ABSTRACT
On military matters the Soviet Union would prefer something like the Korean model of low tension, but finds itself tied down with greater commitments. If the Soviet Union has hopes in the Japanese model for economic relations, they may well be false hopes. It would be very convenient to be able to suggest that there is a clear-cut pattern of Soviet policy in east Asia. But the only certainty in Moscow's policies in east Asia is that there are no certainties. In geographic terms it is absurd to argue that the Soviet Union is not an Asian power. The complexities of power in east Asia have not been ones that the Soviet Union has been able to overcome, other than by minimizing the importance of the region and its problems, and concentrating on other more pressing problems. In the military sphere, the Mongolian model is perhaps the one most dominated by Soviet control.
