The chief purpose of this discussion is to suggest areas of inquiry which might illuminate the way in which China may have influenced Soviet disarmament policy in recent years. One must be careful not to exaggerate Chinese influence on Soviet disarmament policy. There are obviously many other factors: domestic political considerations, relations with the East European countries, relations with less developed countries, relations with the West, including the Soviet assessment of the strategic “correlation of forces,” and sometimes perhaps even disarmament considerations per se. In recent years there may have been a tendency to look too much to the Chinese in seeking explanations for Soviet behaviour in the disarmament field, partly because the drama of the evolving Sino-Soviet split was so fascinating that all else seemed to pale in significance and partly because “China” sometimes seemed a convenient explanation for otherwise baffling Soviet moves. I propose, rather arbitrarily, to analyse Soviet disarmament policy in four categories: (1) tactics on formal disarmament conferences; (2) the formal proposals put forward by the U.S.S.R.; (3) the general thrust of Soviet disarmament propaganda; and (4) decisions, or what appear to be decisions, by the U.S.S.R. to negotiate seriously for the purpose of actually achieving an agreement.