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Arms Control and the Superpower Balance in East Asia

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Book cover Arms Control in Asia

Abstract

Until the end of the 1960s arms control has been mainly considered on the global level, and it is only since the beginning of the 1970s, that this conce has been extended to a regional level, i.e. Europe. Although East Asia has also witnessed heavy military involvement by the superpowers, with the United States waging two wars in the region since the end of World War II, it is mainly the geographical mobility of the Soviet SS-20s which has since the latter part of the 1970s, focused arms control interest on East Asia. However, this interest diminished after the Williamsburg Declaration on INF and the crisis of global arms control negotiations: although the existence of an increased arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union in East Asia, and a volatile situation on the Korean peninsula suggests the necessity of some sort of arms control. In addition no regional arms control initiative of any importance has come from any East Asian country. This seems to be particularly surprising for a country of the importance ofJapan which is known for some significant unilateral arms control measures concerning its own military forces.

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Notes

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Authors
  1. Reinhard Drifte
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bristol, UK

    Gerald Segal (Lecturer in Politics) (Lecturer in Politics)

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© 1987 Gerald Segal

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Drifte, R. (1987). Arms Control and the Superpower Balance in East Asia. In: Segal, G. (eds) Arms Control in Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-08975-8_2

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