East-West: The Man Who Came to Bonn

First, East German Communist Party Chief Erich Honecker bowed to Soviet pressure last month and canceled a long-anticipated visit. Less than a week later, Bulgarian President Todor Zhivkov announced that his trip was off as well. After those rebuffs, the West German government of Chancellor Helmut Kohl, which has been seeking closer ties with its Communist bloc neighbors, particularly looked forward to the visit of a third East European leader. The obliging guest was Rumanian President Nicolae Ceauşescu, 66, who earlier this year defied Moscow by allowing his country to participate in the Los Angeles Olympics. Said Ceauşescu before arriving in Bonn last week: “Precisely through strengthening of contacts, new opportunities can be found … for overcoming the grave situation that exists in international life.”

Though a member of the seven-nation Warsaw Pact, Rumania does not permit stationing of Soviet troops or nuclear weapons on its soil. Ceauşescu declared that the European countries “bear a special responsibility for peace in Europe.” Kohl, however, refused to endorse the visitor’s call for opening U.S.-Soviet nuclear arms talks to participation by other countries.