Arms Limitation and the Situation in the Asian-Pacific and Indian Ocean Regions

The negotiations on arms limitation and reduction of nuclear armaments have been suspended at a time when the arms race, including the nuclear arms race, has been gaining momentum and becoming ever more dangerous. Negotiations related to the reduction of international tension and the prevention of war in various regions are presently not being conducted. Nevertheless, it is our duty to think about the future. Being indivisible, international security issues should be extended beyond Europe where, despite all the current difficulties, a mechanism for cooperation in this field has been established. Stable peace relations in one part of the world can hardly be guaranteed if enmity and confrontation prevail in other parts of the globe. Therefore, the problem of limiting and reducing strategic armaments, including medium range nuclear systems, will surely involve in due time the Asian-Pacific and the Indian Ocean regions. One of the special features describing the situation in these regions is that they are the most explosive and unstable zones on the globe. Large powers such as the USSR, China, and Japan are neighbors in the AsianPacific region, and the active U.S. military presence there is supported by a broad network of air, naval, and land bases. These regions were the scenes of the largest use of military force since World War II in Korea and in Indochina. Numerous military conflicts varying in character and scale between other countries had occurred and continue to develop there. Presently the Asian-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions remain as the knot of international conflicts and high concentrations of military power. The deployment of large quantities of nuclear weapons presents tremendous danger to the countries of the region. It is sufficient to note that

Geography · Indian ocean · Pacific ocean · Political science · Geology · Maritime Security and History · Oceanography