VOA新闻杂志2024--NATO Summit Aims to Increase Partnerships in Indo-Pacific

NATO Summit Aims to Increase Partnerships² in Indo-Pacific

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is seeking closer ties with non-member partners from Asia at its 2024 leaders meeting. It opened Tuesday in the American capital, Washington, D.C.

Leaders from Japan, South Korea, and New Zealand are attending the NATO leaders' meeting for the third straight year. Australia sent its deputy prime minister.

Expert say China will follow the three-day meeting closely to measure NATO's interest in places beyond Europe and the Western Hemisphere.

China and Russia have strengthened ties recently as Russia's war in Ukraine continues. In the Pacific area, North Korea has increased support for Russia while South Korea has sided with NATO allies.

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke³ at the Brookings Institution in Washington. He said: "...Partners in Europe see challenges halfway⁴ around the world in Asia as being relevant to them, just as partners in Asia see challenges halfway around the world in Europe as being relevant to them."

Countries with shared security interests appear to be strengthening ties. They see the competition between the United States and China as growing. U.S. officials are concerned about China's efforts to challenge the U.S.-led "world order." China considers its rise inevitable⁵ and that U.S. concerns come from the Cold War competition of the past.

China's foreign ministry⁶ criticized NATO's reported interest in deepening its partnerships with Asian nations. At its usual press briefing Tuesday, a Chinese foreign ministry official said NATO was "breaching⁸ its boundary, expanding its mandate⁹, reaching beyond its defense¹⁰ zone and stoking confrontation¹¹..."

The war in Ukraine

The war in Ukraine has placed Russia and its allies against the U.S., Europe and their Asian allies. For example, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told the U.S. Congress in April that, "Ukraine of today may be East Asia of tomorrow."

In addition, the U.S. and South Korea have accused North Korea of supplying Russia with ammunition¹² for the war. Russian President Vladimir Putin visited North Korea in June and signed an agreement on joint¹³ military assistance.

Both Japan and South Korea are sending military supplies and aid to Ukraine.

The U.S. says China is providing Russia with machine tools, electronics and other technology that can be used to make weapons to use against Ukraine.

A national security advisor¹⁴ to South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol said Yoon will bring "a strong message regarding the military cooperation between Russia and North Korea." The official also said the president would discuss ways to increase cooperation between NATO allies and Indo-Pacific partners.

Mirna Galic is an expert on China and East Asia at the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington. Galic says the partnership¹ between Asian countries and NATO does not make NATO a direct actor in the Indo-Pacific areas. For example, she wrote in an analysis, they can share information and align¹⁵ on actions such as sanctions and aid shipments. But, she continued, they do not intervene in military crises outside of their own areas.

Zhu Feng is the dean of the School of International Studies at Nanjing University in China. He believes China is worried about NATO's interest in the East and wants to be seen as a force for peace.

Zhu said, "NATO should consider China as a positive force for the regional peace and stability and for global security." He added, "We also hope the Ukraine war can end as soon as possible..."

NATO and China had little conflict until 2019. That year, the NATO summit in London raised China as a "challenge" that needed to be dealt with "together as an alliance." Two years later, NATO called China a "systemic challenge" and said it was "cooperating militarily with Russia." Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.

At the Shangri-la Dialogue security meeting in Singapore this year, American Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was asked about the alliance and the Indo-Pacific area.

Austin said the U.S. was working with "like-minded countries with similar values and a common vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific."

Chinese Lieutenant¹⁶ General Jing Jianfeng also attended the Shangri-la Dialogue. He told delegates that Western alliances in Asia were an effort to continue what he called "the hegemony as led by the United States."

Words in This Story

challenge -n. a difficult problem

relevant -adj. related to a subject in a useful way

inevitable -adj. incapable¹⁷ of being avoided or evaded¹⁸

cyberattack -n. an attack on computer systems that is meant to take information or damage the systems or the things that they control

breach⁷ -v. to fail to do something that is required by law or agreement

mandate -n. an official order or requirement

stoke -v. to cause something to increase in intensity¹⁹

confrontation -n. the clashing of forces or ideas

mutual²⁰ -adj. shared between two or more

cohesive²¹ -adj. to stick firmly together

hegemony -n. the strong leadership or influence expressed by one leader or one state

1 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

2 partnerships   

n.伙伴关系( partnership的名词复数 )；合伙人身份；合作关系

参考例句：

• Partnerships suffer another major disadvantage: decision-making is shared. 合伙企业的另一主要缺点是决定要由大家来作。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• It involved selling off limited partnerships. 它涉及到售出有限的合伙权。 来自辞典例句

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 halfway   

adj.中途的，不彻底的，部分的；adv.半路地，在中途，在半途

参考例句：

• We had got only halfway when it began to get dark.走到半路，天就黑了。
• In study the worst danger is give up halfway.在学习上，最忌讳的是有始无终。

5 inevitable   

adj.不可避免的，必然发生的

参考例句：

• Mary was wearing her inevitable large hat.玛丽戴着她总是戴的那顶大帽子。
• The defeat had inevitable consequences for British policy.战败对英国政策不可避免地产生了影响。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 breach   

n.违反，不履行；破裂；vt.冲破，攻破

参考例句：

• We won't have any breach of discipline.我们不允许任何破坏纪律的现象。
• He was sued for breach of contract.他因不履行合同而被起诉。

8 breaching   

攻破( breach的过去式 )； 破坏，违反

参考例句：

• The company was prosecuted for breaching the Health and Safety Act. 这家公司被控违反《卫生安全条例》。
• Third, an agency can abuse its discretion by breaching certain principles of judge-made law. 第三，行政机关会因违反某些法官制定的法律原则而构成滥用自由裁量权。

9 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

10 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

11 confrontation   

n.对抗，对峙，冲突

参考例句：

• We can't risk another confrontation with the union.我们不能冒再次同工会对抗的危险。
• After years of confrontation,they finally have achieved a modus vivendi.在对抗很长时间后，他们最后达成安宁生存的非正式协议。

12 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

13 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。

14 advisor   

n.顾问，指导老师，劝告者

参考例句：

• They employed me as an advisor.他们聘请我当顾问。
• The professor is engaged as a technical advisor.这位教授被聘请为技术顾问。

15 align   

vt.使成一线，结盟，调节；vi.成一线，结盟

参考例句：

• Align the ruler and the middle of the paper.使尺子与纸张的中部成一条直线。
• There are signs that the prime minister is aligning himself with the liberals.有迹象表明首相正在与自由党人结盟。

16 lieutenant   

n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员

参考例句：

• He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
• He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官，递上了一张简短的便条进去。

17 incapable   

adj.无能力的，不能做某事的

参考例句：

• He would be incapable of committing such a cruel deed.他不会做出这么残忍的事。
• Computers are incapable of creative thought.计算机不会创造性地思维。

18 evaded   

逃避( evade的过去式和过去分词 )； 避开； 回避； 想不出

参考例句：

• For two weeks they evaded the press. 他们有两周一直避而不见记者。
• The lion evaded the hunter. 那狮子躲开了猎人。

19 intensity   

n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度

参考例句：

• I didn't realize the intensity of people's feelings on this issue.我没有意识到这一问题能引起群情激奋。
• The strike is growing in intensity.罢工日益加剧。

20 mutual   

adj.相互的，彼此的；共同的，共有的

参考例句：

• We must pull together for mutual interest.我们必须为相互的利益而通力合作。
• Mutual interests tied us together.相互的利害关系把我们联系在一起。

21 cohesive   

adj.有粘着力的；有结合力的；凝聚性的

参考例句：

• She sealed the parcel with cohesive tape.她用粘胶带把包裹封起来。
• The author skillfully fuses these fragments into a cohesive whole.作者将这些片断巧妙地结合成一个连贯的整体。