Arms talks to go on, Haig says

Lines of communication between East and West must be kept open despite US-German agreement that the Soviet Union is responsible for the events in Poland, Secretary of State Alexander Haig said Wednesday.

Mr. Haig, speaking to reporters after West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt wound up a Washington visit, said US-Soviet talks on nuclear arms reductions would not be affected by tensions arising from the Polish crisis.

Haig said that the United States will go ahead and attend next week's talks in Geneva on limiting medium-range missiles in Europe and that he will still meet with Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko later this month to discuss future strategic arms talks - unless the situation in Poland suddenly worsens.

US officials had talked about backing out of the Geneva talks and the meeting with Mr. Gromyko as ways for the US to respond to the Polish crackdown.