Foreign Relations of the United States, 1981–1988, Volume X, Eastern Europe

148. Telegram From the Embassy in the United Kingdom to the Department of State¹

London, November 15, 1986, 2054Z

24792/Depto 50026. For the Secretary from Whitehead. Subject: My Visit to Bucharest November 14–16, 1986.

1. Secret—Entire text

2. My two days in Bucharest were rather cold and bleak. On a walk through the market, an old woman waited in line to buy a chicken. It was ten o’clock, and she’d been in line for two hours. The chicken truck had not yet arrived, but it was expected soon because it usually came on Friday. The woman’s dilemma was that if she stayed in line and the chickens did not come she would miss out on what was happening on the fish line. The fish truck had come, and fish were being sold down the street; one kind of fish, one fish to a customer, as long as they lasted. There were lines everywhere, not only for chicken and fish, but for meat and gasoline and bread. A poorly-made, styleless pair of shoes costs one week’s pay. The people seem resigned to a dreary fate.

3. At least Romania proves our policy of differentiation: it is certainly different from Hungary and Yugoslavia. Ceausescu continues a policy of misguided government spending on heavy industry, public building and housing at the expense of the civilian economy. The people have lost the will to fight back. Human rights by our standards do not exist. No one is allowed to leave (except for Jews, who are allowed to go to Israel and have mostly done so), there are no real elections, no free press, no right to criticize and the internal police are everywhere.

4. But for all of these terrible restrictions, Ceausescu publicly and with commendable courage disagrees with the Soviets and sides with us on a number of important issues. He opposes the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, and tells them that they should withdraw their troops. He tells them that they should make the Vietnamese get out of Cambodia. He has exchanged Ambassadors with Israel. He believes that we and the Soviets should conclude an agreement on getting INF weapons out of Europe without waiting for more ambitious objectives; he said he told this to Gorbachev again earlier this week in Moscow.

5. My meeting with Ceausescu went for three full hours.² I also had two hours with Foreign Minister Totu, where we had a good exchange on a number of points. As in Budapest and Belgrade, I proposed operational meetings on terrorism, regularly scheduled twice a year get-togethers on regional issues and a revived effort to increase our trade and investment opportunities. I also briefed them on your Vienna meetings, for which they were grateful.³ They know they cannot rely entirely on Soviet messages. As elsewhere, my initiatives were received with enthusiasm. There is no question that the three countries I visited are each in their own way very eager for a closer, more meaningful relationship with us. They know they are tied to the Soviets geographically and can never escape that, and Hungary and Romania have no realistic hope of getting out from under the Warsaw Pact. Economically, their trade with the Soviets is about four times as large as it is with us, but Moscow’s is shrinking and ours is growing and should grow more. Emotionally, there is no question that they would like to move toward a more neutral position; closer ties to us would help give them that opportunity.

6. It will not be easy to develop more trade or more investment opportunities with Romania. They are unrealistic in wanting a multi-year MFN agreement. They protest our steel quota, but have no plans to fabricate the kind of parts which would be exempt from it. They have only one joint venture with a U.S. company, a computer printing assembly operation with Control Data, and they don’t seem to be taking much initiative in seeking others. Yet the present trade is very small (just over $1 billion in 1985), so there are some opportunities.

7. My trip confirmed my feeling that the Warsaw Pact countries and Yugoslavia are not simply subservient vassals of the Soviets, but rather countries with rich heritages who try to get as much independence as is available to them, and would welcome and take advantage of any opportunities we could provide to move away from Soviet domination. Unless you have doubts or questions about this, I’ll continue to work quietly in this direction, including a trip to Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria and East Germany in late January or early February.

8. I am sorry I was away for what must have been a very tough week for you.

Seitz

1. Source: Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, N860011–0138. Secret; Immediate; Nodis.
2. Telegram 8304 from Bucharest, November 15, transmitted Whitehead’s report of his meeting with Ceausescu. (Department of State, Central Foreign Policy File, D860873–0733)
3. Shultz was in Vienna November 4–6 to attend the opening of the CSCE follow-up meeting.