Dialogue And Confrontation

As an important period in the Cold War, the US-Soviet detente in1970s has been a topic of great concern to researchers. Scholars’ study focused on a number of issues in US-Soviet detente such as political performance and economic performance. However, scholars rarely addressed the relationship between the summit and US-Soviet detente. Therefore, this paper attempts to in each previous summits as the main line to make a further discussion about the climax stage for US-Soviet detente and by studying the previous summits’ role in promoting the US-Soviet detente to make people more comprehensive understanding of US-Soviet detente.The US-Soviet detente is not the end of the Cold War rivalry, but another way of US-Soviet hegemony. The factors which lead to the development of US-Soviet hegemony from stiffly confrontation to ease are the following. Firstly, the two sides have the propulsion to change the way of struggle, with the new changes in the US-Soviet balance of power and the world situation. Secondly, the US and Soviet government timely insight into the changes in the situation and make the appropriate changes in the foreign policy. Thirdly, because of inherit the "Detente Spirit" in fifties ages and "Limited Detente" in sixties ages, the US-Soviet detente can develop to the climax stage in mid-seventies.From1972to1974, the United States and the Soviet Union were held four series summits in the climax stage of US-Soviet detente. There were Moscow Summit, Washington Summit, The Second Moscow Summit and The Vladivostok Summit. These summits convened with their specific backgrounds and different main topics. The success of the Moscow Summit is the sign of the United State and Soviet Union coming into the era of detente. The United States and Soviet Union signed the "Agreement on the Prevention of Nuclear War" in the Washington Summit, which maintains the sustainable development of detente. The Second Moscow Summit and the Vladivostok Summit were held in the case of the US-Soviet confrontation increasingly coming back. These two summits failed to achieve significant results and US-Soviet detente began to decline.It can be said, these four summits were the sign of the sustainable development of detente. It is because US-Soviet detente developed to substantial stage, these summits would be convened. On the other hand, the continuously held of the series summits were also promoting the development of US-Soviet detente. The summit conference is a special diplomatic mechanisms, which can handle the difficult problems belong to routine diplomacy. A well-prepared summit, in the case of the leaders of two sides been fully licensed, can make decisions on major issues and complex problems in bilateral relations. Therefore, the biggest role of the summit in promoting the US-Soviet detente is that it provides the stage to implement the US-Soviet detente.