The Global Realignment of Forces and its Impact on the Indochina Question

Abstract The process of the current global realignment of forces is characterised by five distinct but intertwined developments, four of which directly affect Indochina’s future: (1) The deepening of the Sino-Sovietstruggle, (2) the rapprochement between China and the United States, (3) the United States-Soviet detente and their closer economic relations, (4) the rapprochement between Japan and China, and (5) the probable rise of Western Europe as an independent factor in world politics.