美国国家公共电台 NPR--Why the U.S.-Australia agreement on a nuclear submarine project is a big deal

Why the U.S.-Australia agreement on a nuclear submarine project is a big deal

Transcript¹

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks to Charles Edel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies about Australia's deal with the U.S. and U.K. to acquire nuclear-powered submarine tech.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

When China's president visited Russia this week, he was cementing one of his country's few important alliances in the world. The United States has a lot of alliances that it tries to organize against China. This month, the U.S. advanced an arms deal and a lot more with both the U.K. and Australia. They're moving forward with the sale of nuclear-powered submarines to Australia. Charles Edel has an idea how important this deal is. He works for a Washington, D.C., think tank. Although, when we reached him, he was away from the office.

CHARLES EDEL: I'm in New York chaperoning a bunch of 10-year-olds at Model UN.

INSKEEP: One question, are they discussing the recent submarine deal between the U.S., U.K. and Australia?

EDEL: Well, we have one precocious² 10-year-old who is holding forth³ Gabon's position about how he supports it, yes.

INSKEEP: (Laughter) I didn't know that Gabon has a view, but I'm glad to hear.

Charles Edel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told us he could help analyze⁴ that deal so long as we finished in time for him to meet the kids he was supervising.

EDEL: Submarines are only the tip of the iceberg⁵ here. We're also talking about a series of collaborations in cyber, in artificial intelligence, in quantum, on unmanned underwater vehicles, a host of different technologies.

INSKEEP: Why does the United States care that much about Australia?

EDEL: The Australians like to say, and we tend to agree, that they are just about our most trusted ally in the world. And because they've been leaned on so heavily by Beijing in terms of economic coercion⁷, we're really interested in what they're doing. While America has a ton of allies and even more partners around the world, we have a much narrower list of those who are both capable and willing to make sure that they step up to provide stability for the region.

INSKEEP: Assuming this deal works as intended - it'll take many years for all the submarines to be delivered - what does the United States ultimately get out of it?

EDEL: We're going to start by putting more U.S. and British submarines in the region. We're then going to sell some submarines. And eventually, we're going to transition to the Australians building their own submarines based on a British model. But ultimately, what we're hoping to achieve is to have a much stronger ally. And having stronger allies overall enhances our collective deterrence⁸ efforts, our collective security and will help stabilize⁹ a region that over the past decade has been badly destabilized by China's increasingly aggressive actions.

INSKEEP: What form does that take? And what is China trying to do?

EDEL: Well, there are a lot of different forms it takes. For the Australians, the one that has stuck out most for them is that starting in 2020, the Chinese began to attempt to economically coerce¹⁰ Australia. Australia is the most trade-dependent advanced nation in the world on China. As much as 40% of their exports went to China at one point. And because the Chinese were upset with Australia, they began stopping the import of Australian goods across the board. Beyond that, of course, the Chinese have consistently interfered¹¹ in the domestic politics of Australia, reaching into their ethnic¹² communities, attempting to bribe¹³ Australian politicians. But it's the larger set of things that I think - on the military side that we're concerned about, the explosive growth of the Chinese military and the increasingly aggressive use that it's been put to in the broader Indo-Pacific region.

INSKEEP: When you say going into the ethnic communities in China, are you referring to the Chinese diaspora? You'll find Chinese people in many, many places. And China wants to use them as an asset, you think?

EDEL: Yeah. Consistently we've seen the Chinese state has worked to coerce citizens of Australia who are ethnically¹⁴ Chinese who express viewpoints that are contrary to the Chinese government. I think a wake-up moment in Australia was when a visiting Chinese official told Labor⁶ Party officials that they needed to support an extradition¹⁵ law with China. If they didn't, it would be too bad if the entire Chinese population in Australia started to vote against the Labor Party.

INSKEEP: As best you can determine the motivations of Chinese leaders, do you think that they view Australia as a country they should move out of the U.S. column and into the Chinese column, that it should be dominated by China because it's right there, in Chinese terms, anyway, in their region?

EDEL: I think from Beijing's perspective, Australia is a bit of a puzzling case because it's a smaller state and because they have prospered¹⁶. It doesn't exactly make sense from a Chinese perspective why the Australians have asserted their own sovereignty quite so strongly. And frankly¹⁷, I think the reason why you've seen such anger emanating¹⁸ from Beijing is not so much what Australia has done, but the fact that Australia, as a middle-sized democratic power, has set an alternative example about how states can stand up, protect their own sovereignty and not simply buck¹⁹ to the demands of the Chinese state.

INSKEEP: Charles Edel of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Thanks so much.

EDEL: Thanks so much for having me on, Steve.

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 precocious   

adj.早熟的；较早显出的

参考例句：

• They become precocious experts in tragedy.他们成了一批思想早熟、善写悲剧的能手。
• Margaret was always a precocious child.玛格丽特一直是个早熟的孩子。

3 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

4 analyze   

vt.分析，解析 (=analyse)

参考例句：

• We should analyze the cause and effect of this event.我们应该分析这场事变的因果。
• The teacher tried to analyze the cause of our failure.老师设法分析我们失败的原因。

5 iceberg   

n.冰山，流冰，冷冰冰的人

参考例句：

• The ship hit an iceberg and went under.船撞上一座冰山而沉没了。
• The glacier calved a large iceberg.冰河崩解而形成一个大冰山。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 coercion   

n.强制，高压统治

参考例句：

• Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions.既不诱供也不逼供。
• He paid the money under coercion.他被迫付钱。

8 deterrence   

威慑，制止； 制止物，制止因素； 挽留的事物； 核威慑

参考例句：

• An extreme school of "disarmers" pronounced stable deterrence was a dangerous deception. “裁军论者”中的极端派声称，稳定的威摄是一种危险的骗局。
• Escalation is thus an aspect of deterrence and of crisis management. 因此逐步升级是威慑和危机处理的一个方面。

9 stabilize   

vt.（使）稳定，使稳固，使稳定平衡；vi.稳定

参考例句：

• They are eager to stabilize currencies.他们急于稳定货币。
• His blood pressure tended to stabilize.他的血压趋向稳定。

10 coerce   

v.强迫，压制

参考例句：

• You can't coerce her into obedience.你不能强制她服从。
• Do you think there is any way that we can coerce them otherwise?你认为我们有什么办法强迫他们不那样吗？

11 interfered   

v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉

参考例句：

• Complete absorption in sports interfered with his studies. 专注于运动妨碍了他的学业。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I am not going to be interfered with. 我不想别人干扰我的事情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

13 bribe   

n.贿赂；v.向…行贿，买通

参考例句：

• He tried to bribe the policeman not to arrest him.他企图贿赂警察不逮捕他。
• He resolutely refused their bribe.他坚决不接受他们的贿赂。

14 ethnically   

adv.人种上，民族上

参考例句：

• Ethnically, the Yuan Empire comprised most of modern China's ethnic groups. 元朝的民族成分包括现今中国绝大多数民族。 来自汉英非文学 - 白皮书
• Russia is ethnically relatively homogeneous. 俄罗斯是个民族成分相对单一的国家。 来自辞典例句

15 extradition   

n.引渡（逃犯）

参考例句：

• The smuggler is in prison tonight,awaiting extradition to Britain.这名走私犯今晚在监狱，等待引渡到英国。
• He began to trouble concerning the extradition laws.他开始费尽心思地去想关于引渡法的问题。

16 prospered   

成功，兴旺( prosper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The organization certainly prospered under his stewardship. 不可否认，这个组织在他的管理下兴旺了起来。
• Mr. Black prospered from his wise investments. 布莱克先生由于巧妙的投资赚了不少钱。

17 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

18 emanating   

v.从…处传出，传出( emanate的现在分词 )；产生，表现，显示

参考例句：

• Even so, there is a slight odour of potpourri emanating from Longfellow. 纵然如此，也还是可以闻到来自朗费罗的一种轻微的杂烩的味道。 来自辞典例句
• Many surface waters, particularly those emanating from swampy areas, are often colored to the extent. 许多地表水，特别是由沼泽地区流出的地表水常常染上一定程度的颜色。 来自辞典例句

19 buck   

n.雄鹿，雄兔；v.马离地跳跃

参考例句：

• The boy bent curiously to the skeleton of the buck.这个男孩好奇地弯下身去看鹿的骸骨。
• The female deer attracts the buck with high-pitched sounds.雌鹿以尖声吸引雄鹿。