University of UtahWestern Political Science Association

Sino-Soviet Relations and Arms Control by Morton H. HalperinReview by: C. J. LeeThe Western Political Quarterly, Vol. 20, No. 3 (Sep., 1967), pp. 745-746Published by: University of Utah on behalf of the Western Political Science AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/446218 .

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BOOK REVIEWS 745

chapters contains excellent background material and analysis. They are further strengthened by good sources including personal interviews by the author with lead- ing political figures in the region. The portion of the book on the role of personality and non-personality factors is interesting and new in the political literature on South- east Asia. However, in its present brief form it is of limited and tentative value. More research and analysis on the role of personality in international politics is needed. More consideration must be given to conflicting national interests. It is very possible that personal characteristics of a political leader such as Tengku Abdul Rahman can clash with those of President Marcos or Field Marshall Thanom Kittikachorn. Yet these leaders tend to cooperate in considerable degree because of a lack of conflicting national interests. Similarly, it is very possible that the per- sonalities of Sukarno and Sihanouk could clash, but they have often cooperated in promoting a form of neutralism leaning toward the Communist bloc because of their common national interests.

The brief second part of the book focuses primarily on the role of economic development as the dominant factor promoting regional cooperation. It explains the limitations of intraregional trade and includes an analysis of the formation and achievements of the Association of Southeast Asia.

The conclusion dealing with the prospects for stability in the region discusses the need for Indonesia to be included in any meaningful regional associations in the future. This is a sound judgment but it is very likely that the major factor in such a development must come from within Indonesia itself. There are enormous limita- tions on both regional and non-regional nations in promoting this useful goal. Per- haps the most important contribution will be a sense of moderation and self-confi- dence within the newly emerging Indonesian political elite.

This study is useful to laymen and area specialists alike. It adds significantly to the growing literature on Southeast Asia.

FRANK C. DARLING

University of Colorado

Sino-Soviet Relations and Arms Control. Edited by MORTON H. HALPERIN. (Cam- bridge, Mass.: M.I.T. Press, 1967. Pp. vi, 342. $10.00.) This volume, which is a collection of ten papers written by the distinguished

scholars and specialists in the fields of disarmament and communist affairs, repre- sents a meaningful attempt to analyze the complex problems of arms control in the context of Sino-Soviet conflict and to assess the strategic aspects of triangular rela- tions among Moscow, Peking, and Washington. The papers are conveniently ar- ranged in three parts. Part One examines the Chinese positions on nuclear prolifer- ation (Young) and the extent of their relevance to the nuclear policies of America (Stone) and Russia (Sonnenfeldt); Part Two traces the developments of Sino- Soviet nuclear relations (Halperin) and of the test ban treaty (Clemens) ; and Part Three discusses the attitudes of China (Hinton), Russia (Mackintosh), and Amer- ica (Quester) with respect to a Sino-American crisis, and also contains a new in- terpretation of the 1958 Quemoy case (Halperin and Tsou). The historical coali-

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746 THE WESTERN POLITICAL QUARTERLY

tion behavior of the Russian and Chinese Communist leaders is reviewed in the Appendix (Lieberman).

Each of these self-contained papers successfully presents tightly structured ar- guments and well-balanced conclusions in spite of the paucity of reliable data, and thus makes a significant contribution to the study of arms control issues in a nuclear age. It must be noted, however, that the papers are not organized in a unified con- ceptual framework which can theoretically hold them together. Consequently, the volume as a whole demonstrates a diversity of methods, interpretations, and per- spectives adopted by the contributors. This very diversity, in turn, helps clarify the areas of academic controversies which remain unsettled - such important ques- tions as the terms of Russia's early military aid to China, the timing of Sino-Soviet strategic disagreement, the origins of the test ban treaty, the possibilities of disarm- ament agreements with or without China's participation, the behavioral tendencies of the Nth nuclear power, and the requirements of Russian assistance to China in the event of a Sino-American confrontation. Needless to say, these questions de- serve more serious attention and vigorous investigation.

This volume suggests the persistence of some analytical and methodological problems in the study of strategy and communism. First, it is difficult, but crucial, to make a reasonable distinction between appearance and substance in the declara- tory or polemical statements and in the parallel of terms and events. For example, Stone fails to note a difference in the parallel of Chinese and Polish proposals for nuclear-free zones. Quester's heavy reliance on official documents tends to obscure the reality of American policies. Secondly, the relations among Moscow, Peking, and Washington are often discussed in this volume without a sufficient examination of the world-wide strategic setting and the possible regulatory role of other countries and organizations or without a proper reference to policy alternatives that each ma- jor power may have in a Sino-American crisis. For instance, when Hinton implies the likelihood of Moscow's direct military intervention in the case of an "unpro- voked" American strategic attack on China, he does not adequately evaluate how Moscow might assess such an attack, irrespective of provocation, in terms of its own strategic interests and how Moscow might adopt other conceivable options - such as a diplomatic effort to arrange cease-fire between China and America. Thirdly, there is a further need to compare how America, China, and Russia place the im- portance of nuclear weapons and disarmament proposals in their respective systems of strategic priorities and international outlooks. Do they attach an equal strategic and political value to nuclear weapons? Why do they have different perspectives about the desirability and feasibility of nuclear and/or general disarmament? Is there any realistic possibility that the three countries would find a common interest in certain arms control measures? What are the basic requirements for such an agreement? Unless some of these questions are fully considered, it is difficult to ac- cept Stone's suggestion that an American-Russian arms control agreement, as a "significant form of military alliance," might have a "sobering effect" on China. If conceived in a genuinely comparative perspective, this excellent volume should have been more meaningful for the study of arms control problems.

C. J. LEE University of Kansas

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