Conference Paper · March 023 citations reads 163 authors

The XXXVI International Scientific Symposium "Multidisciplinary Studies of the Turkish World" 
The 25
th
 of March 2023 ISBN: 978-605-72481-0-7 Eskishehir / Türkiye 
 
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After the communist victory in Indochina in 1975, the USSR's interest in Southeast Asia gradually 
increased. This has emerged as a direct result of the collapse of the American security system and SEATO in 
the region and the rise of Vietnam as the dominant actor in Indochina. (Temiz S., 2021b).
 
The gradual 
improvement of China's relations with the Vietnamese administration, its growing friendship towards ASEAN, 
its open support for the remaining US security role in the region, its pressure on the Washington administration 
to reverse the softening between the Soviet Union and the US administration, and more importantly, the 
growing interest with the US. alliance, positive relations of ASEAN countries with Japan and Western Europe 
disturbed the Moscow administration (Singh, 1987, p. 278).
 
There is no clear consensus on the regional intervention of the Soviet Union in Southeast Asia. Due to 
a perceived Chinese threat and political and diplomatic pressure from ASEAN, Vietnam welcomed and 
approved of Soviet activities in the region. Although Burma has shown some distance from Moscow, overall 
relations have remained level. In ASEAN, Indonesia and Malaysia tended to downplay the Soviet threat, while 
Singapore, Thailand, and to a lesser extent the Philippines were more concerned about Soviet activity. In fact, 
the concern about the Soviet threat was not the main foreign policy preoccupation of the non-communist 
Southeast Asian states. On the contrary, while dealing mainly with internal problems and threats, all ASEAN 
member states, to varying degrees, were concerned about the regional activities of all major powers. However, 
the consequences of the policies of some ASEAN states towards the USSR are still significant. For example, 
unlike other ASEAN members such as Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia have based their foreign policies on 
the premise of a serious threat from China. This, in turn, contributed to the increase of Chinese influence. Both 
Indonesia and Malaysia have been soft on the Soviets and Vietnamese, alienating Thailand to some extent and 
Singapore and the Philippines to a lesser extent. These countries have developed relations with the USA, Japan 
and even China in order to balance the perceived Soviet and Vietnamese threat. This situation has further 
increased the fear of China in both Malaysia and Indonesia. This situation, caused by different threat 
perceptions, has reached a very disturbing level for ASEAN (Singh, 1987, p. 295).
 
After SEATO, on August 8, 1967, Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, 
Singapore and Thailand came together in Bangkok to establish regional stability and signed the declaration. 
With this declaration, called the ASEAN declaration, ASEAN emerged as an intergovernmental organization 
in the region. When ASEAN was founded, it openly declared that all southeast Asian countries could join the 
union. Essentially, when the association was formed, representatives of ASEAN's founding nations considered 
including Burma and Cambodia as their original members. However, Burma and Cambodia rejected this 
invitation to join (Severino, 2008, p.3).
 
The interest of the USSR in the region continued with the establishment of the Russian Federation in 
1991. ASEAN's first contact with Russia was realized when ASEAN invited Russian Foreign Minister Andrei 
Kozyrev to the ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) in Manila in July 1992, with the expectation that Russia 
would continue Gorbachev's foreign policy understanding. (Buszynski, 2006, p. 277)