张奥林
By Zhang Aolin
当地时间26日，美国、日本、印度和澳大利亚四国，在菲律宾海启动“马拉巴尔-2021”的大规模海上联合军演。美方声明称，演习分两个阶段进行，第一阶段的举办地点在菲律宾海。翻开地图可以看到，菲律宾海是西太平洋的一部分，毗邻中国东海、南海以及台湾岛。
On August 26, local time, the US, Japan, India and Australia kicked off the Malabar 2021, a large-scale joint maritime exercise, in the Philippine Sea. The US side announced that the exercise will be carried out in two stages, and the first stage takes place in the Philippine Sea.
It can be seen that the Philippine Sea is part of the Western Pacific, which is adjacent to the East China Sea, South China Sea and Taiwan island.
外交学院教授李海东接受媒体采访时指出，这次军演是美国战略层面对华竞争的最新步骤，是美国所谓“印太战略”的一部分，有拉拢所谓盟国和伙伴进行一系列演习性实践的考量。这个由美国前总统特朗普提出的战略，表面上是为了维护印度洋和太平洋地区“自由和开放”，实质是拉拢周边国家远离中国，确保美国自身在西太平洋乃至全球地位的手段。
Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, said that the military exercise is the latest strategic move made by the US to compete with China. As part of its so-called “Indo-Pacific Strategy”, the exercise was intended to rope its allies and partners for a series of try-out operations. The “Indo-Pacific Strategy”, first initiated by former US President Donald Trump, was ostensibly aimed to keep the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean “free and open”, but was essentially designed to lure regional countries to give a wide berth to China and maintain America’s leading position in the West Pacific and the world in general.
当前，美国在不顾一切执意从阿富汗撤军，并因此而饱受质疑的同时，却在卯足马力加快“印太战略”的实施。美军印太总部司令阿奎利诺前往印度，双方围绕与中国有关的地区安全局势进行会谈。美副总统哈里斯亲自出马，试图拉拢新加坡，大谈南海“航行自由”，甚至顶着阿富汗撤军是“西贡时刻”再现的骂名前往越南。她试图说服亚洲国家相信，美国还是那个美国，与美结盟才能保证安全局势。
While Washington is bent on pulling all its troops out of Afghanistan against widespread criticism and opposition, it is at the same time going at full tilt to implement the “Indo-Pacific Strategy”. Admiral John Aquilino, Commander of US Indo-Pacific Command, visited India, where the two sides held talks about the regional security situation in relation to China. US Vice President Kamala Harris visited Singapore, where she gushed over “freedom of navigation” in the South China Sea, and also went to Vietnam at a moment when America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan was ridiculed as a re-appearance of the “Saigon moment”. She was trying to convince the Asian countries that America had not changed and alliance with it was the only way to guarantee security.
然而，包括新加坡、马来西亚、越南在内的东南亚多国，并不愿选边站。在李海东看来，新加坡等国长期以来有着自己的战略考量，美国短期内无法改变它们对区域以及国际秩序的根本看法，这些东南亚国家，不会一味迎合美国。正如新加坡《联合早报》、法新社等媒体指出，亚太国家与中国的贸易关系越来越紧密，这是美国不得不接受的现实。何况，近期美国在阿富汗的失败，使其信誉度下降，不仅让欧洲盟友颇有微词，东盟国家也对哈里斯的承诺“忧心忡忡”。
Yet Southeast Asian countries, including Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam, did not want to take side. According to Li, countries like Singapore had their own strategic considerations; they won’t blindly dance to America’s tune, and Washington cannot change their view on regional and international order in the short term. As Singapore’s Lianhe Zaobao and France’s AFP reported, the US has to accept the fact that Asian-Pacific countries are having closer trade ties with China. Besides, Washington’s latest debacle in Afghanistan has lent a serious blow to its credibility, not only incurring complaints from its European allies but also filling ASEAN countries with worries and doubts over Harris’ commitment.
但是作为东亚一部分的日本，却摆出了打算“借船出海”的架势。日本对此次演习重视程度颇高，派出了4艘军舰(印度派出2艘、澳大利亚派出1艘)，其中包括被称为“准航母”的加贺号直升机护卫舰。中国社科院日本研究所研究员吕耀东认为，“日本这几年已完全脱离专守防卫，过去是借美国这一条船出海，现在是借四国联合军演出海。”他进一步指出，日本在联合军演中，“正在从配角向主角发展。”
Yet as a country in East Asia, Japan has made no secret of its intention of taking advantage of foreign powers. It attached great importance to the exercise by dispatching four warships (in comparison with India’s two and Australia’s one), including the JS Kaga (DDH-184), a helicopter carrier with a planned future conversion into an aircraft carrier.
“Japan has completely broken away from the the “exclusively defense-oriented” strategy in recent years. In the past, it could only leverage on the US to go global; now it is taking advantage of the four-nation joint military exercise,” said Lyu Yaodong, a researcher at the Institute of Japanese Studies of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, adding that Japan is “moving from playing second fiddle to taking the lead” in the joint exercise.
除了举行四国联合军演，美日印澳当前主要通过一个名为“四方安全对话”(QUAD)的组织来推动相关事务。李海东解读称，虽然这个组织未来可能形成一个“类似于北约”的同盟组织，但现在的作用仍然有限，也不能算是同盟。
Apart from the joint exercise, Washington, Tokyo, New Delhi and Canberra are also pushing relevant matters through the QUAD organization, which, as explained by Li Haidong, plays a very limited role and cannot count as an alliance at the moment, though it may evolve into an alliance-like organization similar to NATO.
他认为，中国和美国有广阔的合作空间，但美国却利用QUAD实施威慑，“很明显，这种观念和实践是与时代格格不入的”，也反映出了他们“心理失衡”。他们试图以QUAD为平台，树立在西太平洋地区的霸权，并制造亚太地区的分裂和动荡，这种有悖历史发展规律的行为注定会失败。
According to Li, China and the US enjoy vast room for cooperation, but the latter is exerting deterrence through QUAD. “Obviously, such an idea and practice are out of place in the current age” and mirror the “psychological imbalance” of those countries. These countries are attempting to use the QUAD as a platform to establish their domination in the West Pacific and cause division and turmoil in the region, but such actions that are blatantly against the laws governing historical development are doomed to fail.
“中方一贯主张，国家间军事交往合作应有助于维护地区和平与稳定，增进理解与信任，而不应针对第三方或损害第三方利益。”中国国防部新闻发言人谭克非大校26日指出。
“China’s position is consistent – military exchanges and cooperation between countries should help maintain regional peace and stability, deepen mutual understanding and trust, rather than target any third party or harm its interests,” said Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, spokesperson of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, on August 26.
