Soviet Foreign Policy in East Asia and the Pacific Under Gorbachev
Abstract
Gorbachev's Vladivostok speech was a logical follow-on to his evolving policy towards the region since becoming General Secretary. In it he sought to downplay the military component of his Asian strategy in an attempt to gain the greater economic and political leverage denied his predecessors. Although he is anxious to achieve as many improvements with as many Asian nations as he can, the lack of substantial new proposals demonstrates that Gorbachev remains more capable of altering his style than the substance of Soviet Foreign Policy. Gorbachev's predecessors did so badly in the region-pushing, threatening, sneering and spying while being unable to offer tangible economic benefits-that Gorbachev may make immediate headway by simply behaving normally. Beyond that, if successful domestic economic reforms generate Soviet trade with the region and if Gorbachev is able to prevail over forces that resist making substantial diplomatic concessions, further penetration into the region will become possible. The Soviet leadership has realized that over the past decade, the Asian-Pacific region has greatly increased its importance to the world. Moscow also believes that the Pacific will play a crucial role in deciding possible future political structure since the four major powers (Soviet Union, United States, China, Japan are located there. Strategically, Soviet fears are of becoming susceptible to the opening of a second front in a war with NATO and of growing vulnerable to increasing Sino-Japanese-American cooperation. The Soviets will combine veiled and not-so-veiled threats with high-sounding proposals for arms control agreements in order to build public political pressures in the region against security cooperation with the U.S., and with a crucial goal of hobbling the U.S.'s influence in the regions. Of grave concern to the U.S. is the historical Soviet method of activating their foreign policy by a combination of threats and promises.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 11, 1989
- Accession Number
- ADA436509
Entities
People
- Howard Sidman
Organizations
- National War College