Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 2, 1990 TAG: 9006020158
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Baltimore Sun
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
But it was Gorbachev who monopolized the discussion at the Soviet Embassy. He exhorted his visitors to support freer trade, assuring them that he remained in control of his country's destiny, admonishing them not to look on the Soviet Union as destitute, in dire need of U.S. "help."
He chided them for the U.S. invasion of Panama, its open trade policy with China and what he considers a paternalistic presumption to dictate Soviet domestic policy.
Only four of the 12 Democratic and Republican leaders present managed to get a word in edgewise.
And by the time Gorbachev abruptly ended the session, it wasn't clear that either side had managed to advance its agenda. Congressional leaders said they would not support Most Favored Nation trade status for the Soviets until the Kremlin eased up on the pressure it had put on Lithuania.
"Nothing has happened to change my mind. I don't think Most Favored Nation status can be set up until there is a change in Soviet policy with respect to Lithuania," said Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine.
Conversely, Gorbachev did not hint that he was ready to embrace some of the changes many lawmakers have championed as a condition of improved relations.
At one point, House Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., reminded Gorbachev that the United States had not liberalized its trading relations with the Soviet Union, in part, because the Soviet parliament had not adopted a proposal guaranteeing the right to emigrate. The Soviet leader bristled.
"It is really not for the Congress to decide what we should do and which laws we should adopt. I think there is every reason for me to say that because we have embarked upon this path of democratization," he stated icily. "This is a matter of sovereignty and national dignity, so please be careful about this."
The conversation was punctuated by public verbal conflict rarely seen on the diplomatic stage. In response to a question posed by Senate Minority Leader Robert Dole, R-Kan., about Lithuania, Gorbachev surged into a critique of last December's Panamanian invasion.
"Why do you allow your own government, your own administration, to invade Panama, which is a sovereign country, if you love freedom so much?" he asked. "For yourselves, you have another standard."
"I think there are very significant differences between the two situations in that . . . the overwhelming majority of the Panamanian people received gratefully American forces which liberated them," Mitchell insisted quietly. "And while you [Gorbachev] expressed your opinion that you don't think that the majority of the Lithuanian people favor independence, I think most of us have a different opinion."
Mitchell went on to suggest that the Soviets hold a referendum in Lithuania on independence.
"All right, all right, fine, fine, fine," Gorbachev retorted. "Let them do it and we'll agree, but only through a constitutional process."
"And of course, as regards to your explanation about Panama, respectfully, again, I have to disagree," he said. With a trace of irony, Gorbachev went on to compare Mitchell's justification of the Panamanian invasion with the Soviet pretext for invading Afghanistan.
At another point, Gorbachev noted sardonically that the United States had maintained China's Most Favored Nation trading status even after that government had massacred pro-democracy agitators.
"What should we do for you to give us MFN?" he asked. "Maybe we should introduce presidential rule in the Baltics and at least fire some rounds?"
This time, Gorbachev found sympathy among his interlocutors.
"There are those of us in Congress who . . . make precisely the argument that you made," said Mitchell. "You might raise that with President Bush during the next couple of days."
by CNB