TNAG-0538-FCO40-633-Strength-of-garrison-in-Hong-Kong-1975 — Page 108

CONFIDENTIAL

3RD DRAFT

30. The gap between the NATO and Warsaw Pact positions remains

wide and little substantive progress has been achieved so far.

Negotiations are taking place in a businesslike atmosphere.

The Government therefore believes that, given goodwill and

perseverance by both sides, an acceptable outcome can be achieved.

31. The British Government will continue to work for a successful

outcome to the negotiations and does not,plan in advance of mutual and

balanced force reductions, to reduce the forces which are maintained

in the Federal Republic of Germany below the level agreed in

accordance with the Brussels Treaty.

US/USSR Bilateral Negotiations

32. The second phase of the bilateral Strategic Arms Limitation

Talks (SALT) began in November 1972. At first little progress

was made but a step forward was eventually achieved by the agree-

ment in principle reached by President Ford and General Secretary

Brezhnev in Vladivostok in November 1974 on an outline of a new

ten-year agreement on strategic weapons. The outline provides

for the limitation of strategic land and sea-based missile

launchers and bombers to an equal aggregate level of 2,400 on each

side. The introduction of strategic bombers into the negotiations

is a notable innovation. The outline also sets a common ceiling

for each side of 1,320 missiles capable of being armed with

Multiple Independently-targetable Re-entry Vehicles (MIRVs). A

new agreement on these lines would be a significant advance on

the Interim Strategic Arms Limitation Agreement of May 1972

(SALT I) in that it would effectively establish a state of rough

overall strategic equivalence. It would also open the way to

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CONFIDENTIAL