IMPORTANCE OF ASEAN IN SOVIET FOREIGN POLICY: AN EVALUATION OF SOVIET POLICY TOWARD SOUTHEAST ASIA IN THE POST - VIETNAM WAR ERA

It is important to define the nature of Soviet foreign policy in a specific region during a certain period of time if we assume it to be highly reactive to specific international circumstances rather than a mechanical flow from the nature of communism. After the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, the shifting framework of international relations in Southeast Asia was generally decided in late 1978, when the Soviet Union decisively sided with Vietnam in the embattled relationship between Vietnam and Kampuchea by signing the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation with Vietnam. This dissertation evaluates Soviet foreign policy throughout that turbulent period in terms of Soviet objectives in the region.; Vietnam was not the only opportunity open to the Soviet Union for Soviet power projection. In view of the developments during 1975-1978, there existed a possibility of further compromised convergence of two "dreams": Soviet-proposed collective security and ASEAN neutrality. This possibility would have made Soviet-ASEAN relations a cornerstone of Soviet Asian policy as well as of Soviet power projection in Southeast Asia.; Soviet involvement in Vietnam through the friendship treaty was apparently a heavy-handed quick projection of Soviet military power prompted by a perceived possibility of collusion among the three major powers--China, Japan and the United States--against the Soviet Union in Pacific Asia. It is, however, a striking failure of Soviet policy in the region, especially, if one considers Moscow's principal goal to prevent the emergence of an anti-Soviet coalition in East and Southeast Asia. Moreover, it killed Soviet hopes for further development toward "collective security." The high-cost Vietnam involvement is a typical example of Soviet behavior directed by the dominant Soviet world view of "U.S. centrality." It could be viewed as a prelude of dangerous Soviet repercussion to perceived rebuff.; Soviet penetration into the five ASEAN countries, located farthest away from the Soviet border and capitalists in their nature of government, could be considered a core of general Asian acceptance of Soviet power and influence. The Soviet Union has yet to prove itself a trustworthy partner to the ASEAN countries.