美国国家公共电台 NPR--U.S., U.K. and Australia aim to counter China with an exchange of submarine tech

U.S., U.K. and Australia aim to counter China with an exchange of submarine tech

Transcript¹

President Biden met Monday with his counterparts from Australia and the United Kingdom to discuss a deal to sell U.S. submarines — an arrangement aimed at countering the military might of China.

SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:

Countering China is a growing goal for the United States. That's why the U.S. is bulking up its naval² presence in the Pacific. And it wants countries like the U.K. and Australia to do the same. So they now have a long-term agreement to share nuclear submarine technology. It's been in the works a year and a half. And as NPR's Scott Detrow reports, yesterday's kickoff came amid rising tensions between Washington and Beijing.

SCOTT DETROW, BYLINE³: President Biden basked⁴ in the San Diego sun flanked by the prime ministers of Australia and the U.K. A nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Missouri, was moored⁵ behind them.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN: I don't know that our friends can hear. But the USS Missouri, can you hear us?

DETROW: The three men were there to detail the timeline of their new military collaboration⁶ called AUKUS.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: AUKUS. It's an unusual name, AUKUS. But it's a powerful entity⁷.

DETROW: It's a mashup of Australia, the U.K. and the U.S. And the centerpiece of the decades-long plan is getting nuclear-powered submarines to Australia. They're strategically important because they can spend a long time underwater, making them stealthier. Australia plans to buy several of them from the U.S. And by the 2040s, the three nations will have built a brand-new submarine together. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER ANTHONY ALBANESE: This is the first time in 65 years and only the second time in history that the United States has shared its nuclear propulsion technology. And we thank you for it.

DETROW: The deal is more than just a military sale. There's a broader strategic goal at play.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BIDEN: AUKUS has one overriding⁸ objective, to enhance the stability in the Indo-Pacific amid rapidly shifting global dynamics⁹.

DETROW: That's essentially¹⁰ diplomatic language for putting more military strength into the Pacific in order to deter¹¹ China. Though, during their joint¹² appearance, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was the only leader to directly talk about what he framed as China's growing assertiveness¹³.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRIME MINISTER RISHI SUNAK: Faced with this new reality, it is more important than ever that we strengthen the resilience of our own countries.

DETROW: The announcement comes at a moment of rising tension and suspicious rhetoric¹⁴ in both countries. In the U.S. Congress, it's one of the few areas where there's bipartisan support. Here's Republican Congressman¹⁵ Mike Gallagher at a recent hearing.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MIKE GALLAGHER: We may call this a strategic competition, but it's not a polite tennis match. This is an existential struggle over what life will look like in the 21st century.

DETROW: Chinese officials are sounding similar lately. Chinese President Xi Jinping recently warned that the U.S. was engaged in containment¹⁶, encirclement and suppression. This all has many China-U.S. experts worried. Ali Wyne is an analyst¹⁷ with the Eurasia Group. He says all this internal pressure to be tough means the U.S. and China just aren't talking to each other as much right now.

ALI WYNE: The less diplomacy¹⁸ you have, the greater the risk there is of a military accident, a military miscalculation.

DETROW: National Security Adviser¹⁹ Jake Sullivan concedes the U.S. is concerned about the state of the military channels between the two countries, a place where officials can quickly sort out these kinds of issues. But he says the U.S. and the Chinese government are still communicating.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JAKE SULLIVAN: And we have directly engaged with China to explain to them what AUKUS is and what it is not.

DETROW: In brief exchanges with reporters Monday, Biden said he was confident China would not view the submarine deal as an act of aggression²⁰. And he says he does have plans to get on the phone again with Xi soon. Though, he wouldn't say exactly when that conversation will take place.

Scott Detrow, NPR News, San Diego.

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 naval   

adj.海军的，军舰的，船的

参考例句：

• He took part in a great naval battle.他参加了一次大海战。
• The harbour is an important naval base.该港是一个重要的海军基地。

3 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。

4 basked   

v.晒太阳，取暖( bask的过去式和过去分词 )；对…感到乐趣；因他人的功绩而出名；仰仗…的余泽

参考例句：

• She basked in the reflected glory of her daughter's success. 她尽情地享受她女儿的成功带给她的荣耀。
• She basked in the reflected glory of her daughter's success. 她享受着女儿的成功所带给她的荣耀。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 moored   

adj. 系泊的 动词moor的过去式和过去分词形式

参考例句：

• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London. 该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。
• We shipped (the) oars and moored alongside the bank. 我们收起桨，把船泊在岸边。

6 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

7 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

8 overriding   

a.最主要的

参考例句：

• Development is of overriding importance. 发展是硬道理
• My overriding concern is to raise the standards of state education. 我最关心的是提高国民教育水平。

9 dynamics   

n.力学，动力学，动力，原动力；动态

参考例句：

• In order to succeed,you must master complicated knowledge of dynamics.要取得胜利，你必须掌握很复杂的动力学知识。
• Dynamics is a discipline that cannot be mastered without extensive practice.动力学是一门不做大量习题就不能掌握的学科。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。

12 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

13 assertiveness   

n.过分自信

参考例句：

• Her assertiveness was starting to be seen as arrogance. 她的自信已开始被认为是自负了。
• Role playing is an important element in assertiveness training. 在果敢自信训练班上，角色扮演是个重要内容。

14 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

15 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

16 containment   

n.阻止，遏制；容量

参考例句：

• Your list might include such things as cost containment,quality,or customer satisfaction.你的清单上应列有诸如成本控制、产品质量、客户满意程度等内容。
• Insularity and self-containment,it is argued,go hand in hand.他们争论说，心胸狭窄和自我封闭是并存的。

17 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

18 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。

19 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

20 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。