ABSTRACT
Soviet military power will probably remain strong in the region, but as Japan and China grow more powerful and independent, the Soviet Union will appear less threatening. A considerable portion of the much-quoted Vladivostok speech was devoted to Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachev’s most basic problem in the Pacific-the failure of the Soviet Far East to meet even the faltering pace of the overall Soviet economy. To integrate the Soviet Far East into the booming international economy of the Pacific it was necessary to attract people and jobs. The planned Soviet economic reforms concentrated mainly on intensive restructuring, which meant concentrating on existing areas of industrial development and drawing on Soviet investment. China’s greater foreign policy independence reduced Soviet fears of a Sino-Japanese-American alliance. In ideological terms, China and the Soviet Union have abandoned name-calling and disparaging remarks about each other’s versions of socialism.
