WASHINGTON -- The Reagan administration says there will be no unilateral restraint in arms shipments by the United States, nor will there be undue consideration given to a potential customer's human rights record.
'We do not necessarily believe that (human rights) should be the sole determinant of relationships entered into for our security,' a senior White House official said Thursday in unveiling the new arms sale policy.
'Nor do we believe that a policy which has the effect of isolating us from contacts with other countries necessarily advances our ability to persuade other countries to improve their civil rights conditions,' he said.
The official briefed reporters on the arms policy with the understanding that his name not be used.
The official said human rights considerations are implicit in U.S. policy and need not be written into the arms policy.
The Carter administration first made human rights a prime consideration in arms sales. How well a country treated its citizens was used as a measure of how good its relations would be with the United States.
The official Thursday suggested President Carter had broken with past administrations on that issue, and Reagan was simply returning to a 'traditional American view.'
The official said the new policy should not be seen as a kind of 'wild and indiscriminate program for selling arms.'
The United States, he said, remains interested in talks to reduce arms sales. But according to a statement that was distributed at the briefing, 'the United States will not jeopardize its own security needs through a program of unilateral restraint.'
'We're talking about growing instability in areas that have been caused by the fact that whereas we have throttled back, the Soviets have gone forward in rather majestic terms,' he said.
He said, for example, that over the past four years, the Soviet Union has sold 1,700 supersonic aircraft to Third World nations, compared to the sale of 510 planes by the United States and 251 by Western European nations.
In any case, the official said, the U.S. arms sales program is geared to the defensive needs of its customers.
Reagan's new policy, which he signed Wednesday, will take into consideration a broad range of factors before deciding to sell conventional arms. Among the factors are:
--The degree to which the transfer responds appropriately to the military threat confronting a country.
--Whether the transfer will enhance the country's ability to participate jointly with the United States in security efforts.
--Whether the transfer will promote mutual interests in countering externally supported aggression.
--Whether the transfer is compatible with the needs of U.S. forces.
--Whether a country can afford and absorb the equipment safely.
--'Whether any detrimental effects of the transfer are more than counterbalanced by positive contributions to United States interests and objectives.'
