Strategic Implications of Moscow's Concept for Collective Security in Asia.

摘要

Seven years have passed since Soviet Party Chief Brezhnev proposed the need for a system of collective security in Asia. Investigation reveals that Brezhnev's pronouncements on this subject were not propaganda exercises designed to secure short-term political objectives. Instead, as the thesis of this study demonstrates, the Soviet initiative for Asia constitutes a concrete, realistic policy option which challenges America's interests in that important region and deserves the attention of US strategists equal to that given Soviet interests in Europe. The Soviet 'Grand Design for Asia' represents a broad security framework as a means of bolstering the USSR's global position while enhancing the accomplishment of its increasingly crucial regional objectives and interests. The primary objective of the Kremlin's security design relates to the Sino-Soviet dispute. A secondary objective of Moscow's security scheme relates to the expansion of the USSR's regional power at the expense of the Western world. A more recent possibility of a Sino-Japanese partnership with the de facto backing of the United States has forced Moscow to focus its interests on its increasingly vital geopolitical East Asian front. Hence, Asia is now an area no less important to the interests of the USSR than Europe and the Middle East. The Pacific Doctrine, as articulated by President Ford in January 1976, declares the fundamental need for US strength to insure a stable balance of power in the Pacific.