Основные тенденции в развитии баланса военно-стратегических сил в Азиатско-Тихоокеанском регионе во второй половине 80-х – начале 90-х гг. XX в.

Abstract

Currently, remarkable changes in the political, military-strategic and economic situation are taking place in the Asia-Pacific region (APR). This part of the globe is increasingly involved in positive processes that have engulfed other important geographical areas. The ongoing shifts become especially evident if we compare the current situation, and even more so the emerging trends, with the state of acute confrontation observed here in the second half of the 80s - early 90s of the XX century. The severity of the problems during the designated period was characterized to a decisive extent by the fact that in this area, especially in its northern part, the interests of the leading world powers - the Soviet Union, the United States of America, China and Japan - directly touched and sometimes conflicted. The political and military confrontation in Northeast Asia was multi-layered (a combination of elements of the global confrontation between the USSR and the USA with the unsettled Soviet-Chinese relations, the acute situation on the Korean peninsula and the presence of a territorial dispute in relations between the USSR and Japan) and multilateral in nature. Moreover, the leading powers in this region showed a tendency to protect their interests through military methods. The level of concentration of various types of weapons in the Asia-Pacific region was extremely high, in which it was second only to the European continent and the North Atlantic region. First of all, it was noted that the United States was deploying powerful groupings of its forces, both strategic and conventional, and sea-based strategic offensive weapons were constantly increasing. The formation of a squadron armed with ballistic missiles was completed, measures were taken to further increase the striking capabilities of the fleet, mainly by updating the ship’s composition, equipping the fleet forces with long-range cruise missiles.