Forty-two years ago today, on November 14, 1983 (October 10, 1983 lunar calendar), the United States proposed a new reduction in intermediate-range nuclear weapons, which was rejected by the Soviet Union. On November 14, 1983, US State Department spokesperson Romberg announced that the United States had made a new proposal to the Soviet Union in the Geneva negotiations on the reduction of intermediate-range nuclear weapons, advocating that the United States and the Soviet Union have a new proposal to limit the number of intermediate-range nuclear missile warheads in the world to 420. Romberg said that Nietzsche, the US representative in the Geneva negotiations on the reduction of intermediate-range nuclear weapons, had made a proposal to the other side that the United States was "prepared to accept a temporary, equal and global ceiling of 420 intermediate-range missile warheads." He also said that the proposal was made by the United States after consultation with its allies. According to another report, the US proposal was immediately rejected by the Soviet Union. The Tass news agency commented that the US proposal was "obviously unacceptable" to the Soviet Union. The reason why the Soviet Union refused was that most of the US missiles were deployed domestically, so they were mainly long-range missiles. The Soviet missiles accounted for a large proportion of medium-range missiles, so the impact of reducing intermediate-range nuclear weapons on the Soviet Union was greater than that of the United States. British Defense Secretary Heseltine announced in the House of Commons that the first batch of American-made cruise missiles deployed in the UK under NATO plans arrived in the UK this morning. The missiles were transported by the US Air Force's C141 large transport aircraft to Greenham Mount Air Force Base in west London. Heseltine did not disclose the specific number of missiles in the batch, but according to people here, it was estimated that there were 16 in total. A total of 160 cruise missiles were to be deployed in the UK under Nato's earlier plan. Mr. Heseltine said the missiles would be ready for use only after a period of preparation, including final installation, testing and personnel training. The defence secretary said the US missiles, which had already arrived, could be withdrawn at any time if an agreement could be reached during talks between the US and the Soviet Union in Geneva to reduce intermediate-range nuclear weapons. He also stressed that the missiles could only be put into use after the UK and the US had made a unified decision in advance. When Mr. Heseltine announced the arrival of the US missiles in the UK, there was a constant outcry of criticism in parliament. Forte, the former leader of the opposition Labour Party, criticised the deployment of the US cruise missiles as a "shameful surrender of British sovereignty". In an interview with a television reporter today, a head of Britain's Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament attacked the deployment of US cruise missiles in the UK as "a great tragedy for humanity". He argued that doing so "will not give anyone a sense of security" and "will make the world more dangerous". It is reported that the group is already preparing to organize nationwide demonstrations and protests. According to sources from the Greenham Commons base, the atmosphere around the base is quite tense at present. In addition to the installation of power grids around the base, a large number of military police patrols have also been dispatched, and military aircraft have circled the base from time to time. At the same time, thousands of people braved the cold wind to hold demonstrations around the base and threatened to storm the base.