Japan sees bleak future as Russia builds armed might

Press, 26 July 1979, Page 8

Japan sees bleak future as Russia builds armed might

NZPA-Reuter Tokyo Japan’s leaders yesterday forecast a bleak future for Asia, which they said would become a main cockpit for super-Power rivalry, overshadowed by a huge Soviet military build-up.

The region is expected to remain one of instability, according to a Defence Ministry document approved by the Prime Minister (Mr Masayoshi Ohira) and his Cabinet, with no change in (confrontation between the (United States and the Soviet Union.

I The Government White Paper is dismal reading for (the White House, and particularly the Pentagon. It pointedly complains that the Soviet Union — which rivals the United States in ' the Far East as well as Europe — is continuing to i strengthen its military 'power at a much greater (pace than Western countries, with the apparent aim of expanding political influence. : The Soviet Union had more ground troops than the ; United States, the White Paper said. It added: “It cannot be said necessarily that the United States has the advantage ... in the fields of strategic and theatre nuclear weapons, and naval and air power.” If the West did not react appropriately, increased Soviet military power would probably greatly influence global affairs. The Defence Ministry document, issued annually, said a full-scale, military clash between East and West was’ unlikely. But deep-rooted opposition and mistrust still existed among nations and confrontations

and conflicts were seen among them. The strategic situation in Asia was fluid after a series of important diplomatic moves, the paper said. These included normalisation of relations between China and the United States, the SinoJapanese peace and friendship treaty, and the treaty of friendship and co-oper ation between Vietnam and the Soviet Union. Fighting between China and Vietnam on their borders and the Vietnamese-led insurrection in Kampuchea had also added to the region’s instability. “With such a situation in Asia, the Soviet Union is consistently strengthening its forces, probably with an aim towards China, too, following the Sino-Soviet bor-

der clashes in 1969,” ii added.

The Cabinet agreed with the Defence Ministry's view that the opening ’ up of China's links with the West appeared to have complicated relations with the Soviet Union.

“The Soviet Union’s reaction to it seems to be one of the background elements for a change of the situation in Asia and the areas surrounding China." The Defence Ministry described the Indian Ocean and the Middle East, with their important oil-producing areas, as keystones of world strategy, and said while Egypt and Israel had signed a peace treaty, there were other places where instability might occur.

The Soviet Pacific fleet had been joined by the new aircraft carrier Minsk; and the Soviet Air Force in the Far East had grown dramatically. The Ministry document added: “The Soviet Union has become capable of intervention in local areas quite distant from its home bases. This calls for a serious review by the West of the military balance between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R.” Only last week Japan’s Defence Ministry announced a big five-year plan to give new weapons and equipment to its 230,000-strong armed forces, including tanks, warships, and fighter planes.