ABSTRACT
The decision by the Chinese to initiate an “independent” foreign policy began to evolve at approximately the same time as the 1980 US presidential campaign, when Beijing downgraded the immediate Soviet threat to China. Valuable insight into the reasoning behind Beijing’s decision to pursue an independent foreign policy and to normalize relations with Moscow was provided by a top secret Communist Party of China document obtained by Japan’s Foreign Ministry. Given the many ups and downs in relations between Moscow and Beijing, any prediction for future Sino-Soviet relations is highly speculative. Soviet deployments along the Sino-Soviet and Sino-Mongolian border, the occupation of Afghanistan, and continued support given to the Vietnamese in exchange for basing rights in Indochina are too important from a larger strategic perspective for Moscow to give up. China’s role in overall US strategy becomes apparent in the discussion of regional objectives in the Posture Statement.
