Asia: The Soviets Stir Up the Pacific

ASIA Flexing their new muscles provokes alarm and resolve

The relentless Soviet military buildup of the past two decades has been a worldwide phenomenon. But in the past year or so, in addition to digging in deeper in Afghanistan, the U.S.S.R. seems to have been concentrating on its eastern flank: it has steadily reinforced what were already formidable land, air and sea forces along the rim of the Pacific. A shift in the area's balance of power would be bad news for the West. The U.S. has some important old friends in East Asia,...