agreement, if it were reached, would be a major step towards the strengthening of peace and a great blessing to all mankind.

The Soviet Government hopes that such negotiations, like the bilateral exchange of views on disarmament questions between the Soviet Union and the United States, will facilitate the efforts to find a solution of the disarmament problem acceptable to all parties, in the interests of all the peoples of the world.

556. TERMINATION OF THE WASHINGTON PHASE OF THE UNITED STATES-SOVIET BILATERAL TALKS ON DISARMAMENT: Joint Communiqué Issued at Washington by Representatives of the United States and the U.S.S.R., June 30, 1961 15

Representatives of the Governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, who have been exchanging views in Washington since June 19 on questions relating to disarmament and the resumption of negotiations in an appropriate body whose composition is to be agreed upon, have agreed to recess their further meetings until July 17.

The meetings will resume in Moscow in accordance with an understanding reached between representatives of the two Governments prior to June 19 that the first half of the discussions would be held in Washington and the second half in Moscow.

THE MOSCOW PHASE OF

UNITED STATES-SOVIET BILATERAL DISCUSSIONS ON GENERAL DISARMAMENT (JULY 17-29, 1961)

557. UNITED STATES REVISED DRAFT PURPOSES AND PRINCIPLES TO BE CONSIDERED IN GENERAL DISARMAMENT NEGOTIATIONS: Statement Submitted by the U.S. Delegation at the Soviet-U.S. Bilateral Talks, Moscow, July 17, 1961 16

The goal of negotiations should be to achieve full agreement on a program of total universal controlled disarmament which will be accompanied by the further development of reliable procedures for the peaceful settlement of disputes and of effective arrangements for the maintenance of peace in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter.

Total and universal disarmament should be understood to mean that the forces and military establishments, including bases, of all

15

Department of State press release No. 466 (text as printed in the Department of State Bulletin, July 17, 1961, p. 106).

16

Documents on Disarmament, 1961, pp. 246–247.

states shall be reduced to agreed levels required for the purpose of maintaining internal order and of supporting and providing agreed manpower for a United Nations international security force, and remaining agreed national security forces shall be armed only with agreed types and quantities of armaments, and that all other armaments, including weapons of mass destruction and means for their delivery and conventional arms, shall be destroyed or converted to peaceful uses; that the expenditures for military purposes by all states shall be reduced to agreed amounts necessary to maintain the remaining security forces; and that there shall be no manufacture of armaments except for agreed types and quantities to be used by the international security force and remaining national security forces. The agreement should ensure that disarmament will proceed in such a manner that at no time would its progress adversely affect the security of any state; that disarmament will proceed as rapidly as possible through stages containing balanced, phased, and safeguarded measures, with each measure and stage being carried out in a specified period of time; that there will be an international disarmament organization able to ensure that compliance with all disarmament obligations is fully verified throughout the entire process; that transition from stage to stage will take place upon decision that all measures in the preceding stage have been fully implemented and verified, and that any additional verification arrangements required for measures in the next stage are agreed and, where appropriate, ready to operate; and that progress in disarmament is accompanied by measures to strengthen institutions for maintaining peace and the settlement of international disputes by peaceful means.

The states participating in the negotiations shall seek to achieve and implement the widest possible agreement at the earliest possible date.

Efforts to ensure early agreement on and implementation of measures of disarmament should be undertaken without prejudicing progress on an agreement upon the total program and in such a way that these measures would facilitate and form part of that program; and efforts should continue without interruption until agreement on the total program has been achieved.

"THE SOVIET UNION IS PREPARED TO AGREE TO ANY CONTROL IF THE WESTERN POWERS WILL ACCEPT ITS PROPOSALS FOR GENERAL AND COMPLETE DISARMAMENT": Aide-Mémoire Submitted by the Soviet Delegation at the Soviet-U.S. Bilateral Talks, Moscow, July 19, 1961 17

17 Ibid., pp. 248-253.

THE SOVIET CONCEPT OF CONTROL OVER GENERAL AND COMPLETE DISARMAMENT: Aide-Mémoire Submitted by the Soviet Delegation at the Soviet-U.S. Bilateral Talks, Moscow, July 21, 1961 18

SOVIET STATEMENT OF THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF A TREATY ON GENERAL AND COMPLETE DISARMAMENT: Declaration Submitted by the Soviet Delegation at the Soviet-U.S. Bilateral Talks, Moscow, July 27, 1961 19

558. SOVIET PROPOSALS REGARDING THE COMPOSITION OF THE DISARMAMENT COMMITTEE: Aide-Mémoire Submitted by the Soviet Delegation at the Soviet-U.S. Bilateral Talks, Moscow, July 28, 1961 20

The Soviet Government has already repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that, as experience has shown, it is useless to continue negotiations on disarmament in the Ten-Nation Committee which met in 1960 at Geneva." It will be recalled that in this body there were representatives, on the one hand, of the socialist countries and, on the other hand, of the Western Powers. This composition cannot be regarded as satisfactory, because one of the three main groups of States-the neutral countries-was not represented at all in the TenNation Committee.

The problem of disarmament concerns all States without exception. Although the countries which follow a neutral policy do not possess powerful armed forces, they are no less interested than all the other countries in a speedy solution to the problem of disarmament and in the removal of the threat of war. Experience shows that equal participation of the neutral States in the work of any body dealing with disarmament would have a positive value in the search for mutually acceptable solutions.

Guided by these considerations, the Soviet Union, as will be recalled, put forward a proposal envisaging the inclusion in the Disarmament Committee, in addition to the latter's existing ten members, of a group of neutral countries as equal participants in the negotiations." This expansion of the Disarmament Committee would make this body more suitable for the fulfilment of its task.

The Soviet Government continues to maintain its proposals regarding the composition of the Committee.

18 Subsequently printed as U.N. doc. A/4887, Sept. 25, 1961; also Documents on Disarmament, 1961, pp. 253-258. The proposals contained in this aide-mémoire were an elaboration of those relating to control in the Soviet delegation's statement of June 27, 1961 (ante, doc. 555).

19 Subsequently printed as U.N. doc. A/4887, Sept. 25, 1961; also Documents on Disarmament, 1961, pp. 267-269. The declaration was a condensed version of the Soviet statement of June 27, 1961 (ante, doc. 555).

20 Subsequently printed as U.N. doc. A/4887, Sept. 25, 1961 (text as printed in Documents on Disarmament, 1961, p. 269).

"See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1960, pp. 696–709.

559. UNITED STATES PROPOSALS REGARDING THE COMPOSITION OF THE DISARMAMENT FORUM: Memorandum Submitted by the U.S. Delegation at the Soviet-U.S. Bilateral Talks, Moscow, July 29, 1961 23

The objective of the United States is the resumption of multilateral disarmament negotiations. It has made, and now reaffirms, four alternative proposals for the composition of a disarmament forum: (1) Ten-Nation Committee: The United States remains prepared to resume negotiations in the Ten-Nation Committee, which was established by agreement among the United States, the Soviet Union, France and the United Kingdom in September 1959. 24 The work of this Committee, which is composed of five NATO Powers (the United States, United Kingdom, France, Canada and Italy) and five Warsaw Pact Powers (the USSR, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and Rumania), was left unfinished by virtue of the Soviet Union's break-off of negotiations in Geneva on 27 June 1960.25 It was conceived that the deliberations of this Committee would provide a useful basis for the consideration of disarmament in the United Nations. In this way, a stage would be achieved, after a basis for agreement was reached by the members of this Committee, in which all Members of the United Nations would participate in an effective way in the disarmament negotiations, which are of concern to all the nations of the world. The United States continues to believe that this represents a sound and orderly approach, which has been approved by the United Nations and which should not be abandoned.

(2) Ten-Nation Committee with Invited Presiding Officials: The United States is fully prepared to join with the other three Powers which established the Ten-Nation Committee in extending an invitation to three other nations, not members of the NATO or Warsaw Treaty organizations, to designate a chairman and two vicechairmen of the Ten-Nation Committee. These officers would preside over meetings of the Committee, using their good offices as appropriate to facilitate the achievement of agreement, without bearing the additional responsibility of serving as official spokesmen of their Governments in the negotiations or attempting to act as formal "representatives" of a non-existent "neutral" bloc.

(3) Twenty-Nation Committee: The United States is fully prepared, considering its objective of reaching agreement on disarmament, to propose changing the original concept of the Ten-Nation Committee by an expansion of its membership so that countries not members of NATO or the Warsaw Pact can participate at the initial negotiating level, as well as through the United Nations. Such an expansion should be consistent with normal principles of equitable representation of the different regions of the world and with the desirability of selecting countries on the basis of such relevant factors

23

Subsequently printed as U.N. doc. A/4880, Sept. 20, 1961 (text as printed in Documents on Disarmament, 1961, pp. 271–273).

24 See American Foreign Policy: Current Documents, 1959, pp. 1259–1260. See ibid., 1960, pp. 703–709.

25

as population and military capabilities. Accordingly, the United States proposes that three countries be added to the Ten-Nation Committee from Asia, three from Latin America, three from the Middle East and Africa, and one from non-NATO, non-Soviet Bloc Europe. The United States has suggested that the following States might appropriately be added: Pakistan, India and Japan from Asia; Mexico, Brazil and Argentina from Latin America; the United Arab Republic, Nigeria and Tunisia from Africa and the Middle East; and Sweden from Europe.

(4) The United Nations Disarmament Commission: If none of these alternatives is accepted by the Soviet Union, the United States proposes that substantive negotiations be resumed in the United Nations Disarmament Commission, in which all United Nations Members are represented. The United Nations Disarmament Commission would be free to establish, if it so wished, smaller sub-committees in which detailed negotiations could be conducted.

THE NEW YORK PHASE OF

UNITED STATES-SOVIET BILATERAL DISCUSSIONS ON GENERAL DISARMAMENT (SEPTEMBER 6-19, 1961)

560. UNITED STATES SECOND REVISION OF DRAFT PURPOSES AND PRINCIPLES TO BE CONSIDERED IN GENERAL DISARMAMENT NEGOTIATIONS: Statement Submitted by the U.S. Delegation at the Soviet-U.S. Bilateral Talks, New York City, September 6, 1961 26

1. The goal of negotiations is to achieve agreement on a program which will ensure that (a) disarmament is general and complete and war is no longer an instrument for settling international problems, and (b) such disarmament is accompanied by the establishment of reliable procedures for the peaceful settlement of disputes and effective arrangements for the maintenance of peace in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter.

2. The program for general and complete disarmament shall ensure that states will have at their disposal only those forces, armaments, facilities, and establishments as agreed to be necessary to maintain internal order and protect the personal security of citizens and to support and provide agreed manpower for a UN peace force.

3. To this end, the program for general and complete disarmament shall contain the necessary provisions for:

(a) Disbandment of armed forces, dismantling of military establishments, including bases, cessation of the production of armaments as well as their liquidation or conversion to peaceful uses;

26 Documents on Disarmament, 1961, pp. 360–361.