ABSTRACT
Vietnam has been formally linked to the USSR only since the two signed a treaty of friendship and Vietnam joined the Council for Mutual Economic Aid in 1977. Despite the costs it has borne in purely military terms, the USSR's return on its investment in Vietnam has been significant, at least in the short run and perhaps in the long run as well. Perceptions of the USSR in the context of East-West tensions have been influenced by several factors common to several or all of the ASEAN states. Mahathir on numerous occasions has expressed his concerns about the intentions of the USSR. Philippine views of the USSR for the first quarter-century of independence largely paralleled those of its colonial mentor, the United States. The USSR is intent on world domination, and the invasions of Afghanistan by the Soviet Union, and Kampuchea and Laos by the Vietnamese, are part of the strategy.
