Australia-United States Security Cooperation and Implications for the Republic of China

澳美安全關係及其對台灣的意義

黃奎博(Kwei-Bo Huang)

《澳洲研究》 4期 (2004/12) Pp. 163-195

https://doi.org/10.30414/TJAS.200412_(4).0005

摘要

澳洲與美國防衛合作的歷史可以追溯至第一次世界大戰。除了共同價值觀與相近的意識型態之外，兩國能成為盟邦最主要還是因為在太平洋地區有共同的政治經濟與軍事利益。
澳洲與美國的結盟是促成澳洲更加涉入亞太事務的最主要因素之一。雖然部分人質疑澳美同盟是具有不對稱性質且澳洲是美國的依賴盟友，但是歷史已經證明澳洲是美國在環太平洋地區最重要的盟邦之一。2002年10月，澳洲外長唐納明確地聲明涉入亞洲事務已成為澳洲不願放棄的外交政策。這些例子都證明，當歐洲事務不再主宰國際議題，且當亞洲在美國戰略地圖扮演重要角色時，只要澳洲越接受其位於亞太地區的宿命，澳美安全同盟將越顯現其影響力。
澳美安全關係的性質與變遷具有相當大的重要性，原因在於，澳美之間的不對稱盟邦在建立五年後，即使缺乏如北約般的正式協議，但仍能有效的運作。除此之外，澳洲外長唐納所稱澳美安全合作是區域安全與穩定的一個基石，更顯現此議題的重要性。
本文主旨在於探索澳洲與美國之間的安全同盟。基於澳、美雙方國防戰略與安全環境的考量，本文首先簡單的回顧澳美安全同盟的角色與發展。其次，本文主要從澳、美目前所處的區域安全環境來分析澳美安全同盟在二十一世紀初期可能遇到的內部與外在的困境。最後，本文試圖為下述問題提供一個初步的解答：面對中國共產黨政權威脅的中華民國，能夠在澳美安全合作的經驗當中學到什麼教訓，以應付來自海峽對岸逐漸增強的挑戰？

關鍵字

澳洲 ； 美國 ； 台灣 ； 安全合作

並列摘要

This paper is aimed at exploring the security alliance between Australia and the United States (US). Based on the defense strategies and the security environments of Australia and the US, this paper first reviews in brief the role and development of the Australia-US security alliance. Then, mainly from the angle of the contemporary regional security setting in which Australia and the US are involved, this paper analyzes the possible obstacles, either internal or external, to the Australia-US security alliance in the early 21st century. At last, this paper seeks to provide preliminary answer to the question of whether the Republic of China (hereafter, ROC or Taiwan) in the face of the Chinese Communist Party regime across the Taiwan Strait can learn something from the experience in Australian-US security cooperation.
Particularly in the field of defense cooperation, Australia and the US have acted and fought together since the First World War. In addition to putative common values and similar ideologies, these two countries become allies largely because of shared political, economic and military interests in the Asia Pacific.
It appears that Australia's tie with the US is one of the major factors that lead Australia to a deeper involvement in the Asia Pacific affairs. Although some would consider such an alliance asymmetric and view Australia as America's ”dependent ally”, history has proven that Australia is one of the most important allies the US has had in the Pacific rim. In October 2002, Alexander Downer, Australia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, claimed firmly that engagement with Asia had become a major foreign policy that Australia did not want to abandon. These indicate that when European affairs do not dominate the international agenda and when Asia emerges and plays a key role on the US strategic map, it can be easily assumed that the more does Australia accept its Asia-Pacific destiny, the greater the influence of the Australia-US security alliance will be.
With growing interest in the Asia Pacific, it is of great importance to scrutinize the nature and changes in the Australian-US security relations not only because such an asymmetric alliance relationship that lacks formal arrangements like those of the North Atlantic Organization Treaty (NATO) can function effectively after it was founded about five decades ago but also because security cooperation between these two countries has become ”a pillar of regional peace and stability.”

並列關鍵字

Australia ； United States ； Security Cooperation ； ROC