Abstract
Overt superpower cooperation has been rare in post-World War II Southeast Asia. Although the global code of conduct for United States-Soviet relations has applied to this region, it has been employed more to limit potential conflict than to promote jointly agreed goals. Both Washington and Moscow have consistently advanced nuclear non-proliferation goals in Southeast Asia. They have also ensured that there has been little opportunity for direct military confrontation between themselves. This latter objective is facilitated by Southeast Asia’s maritime environment in which US naval prowess dominates over essentially land-based Soviet military power.
Research for the chapter was supported by travel grants from The Earhart Foundation (Ann Arbor) and the US Information Agency.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
For an elaboration of US security interests in Southeast Asia, see Sheldon W. Simon, ‘Explaining US Security Interests in Southeast Asia’, in T. B. Millar (ed.), Southeast Asia and the Southwest Pacific (St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, 1983).
Soviet security interests in Southeast Asia are discussed by Sheldon W. Simon, ‘The Soviet Union and Southeast Asia: The Vietnam Connection’, in Edward Kolodziej and Roger Kanet (eds), The Limits of Soviet Power in the Developing World (London: Macmillan, 1989), pp. 149–70.
For an Asia-wide discussion of the US maritime strategy, see Sheldon W. Simon, ‘Pacific Rim Reactions to US Military Strategy’, in Young Whan Kihl and Lawrence E. Grinter, (eds), Security, Strategy, and Policy Responses in the Pacific Rim (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1989), pp. 81–101.
These are elaborated in Stephen M. Meyer, ‘The Source and Prospects of Gorbachev’s New Political Thinking on Security’, International Security, vol. 13, no. 2 (Fall 1988), pp. 134 ff.
Robert A. Manning, ‘Moscow’s Pacific Future’, World Policy Journal, vol. 5, no. 1 (Winter 1987–88).
Hiroshi Kimura, ‘Gorbachev’s Agenda For Asia’, The Pacific Review, vol. 1, no. 3 (1988), p. 220.
These developments are traced in Chang Pao-min, ‘Kampuchean Conflict: The Diplomatic Breakthrough’, The Pacific Review, vol. 1, no. 4 (1988), pp. 430–1
Robyn Lim, ‘Implications for Southeast Asia’, in Ramesh Thakur and Carlyle Thayer (eds), The Soviet Union as an Asian Pacific Power (Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1987), p. 82.
Bilveer Singh, ‘Gorbachev and a “Pacific Community”’, The Pacific Review, vol. 1, no. 3 (1988), p. 231.
These are detailed in Sheldon W. Simon, The ASEAN States and Regional Security (Stanford: The Hoover Institution Press, 1982).
A good discussion of this strategy is found in Elizabeth Wishnick, ‘Soviet Asian Collective Security Policy From Brezhnev to Gorbachev’, Journal of Northeast Asian Studies, vol. 7, no. 3 (Fall 1988), especially pp. 3
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1991 Roger E. Kanet and Edward A. Kolodziej
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Simon, S.W. (1991). Superpower Cooperation in Southeast Asia. In: Kanet, R.E., Kolodziej, E.A. (eds) The Cold War as Cooperation. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11605-8_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11605-8_13
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-11607-2
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-11605-8
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)