disarmament and to meet Soviet negotiators
in the arms control talks) Rome and Paris. The programme
for his visit to London is at Annex A together with
that for Mrs Bush
了
Objectives
2. The visit comes at an important time for the
Alliance. It takes place against a background of some
uncertainty about the prospects for the Reagan
Administration, the growing debate over nuclear
disarmament
particularly important in the context
}
of the German elections, and Soviet initiatives aimed at driving
which seem intended-to-drive a wedge between Europe
and the US. Mr Bush has been briefed by the
President to focus on defence/disarmament issues. In
a public statement on the eve of his departure from
Washington he said his purpose was to convince thepeople
of Western Europe that President Reagan was serious
about arms control. This was presumably
behind the 'open letter' from President
what lay
Reagan on INF
CONFIDENTIAL ·
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