Gorbachev’s major speech at Vladivostok on 28 July 1986 signalled an increased awareness by the Soviet Union of the importance of the Asia-Pacific region. Subsequently there have been significant changes in Soviet foreign policy, paralleling the programme of wide-ranging internal reform and imparting a new look to the USSR’s international image. The aim of the present work is to chart the development of Soviet policy towards the region since the start of the Bolshevik regime, with whether there was any pattern or consistency in that policy. Concentration on Soviet activity in a particular part of the world might also serve to throw further light on the much discussed question whether Moscow’s policies have in the past been conceived in ideological terms (and therefore in some measure pre-determined) or whether they were truly ad hoc, ideology being used merely as justification.

Gorbachev’s major speech at Vladivostok on 28 July 1986 signalled an increased awareness by the Soviet Union of the importance of the Asia-Pacific region. Subsequently there have been significant changes in Soviet foreign policy, paralleling the programme of wide-ranging internal reform and imparting a new look to the USSR’s international image. The aim of the present work is to chart the development of Soviet policy towards the region since the start of the Bolshevik regime, with whether there was any pattern or consistency in that policy. Concentration on Soviet activity in a particular part of the world might also serve to throw further light on the much discussed question whether Moscow’s policies have in the past been conceived in ideological terms (and therefore in some measure pre-determined) or whether they were truly ad hoc, ideology being used merely as justification.