Intra-Asian International Relations by George T Yu

Author:George T Yu [Yu, George T]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780429706257
Goodreads: 44598174
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2019-02-22T00:00:00+00:00

The Soviet Union and Southern Asia

Although Moscow did have high hopes of establishing a bridgehead in Indochina through its support of the Hanoi government's conquest of South Vietnam, recent trends in that area cannot be entirely to Moscow's satisfaction. Planoi, while intent on maintaining good relations with Moscow, has refused to echo Moscow's call for an anti-Chinese collective security pact, has gone out of its way to improve its relations with its ASEAN neighbors, and, most important of all, has demonstrated great interest in a rapprochement with the United States. Hanoi is evidently attaching first priority to rebuilding its war-ravaged economy, and it wants to attract American and Western capital to aid in this effort. Hanoi has also sought to defuse the territorial conflicts it has with China over the Spratly and Paracel Islands. Thus, the Vietnamese communists are seeking to maneuver between Peking, Washington, and Moscow rather than to tilt one-sidedly toward the Russians. The Laotian communists are likely to follow the same path. In Cambodia, the new communist government seems much closer to Peking than to any other foreign power.

Elsewhere in Southeast Asia, despite Moscow's recent efforts to improve its diplomatic and economic position in order to contain China, the Soviets have not achieved major successes anywhere. The ASEAN countries are, to be sure, interested in cultivating Moscow in order to take out a low-cost insurance policy against Chinese hostility. But nowhere in the region does Moscow have substantial influence. Moreover, in Australia and New Zealand, the new conservative governments, alarmed at the rapid expansion of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, have both moved closer to Peking.

Until the stunning and unexpected defeat of Indira Gandhi in the Indian elections in March 1977, the biggest Soviet success story in the Far East had been in New Delhi. But the new Indian Prime Minister, Morarji Desai, has already indicated that although he does not intend to abolish the Soviet-Indian Friendship Treaty of 1971, he is determined to improve relations with the United States. Indian relations with China were already showing some improvement even before the defeat of Indira Gandhi, and this trend may now accelerate. Thus, Soviet fortunes in India have been dealt a sharp setback.

Elsewhere on the Indian subcontinent, Soviet relations with Pakistan have been strained ever since Moscow openly supported India against Pakistan in the Bangladesh war o£ 1971. And the new Bangladesh government that came to power in 1976 has moved away from its earlier pro-Indian and pro-Soviet orientation to improve relations with Pakistan and China.

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