May 3, 1985

FRIDAY, MAY 3, 1985 International France opposed the key trade plan that President Reagan took to the economic summit meeting in Bonn of the world's seven leading industrial democracies. President Francois Mitterand told Mr. Reagan he could not agree to set a date for early next year to begin worldwide negotiations to eliminate barriers to free trade. [Page A1, Column 6.]

The Communists who rule China have accommodated to fast food and Coca-Cola and disco. Now they are turning their hand to golf. A game that has not been played in China since the days of wooden-shafted clubs made a comeback today at a gathering in the valley of the Ming Tombs, 25 miles north of here. As part of a tourist development, a Japanese company has begun laying out an 18-hole course within a fairway or two of the mausoleums of 13 emperors of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).

In the second defeat in two days for the White House and the Republican leadership, the Senate today approved an amendment to the 1986 budget package that eliminates any additional money for the military except to keep up with inflation. The amendment was strongly opposed by President Reagan, who originally sought a 6 percent increase on top of a rise to make up for inflation. He and the Republican Senate leaders had agreed on a compromise military increase of 3 percent above inflation. While the Senate budget debate has at least a week and many amendments to go, the two defeats indicated the difficulties faced by the Republican leadership and the White House in assembling a deficit-reduction package. Signal to President In the House, Democrats have reached an informal consensus that they say might resolve the long, bitter dispute over the future of the MX missile. [Page A18.] The vote in the Senate today appeared to signal a backlash against the rapid military buildup the President has pursued since taking office in 1981. Both Democrats and Republicans, who have generally supported the buildup, seemed to be saying that it has to stop, or at least slow down.

Under this heading, The Times amplifies articles or rectifies what the editors consider significant lapses of fairness, balance or perspective. A dispatch from Washington on Wednesday, quoting a telephone interview with Henry A. Kissinger, abridged his remarks in some editions in a way that impaired perspective.

Reversing its position, the Treasury Department is recommending that all workers be required to pay taxes on a small portion of the health insurance benefits their employers pay, Administration officials said today. They said this was one of dozens of tax policy recommendations that President Reagan has taken with him to review during his European trip. They said that the Treasury was receiving daily communications from Secretary James A. Baker 3d, who is traveling with the President, indicating what decisions the President had made on taxes, and that a final proposal for revamping the nation's tax system would probably be sent to Congress the week after next. The Treasury is recommending that the first $25 a month of employer-paid health insurance premiums should be taxable to workers and that most other fringe benefits should go untaxed, the officials said.