    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George H. W. Bush (1991, Book I)]
    [June 17, 1991]
    [Pages 680-682]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Exchange With Reporters Aboard Air Force One
    June 17, 1991

        The President. We received a second letter from President Gorbachev,
    and it relates to the arms control situation, the START differences. We
    view it as a positive response. Obviously, when you're dealing with
    these details on START, when you're dealing with highly technical
    issues, it's hard to categorize letters of this nature. But the tone was
    good, the determination to reach agreement was positive. And we're
    looking very closely at the details, which I think would be most
    inappropriate to discuss here. We're down to some--as I mentioned the
    other day coming out here--some very fine points on arms control.
        So, that's two letters in a very short period of time--the first,
    very positive tone on the grain credits. We're looking forward to a
    visit this week, I think it is, from Mr. Yeltsin when he comes here. And
    this last, the second letter on START, I view it as very important.
        I know your next question will be, well, when will we have a summit
    meeting to initial something or sign something on START? I just don't
    know the answer to that. General Scowcroft can maybe follow up on it.
    But we don't have the answer. I'm still holding the dates at the end of
    June and the end of July, and I'm hoping that we can move as quickly as
    possible to conclude it. But I have to say this is very positive.

    Soviet-U.S. Relations

        Q. Did the letter discuss any kind of timetable on wrapping all this
    up?
        The President. I don't think so. It didn't discuss--you mean on
    dates? No. But what it did is to respond to some of our suggestions on
    START and to build on some suggestions that they had previously made.
    But I'd say it's a narrowing of differences, and that's what we're--
    we're in agreement here where it's 96 percent, or, you know, close to
    it, concluded. I remember Moiseyev sitting in the Oval Office saying,
    ``This much separates us,'' just this much. And so, I think maybe it's a
    little less today. But we've got to take a look at it.
        Q. Is this a response to----
        The President. I wouldn't say breakthrough, but I think it's
    progress.
        Q. Is it a response to the ideas that were put forth in Lisbon?
        The President. Yes.
        Q. And do you think that Baker and Bessmertnykh are going to be able
    to kind of tie this up in Berlin?

    [[Page 681]]

        The President. We keep going in increments. We're going to try.
    They're going to be in touch now. I think our U.S. policy--we've got to
    hammer out maybe a detail or two in light of this letter. But yes,
    that's exactly what we want to do, is to get it done. And I'd have to
    say I'm a little more optimistic about it.
        Q. How close?
        The President. Well, I can't say. As I said, Moiseyev said, ``this
    far.'' Now we'll move it down to ``that far.'' I think people agree on
    that. I don't think that they think there's a wide difference. What I do
    think is that some of the differences that remain are fairly difficult.
        Q. ----still about a summit this summer?
        The President. Well, I'm talking that way, and I think President
    Gorbachev would like that. I think it's in our interest. We've got lots
    of subjects to talk about in addition to this. But this one, obviously,
    is kind of a sine qua non. We can't go forward--that means--[laughter]--
    something that's important, without which--but, no, it's progress. I
    don't want to overstate it. I don't want to get hopes up. But yes, on
    terms of holding dates and trying to get a summit meeting, I really want
    to have it. I mean, we'll see President Gorbachev in London,
    notwithstanding. But there are a lot of bilateral issues that we need to
    talk about. And following the Yeltsin visit, there may be even more. So,
    we'll keep plugging away on the thing.
        Q. There was some talk of taking some of the final technical details
    like the really nitty-gritty on telemetry and kind of kicking that down
    the road, leaving that to a joint commission or something like that.
        The President. I don't think we can duck the--well, here's the
    expert. I don't think we can duck the----
        Q. Do you want all the specific language wrapped up and in the
    treaty?
        The President. Well no, we'll have a meeting without having every
    ``t'' crossed and every ``i'' dotted on a treaty. But on a question of
    this importance that you mentioned, encryption of data, we've got to
    make progress. I mean, that's one of the remaining issues, frankly, and
    I have not gotten from our experts--one of them who is standing next to
    me--exactly how much progress we may have made there. But we can't duck
    that. We don't want to mislead the United States Congress, and there's
    no point in suggesting that there's not a problem when there is. But
    that's one that we have to make real progress on, and they know it.
        Q. Is there still a problem there?
        The President. Well, we're going to wait and see when we get the
    analysis, but I'm afraid we haven't solved it all, let me just put it
    that way.
        Q. ----dot every ``i'' and cross every ``t'', isn't that how you got
    in trouble with CFE?
        The President. No. We crossed every ``t'' and signed a treaty. Then
    we had a little problem on interpretation. That's very different. What
    I'm saying is we've got to narrow down these major issues to get them to
    agreement. But there's a step then between that and writing out an X-
    number-of-page treaty. And that's going to be highly complicated
    drafting, but the drafters will have these problems resolved before they
    start. So, that's what I was referring to.

    South Africa

        Q. In South Africa today there was another----
        Q. On registration.
        The President. Well, we're going to analyze it carefully. The law,
    our law, says lift the sanctions when these four out of five conditions
    are complied with. So, we have to----
        Q. Is there still a problem with political prisoners? Is that----
        The President. Let Brent respond to that. [Laughter]

                        Note: The exchange took place in the morning while
                            the President was en route from Los Angeles, CA,
                            to Grand Junction, CO. The following persons
                            were referred to: President Mikhail Gorbachev of
                            the Soviet Union; Boris Yeltsin, President of
                            the Republic of Russia; Brent Scowcroft,
                            Assistant to the President for National Security
                            Affairs; Mikhail Moiseyev, Chief of the General
                            Staff of the Soviet Union; Secretary of State
                            James A. Baker III; and Soviet Foreign Minister
                            Aleksandr Bessmertnykh. The final questions
                            referred to the elimination

    [[Page 682]]

                            by the South African Government of the law which
                            classified all South Africans by race at birth.
                            A tape was not available for verification of the
                            content of this exchange.