ABSTRACT
Soviet and Soviet bloc assistance to or intervention in black African states has responded to or taken advantage of the demands and resentments expressed by the emerging independent states, or of their desire to play East and West off against each other. While acknowledging and sometimes falling foul of the complexity and arbitrariness of African politics, the Soviet government, in the areas where it has been effective, has undoubtedly moved the strategic balance there significantly in its favour, at least for a time. The Indian Ocean is an area of strategic competition first because it is there; second because in the north-western corner is located the principal world source of surplus oil; and third because it includes major highways of international commerce and the essential maritime route between the eastern and western parts of the Soviet Union. The Sino-Soviet relationship lies at the heart of the East Asian strategic balance.
