By Kong Jun
近日，美国、英国、澳大利亚宣布建立三国“安全伙伴关系”，美英将助澳建造至少8艘核潜艇，引发国际社会普遍质疑与担忧。然而，美澳军事合作并未止步于此，据报道，澳大利亚有意以允许美部署战略轰炸机为条件，换取美助澳发展远程精确打击武器。作为第一步，美国将向澳大利亚出售“战斧”式巡航导弹。
The US, the UK and Australia recently announced to forge a trilateral “security partnership” under which the US and the UK will help Australia build at least eight nuclear submarines. This has raised widespread doubts and concerns in the international community. But the military cooperation between Washington and Canberra doesn’t stop there. It is reported that Canberra intends to allow the US to deploy strategic bombers on its soil in exchange for its help for Australia to develop long-range precision attack weapons. As the first step, Washington will sell the Tomahawk cruise missile to Canberra.
“战斧”式巡航导弹是美国研发的具有战略意义的进攻性式器。在海湾战争中，美国首次使用并向伊拉克发射了200多枚“战斧”导弹，造成人道主义灾难。在南斯拉夫、科索沃、利比亚、叙利亚战争中，“战斧”幽灵肆虐，成为颠覆他国政权的罪魁祸首。
The Tomahawk cruise missile is an offensive weapon of strategic significance developed by the US. It was first used during the Gulf War when the US fired more than 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Iraq and caused a humanistic disaster. The Tomahawk also haunted Yugoslavia, Kosovo, Libya and Syria, where it was the chief culprit for overthrowing foreign regimes.
就导弹领域防扩散而言，国际社会至今未达成普遍适用的国际法。在此情况下，各国本应在导弹转让方面采取克制、慎重、负责的态度，以实际行动维护国际和平与稳定。美澳“战斧”交易却与此背道而驰。
The international community still hasn’t reached a universally applicable law on the non-proliferation of missiles. Under such circumstances, countries should be restrained, prudent and responsible regarding the transfer of missiles and take actions to preserve international peace and stability, but the Tomahawk missile deal between the US and Australia is against all of that.
澳大利亚偏居南太平洋，地缘环境优越，目前未受到任何重大安全威胁，但此次大举引进“战斧”导弹这一进攻性武器，远超其防卫需求，势必引起邻国的警觉与反对。
Located in South Pacific with a favorable geographical environment, Australia has never faced any major security threats. The recent introduction of Tomahawk missile on a large scale, which is far beyond its defense needs, is bound to court vigilance and objection from its neighbors.
此举也让国际社会看清了美国口中“防扩散规则”的虚伪性。“导弹及其技术控制制度”是美国主导建立的出口控制“小圈子”，其明确规定应对超过300公里射程、500公斤载荷的导弹系统实行最大限度的转让限制。美澳对“小圈子”外的国家实行重重限制，却在“小圈子”内毫无顾忌地转让先进导弹。这无疑是赤裸裸的双重标准。
The deal also reveals to the international community the hypocrisy of the so-called “non-proliferation rules” clamored by the US. America has created a small circle that specifically demands that missile systems of more than 300km shooting range and 500kg load shall be subjected to the maximal transfer limit. The US and Australia have imposed numerous restrictions on countries outside of the small circle, but feel no qualms about transferring advanced missiles inside it – nothing is more double standards than this.
此次披露的“战斧”导弹交易恐怕只是冰山一角。澳大利亚去年发布《防务战略更新报告》《武装力量态势规划》等文件，计划全面强化军力建设，投资10亿澳元建设本土导弹国防工业体系。近年来，美澳不断加强反导、外空、网络等领域军事合作，还共同研发高超音速导弹，美澳上述举动将不可避免地打开地区军备竞赛的潘多拉盒子。
The Tomahawk missile trade between the US and Australia that’s made known to the public may be just the tip of the iceberg. According to the 2020 Defence Strategic Update and the 2020 Force Structure Plan released last year, Australia plans to reinforce its military forces comprehensively and invest one billion Australian dollars to build a missile and national defense industry system. In recent years, the US and Australia have kept strengthening their military cooperation in such areas as missile defense, outer space and cyberspace, and have jointly developed hypersonic missiles, which will unavoidably open Pandora’s box of regional arms race.
美国向来以“世界和平卫士”自居，频繁武力干涉他国，已形成庞大的贩售武器产业链，并从中攫取巨额收益。过去5年来，美国武器出口总额稳居世界第一，占全球总额的37%。亚太是武器进口最多的地区，澳大利亚等美国盟友更是位列全球前十大武器进口国。可以想象，在美澳军售合作刺激之下，亚太地区国家将进一步增加武器进口，而这正是美国军工企业和军火商求之不得的。
Claiming itself as the “guardian of world peace,” the US has formed a gigantic weapons sales industry chain through constant armed interference in other countries and extracted tremendous profits from it. In the past five years, its total weapons export volume has steadily topped the world with a 37% share. The Asia Pacific imported the largest number of weapons, and American allies, such as Australia, are among the world’s top ten weapon importers. We can well imagine the recent arms deal between the US and Australia will spur Asian-Pacific countries to import more weapons, which is exactly what American military enterprises and arms manufacturers are waiting for.
美国口口声声表示不寻求“新冷战”，然而冷战结束以来，美国时时处处干着挑起“新冷战”的事，已被公认为全球稳定的最大破坏者。求和平、谋发展是亚太地区国家和人民的共同心声，美澳违背历史发展潮流，公然做起核导生意。这种只顾本国利益、无视国际安全的丑陋面目必将受到国际社会的普遍唾弃。澳大利亚更应三思而后行，看清接过的只不过是一个烫手山芋，了解一下历史上有多少国家最终沦为美国的弃子。
The US keeps emphasizing that it doesn’t seek a “new Cold War,” but what it has done since the end of the Cold War seems to aim at starting a new one, and Washington is internationally recognized as the biggest destroyer of world stability. Peace and development are the common aspiration of Asian-Pacific countries and people. Yet, Washington and Canberra are blatantly trading in nuclear submarines and missiles, which goes against the trend of historical development. Their hideous act of pursuing their own interests regardless of international security will be condemned by the international community. Canberra should think twice and understand that what it’s taking over is nothing but a hot potato. It would also serve it well to read a history book and find out how many countries have been first befriended and then abandoned by the US.
（作者是国际问题观察员）
(The author is an observer of international issues.)
Editor's note: This article is originally published on huanqiu.com, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
