美国国家公共电台 NPR--Biden's foreign policy plan will face some big tests in 2023

Biden's foreign policy plan will face some big tests in 2023

Transcript¹

The Biden administration's foreign policy for 2022 was centered on building alliances with other countries to counter Russia and China. Next year will show whether that has had an impact.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

President Biden made a lot of foreign policy moves during his first year in office, and of them the most prominent was the chaotic² withdrawal³ from Afghanistan. During Biden's second year, very different events dominated the news, and administration officials insist that hard first year set the stage for the second. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JENS STOLTENBERG: Antony, welcome back to NATO headquarters.

MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE⁴: Secretary of State Antony Blinken spent a lot of time this year with NATO's secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

ANTONY BLINKEN: In fact, I'm going to ask you if there are apartments available at NATO headquarters, because we're here so much that we probably need one.

KELEMEN: The war in Ukraine has given NATO a new sense of purpose after a chaotic end to its mission in Afghanistan last year. Secretary of State Blinken puts it this way.

BLINKEN: If we were still in Afghanistan, it would have, I think, made much more complicated the support that we've been able to give and that others have been able to give Ukraine to resist and push back against the Russian aggression⁵.

KELEMEN: Russia's war in Ukraine also gave the Biden administration a chance to show the world they are a competent team, says Aaron David Miller⁶ of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

AARON DAVID MILLER: In a way, Putin offered Joe Biden a moment of real competence⁷, credibility and even greatness in American foreign policy. After all, Russia and Ukraine was probably the most consequential⁸ event in Europe since the end of the Second World War.

KELEMEN: Miller says that the Ukrainian president's dramatic visit to Washington was designed to keep Congress and U.S. allies on board with the U.S. approach, that is to help Ukraine degrade Russia's military without getting into a direct conflict with Moscow.

MILLER: It's not perfect, but it was as high a mark, I think, as anybody could have expected. And in the wake of Afghanistan, I think it completely reversed the image that America would never lead again.

KELEMEN: Kori Schake of the American Enterprise Institute agrees. But she says the Biden administration is going to have to get Europe to start spending more in Ukraine.

KORI SCHAKE: If that's not forthcoming, the secretary of state ought to be preparing Americans for that. And he ought to be working to get Europeans to more equitably⁹ share the burden with the United States, especially in the reconstruction¹⁰ phase. And I don't see that work going on.

KELEMEN: Blinken talks a lot about working together with allies on challenges from Russia to China.

BLINKEN: We're in a fundamentally stronger position to address the issues that actually affect the lives of the American people when we do so alongside the many countries that share our fundamental interests and values.

KELEMEN: But when it comes to China, that may not be enough, according to a former assistant secretary of state for Asia, Susan Thornton, now at Yale Law School.

SUSAN THORNTON: It seems like most of the operation is aimed at sort of working with other countries against China, rather than working with China. And I personally just think that we can't accomplish our goals in foreign policy if we're not working with China.

KELEMEN: She says the U.S. needs to work with China on the big global issues - non-proliferation, health and climate change. Blinken plans a trip there early next year, and Thornton says he has his work cut out.

THORNTON: We would have to sort of start to build back some kind of constructive¹¹ conversation after three years of a pandemic where we basically had no contact and, you know, several years before that where the relationship was in freefall.

KELEMEN: Thornton says it doesn't help that this administration talks about a world divided into autocracies¹² and democracies. Kori Schake of AEI puts that in her debit¹³ column, too, as she reflects on Biden's foreign policy this year.

SCHAKE: Grandstanding on putting human rights at the center of U.S. foreign policy without follow-through with Saudi Arabia or Egypt, and this pointless statement about support for women and girls in Afghanistan, is heartbreaking in its emptiness.

KELEMEN: Blinken says a lot of countries are joining the U.S. in pressuring the Taliban to give women and girls access to education. So far, international condemnation¹⁴ hasn't had much of an impact on Afghanistan's rulers.

Michele Kelemen, NPR News, Washington.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 chaotic   

adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的

参考例句：

• Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
• The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。

3 withdrawal   

n.取回，提款；撤退，撤军；收回，撤销

参考例句：

• The police were forced to make a tactical withdrawal.警方被迫进行战术撤退。
• They insisted upon a withdrawal of the statement and a public apology.他们坚持要收回那些话并公开道歉。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

6 miller   

n.磨坊主

参考例句：

• Every miller draws water to his own mill.磨坊主都往自己磨里注水。
• The skilful miller killed millions of lions with his ski.技术娴熟的磨坊主用雪橇杀死了上百万头狮子。

7 competence   

n.能力，胜任，称职

参考例句：

• This mess is a poor reflection on his competence.这种混乱情况说明他难当此任。
• These are matters within the competence of the court.这些是法院权限以内的事。

8 consequential   

adj.作为结果的，间接的；重要的

参考例句：

• She was injured and suffered a consequential loss of earnings.她受了伤因而收入受损。
• This new transformation is at least as consequential as that one was.这一新的转变至少和那次一样重要。

9 equitably   

公平地

参考例句：

• We should equitably assess historical figures. 我们应该公正地评价历史人物。
• Land was more equitably distributed. 土地得到更公平合理的分配。

10 reconstruction   

n.重建，再现，复原

参考例句：

• The country faces a huge task of national reconstruction following the war.战后，该国面临着重建家园的艰巨任务。
• In the period of reconstruction,technique decides everything.在重建时期，技术决定一切。

11 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。

12 autocracies   

n.独裁( autocracy的名词复数 )；独裁统治；独裁政体；独裁政府

参考例句：

• She did persuade herself that there were no autocracies save that of Prussia. 她自己深信，除了普鲁士以外，世界上哪儿都没有独裁政府了。 来自辞典例句
• Autocracies can function perfectly well without news, but democracies cannot. 独裁国家没有新闻业，可以依旧运转；民主国家却不行。 来自互联网

13 debit   

n.借方，借项，记人借方的款项

参考例句：

• To whom shall I debit this sum?此款应记入谁的账户的借方？
• We undercharge Mr.Smith and have to send him a debit note for the extra amount.我们少收了史密斯先生的钱，只得给他寄去一张借条所要欠款。

14 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。