The USSR and Asia in 1986: Gorbachev's New Initiatives

Abstract

The succession of Mikhail Gorbachev to the leadership of the Soviet Union has prompted significant new initiatives in Soviet foreign policy, with Asia a particular focus of this activism. Virtually every state in the Asian-Pacific region-from China to Kiribati-has been the object of Soviet overtures for improved relations. These overtures reflect not only new attention and a fresh approach to developments in Asia; they are also part of a concerted and ambitious effort to overcome Moscow's political isolation and economic marginality in this vital and dynamic region, to regain the diplomatic initiative, and to win breathing space for domestic revitalization. Gorbachev's foreign policy strategy is a direct outgrowth of his domestic priorities. Indeed, the two are more closely entwined at this juncture than at any previous time in postwar Soviet history. Economic reform is not only the key to domestic revitalization, in Gorbachev's view; it is essential to sustain the Soviet Union's international role. As Gorbachev himself described this linkage, the success of efforts at internal reform will determine whether or not the Soviet Union will enter the twenty-first century in a manner worthy of a great power. To gain the time necessary to consolidate his power and to carry out his program of economic modernization, Gorbachev urgently needs a respite from external pressures. The key challenge he confronts is to win the time and political support needed to carry out the necessary retrenchment without jeopardizing the major strategic and political gains of the 1970s-and his own position with them. With this objective in mind, he has sought to revive the atrophied instruments of Soviet diplomacy to convey an image of moderation and goodneighborliness, and of a willingness to seek political settlements to out-