ABSTRACT
As the Sino-Soviet split emerged into the open, the USSR was confronted with a major foreign policy problem: how to balance the twin conflicting pressures from a China independent of Communist bloc control, and from the United States, the other superpower. Moscow's view of triangular tactics such as 'card playing' will be considered and offered on the possible differences of opinion within the USSR on the great power triangle. This chapter analyses the Soviet sense of future trends in the triad, and summarizes the overarching concepts entailed in Moscow's view of the triangle. It reviews the historical aspects of the USSR's behaviour in the great power triad and examines the specific aspects of tripolarity as viewed from the Kremlin. The USSR has come to accept the importance of the China factor in the strategic balance and a degree of tripolarity. However the USSR responds differently to various types of tactics in the triangle.
