EXAMINATION BY WEST

Chronicle (Levin), 23 November 1949, Page 5

EXAMINATION BY WEST

' N.Z.P.A. -

-Reuter.

Problems Of Armaments And Strategy

Copjjria/iti

Received Wednesday, 10.20 a.m. LONDON, Nov 22, The strategic and armament problems of both Western Europe and the North Atlantic area will. oe examined at a series of Minhsterial and staff meetings to be 'held during, the next ten days, beginning with a meeting of the . Defence Ministers of the Brussels Treaty cownries in London tomorrow. Next Tuesday the chiefs of staff of the 12 North Atlantic = Pact nations will meet in Paris \ to prepare for a meeting of fhe: North Atlantic Defence Committee, which comprises the Defence Ministers ,of the countries associated in the alliance. The Ministers themselves will meet two days later in Paris and will be mainly concerned with the organlsation of the North Atlantic area. The strength of the force which is to guard. the defence line from the Alps to the Baltic will profcably be one of the questions considered. In the meantime, the mission of 12 United States experts in London to reassess the needs of Westefti European countries under the American Military Aid Programme have now split into groups and are engaged in bilateral talks with represeniatives of the five Brussels Treaty countries. In Paris today, the French Minister of Information, M. Pierre Tietgen, asserted that France will never agree to Germany's rearmament. H° said that Ihe Western Allies must choose between France and Germany when it comes to furnishing arms.