By Chen Hong
陈弘
The 22nd Melanesian Spearhead Group Leaders' Summit was just held in Port Vila, the capital of Vanuatu. Accounting for 94.1% of the total population, 98.8% of the land area, and 91.6% of the GDP of Pacific island countries, Melanesian countries and regions hold a significant position and strategic value in the South Pacific. Media reported that after a Vanuatu official said before the summit that MSG leaders were considering establishing a "peaceful and neutral zone", Fiji's prime minister Sitiveni Rabuka, who also attended the summit, reiterated on August 25 that the South Pacific should be a zone of peace, neutrality, and non-aligned territories.
美拉尼西亚先锋组织（MSG）第22届领导人会议刚刚在瓦努阿图首都维拉港举行。美拉尼西亚国家和地区占太平洋岛国总人口的94.1%、陆地面积的98.8%、GDP总量的91.6%，在南太具有重要地位和战略价值。而据媒体报道，继瓦努阿图官员在会前透露，MSG领导人考虑宣布建立一个“和平与中立地区”后，与会的斐济总理拉布卡25日再次表示，南太岛国应该“成为一个和平中立地区、一个不结盟地区”。
The US has been working hard to promote its "Indo-Pacific strategy" in recent years to curb and obstruct China's peaceful development, and the South Pacific region is considered an important strategic pivot on its anti-China chess board. In particular, with the deepening mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Pacific island states, the US-led West, suddenly changing its consistent neglect or dismissal of the latter, is now hurrying to make overtures to them – not forgetting to slander China's aid to, trade with and investment in the South Pacific in the process. It is also going to great lengths to sabotage the friendly collaboration between China and the island countries by means of lure, coercion, political manipulation and interference.
美国近年来竭力推进“印太战略”，试图遏制和阻挠中国和平发展。在华盛顿的反华棋盘中，南太平洋地区被构思成其在南半球的一个重要战略支点。尤其是随着中国与太平洋岛国互惠互利合作日益加深，美西方国家一改长期以来对该地区国家忽视甚至无视的态度和政策，一边加紧对地区国家“示好”，一边开始对中国在南太的援建和经贸、投资项目进行恶意中伤，并且采取利诱和胁迫等手段，通过政治操纵和干涉，离间和破坏中国与南太岛国的友好合作关系。
The US-led West is also taking bold steps to militarize the South Pacific region in an attempt to turn regional countries into its rear base in the Asia Pacific, with the Melanesian region being a piece de resistance in its military and strategic deployments. At the end of last year, Papua New Guinea, under great pressure, signed a military collaboration agreement with the US. Australia also signed security agreements with Fiji and Vanuatu in order to acquire "military maneuverability" in the region.
同时，美西方还着手大举将南太地区军事化，试图将太平洋岛国变成其在亚太的后方军事基地，而美拉尼西亚地区正是美西方军事战略部署的“重中之重”。去年年底，在美方压力下，巴布亚新几内亚同美国签署军事合作协议。另外，澳大利亚也同斐济和瓦努阿图签署相关安全协议，意图在该地区具备“军事机动性”。
In history, South Pacific island states have been cruelly plundered and enslaved by Western colonists, which has seriously stunted their economic development ever since due to an imbalanced layout, backward infrastructure, and crippled livelihood. At present, the greatest security threat facing those countries comes from poverty and climate change, and they are in urgent need of a peaceful and stable environment for development. That's why they uphold a foreign policy of "Friends to all, enemies to none". The call for "peace and neutrality" voiced at the MSG Leaders' Summit is a definite answer to the threat and coercion from the US-led West. The entire South Pacific uttered the unified voice that taking sides doesn't suit their best interests.
在历史上，南太岛国曾受到西方殖民国家的残酷掠夺和奴役，导致自身经济长期得不到真正发展，面临布局失衡、基础设施建设落后、民生发展严重受阻等难题。当前，南太岛国面临的最大安全威胁来自贫困和气候变化，这些国家迫切需要的是和平、稳定的发展环境。为此，南太岛国在对外政策上奉行“广交友、不树敌”的理念。美拉尼西亚先锋组织领导人会议传出“和平与中立”的呼声，正是对来自美西方胁迫的明确回应。“选边站队不符合我们的最佳利益”，更是整个南太的共同声音。
China and the Pacific island states are each other's trustworthy friends. China, on the principle of "full respect in four aspects", sincerely and consistently assists those countries in realizing independent and sustainable development on the basis of equality, mutual benefits, and win-win results, and takes seriously their special concern over climate change. China never asks them to pick sides, nor does it have any interest in competing with any other country in the region in terms of clout, geographical presence or sphere of influence. In fact, China has repeatedly expressed its position that it is not opposed to any other country providing tangible aid and undertaking economic projects in South Pacific island states for the purpose of reducing poverty and tackling climate change.
中国和太平洋岛国是彼此值得信赖的好朋友。中方秉持“四个充分尊重”原则，真诚帮助岛国实现自主可持续发展，高度重视岛国在气候变化问题上的特殊关切，在平等相待、互利共赢的基础上持续为岛国发展提供帮助。中国从不要求南太岛国选边站队，没有兴趣和任何国家在那里比拼影响力，谋求所谓“地缘存在”或建立什么“势力范围”。事实上，中方已多次表示不排斥任何第三方在南太岛国开展减贫发展和应对气候变化的实际援助和经济项目。
The call for "peace and neutrality" made by the MSG Leaders' Summit once again released a clear signal that the South Pacific island countries, like other developing countries, don't wish to be reduced into tools willfully wielded under political manipulation by the US-led West. What they truly need and wish for is peace and development.
这次美拉尼西亚先锋组织领导人会议对“和平与中立”的诉求再次释放出了一个清晰信号。同其他众多发展中国家一样，南太岛国再次申明立场，即不愿沦为美西方政治操弄的工具，它们真正需要和期盼的是和平与发展。
(The author is a professor at East China Normal University and executive director of its Center for Asian Pacific Studies)
（作者是华东师范大学教授、亚太研究中心执行主任）
Editor's note: Originally published on huanqiu.com, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
