盎格鲁文化圈 英国帝国时代的遗产

When supporters of the Vote Leave campaign sketch out a future for Britain outside the EU, they often point to the “Anglosphere” of English-speaking nations — bequeathed by Britain’s imperial past. So Barack Obama’s intervention in Britain’s EU referendum last week was a potentially devastating moment for the Brexit campaign. Here was the president of the US — the most powerful member of the Anglosphere — arguing forcefully for Britain to stay inside the EU.

当英国退出欧盟运动的支持者为脱离欧盟后的英国勾勒未来时，他们经常说到由英语国家构成的“盎格鲁文化圈”(Anglosphere)——英国帝国时代的遗产。因此，巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)上周对英国退欧公投的介入，可能成为退欧运动的灾难性时刻。这位美国（盎格鲁文化圈最强大的成员）总统来到英国，有力地主张英国应该留在欧盟内。

In desperation, some members of the Leave campaign have suggested that Mr Obama might harbour a special animus against Britain. Boris Johnson, the mayor of London, flirted with the theory that the “part-Kenyan president’s ancestry” might explain his views.

无奈之下，退欧运动的一些支持者暗示，奥巴马或许对英国抱有特殊敌意。伦敦市长鲍里斯•约翰逊(Boris Johnson)提到，这位“总统拥有的肯尼亚血统”或许可以解释他的观点。

In reality, no special explanation is needed for Mr Obama’s remarks. It has long been US policy to support British membership of the EU.

实际上，奥巴马的话无需特殊解释。支持英国留在欧盟内，是美国长期以来一直坚持的政策。

Yet the Brexiters are on to something in a broader sense. For all the ritualistic tributes to the enduring nature of the special relationship, something has changed during the Obama years. That shift is a growing awareness in both Washington and London of the rise of Asia, which has made both the US and the UK reconsider their approaches to the world — and each other.

然而，退欧运动的支持者在更广泛意义上切中了要害。虽然对英美特殊关系经久不衰有许多礼节性的赞颂，但有些东西在奥巴马担任总统期间发生了变化。这变化就是，华盛顿和伦敦方面都日益认识到了亚洲的崛起。这种认识已使美英两国开始重新考虑自己的对外政策，包括对彼此的政策。

President Obama’s personal background does indeed matter here. But the significant point is not that he is the first African-American president, but that he is the first Pacific president. Mr Obama was brought up in Hawaii, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and spent several years of his childhood in Indonesia. Like no other president before him, he really grasps the vital and growing importance of the Asia-Pacific region.

在这方面，奥巴马总统的个人背景的确有影响。但关键点不在他是首位非洲裔美国总统，而在于他是首位来自太平洋地区的美国总统。奥巴马在太平洋上的夏威夷长大，并在印度尼西亚度过了数年童年时光。与历届总统都不同的是，他真正懂得亚太地区关键且日益增长的重要性。

The signature foreign policy initiative of the Obama years has been America’s “pivot to Asia”. Amid all the turmoil in the Middle East and Ukraine, the US president has remained grimly, stubbornly, determined to devote more of his country’s diplomatic, military and economic resources to Asia.

美国“转向亚洲”(pivot to Asia)战略是奥巴马时期美国提出的标志性外交政策。虽然中东、乌克兰动荡不断，但奥巴马一直顽强、固执、坚决地将美国更多的外交、军事和经济资源投向亚洲。

There was much talk, during Mr Obama’s London visit, about whether the US might strike a separate trade deal with a post-Brexit Britain, or whether it would focus more on the US-EU Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Mr Obama controversially suggested that the UK would be at the “back of the queue” in any quest for a separate trade deal.

奥巴马访问伦敦期间，很多人都在谈论：美国是否有可能与脱离欧盟的英国单独签署贸易协定，或者是否会将更多注意力放在美欧之间的《跨大西洋贸易与投资伙伴关系协定》(TTIP)上。奥巴马暗示，如果英国想要签署单独贸易协定，它将排在“队伍末尾”。奥巴马的这一言论引发争议。

But the reality is that America’s biggest trade priority is neither the UK nor the EU — it is Asia. While negotiations on TTIP are still years from conclusion, the Trans-Pacific Partnership deal has already been agreed between the US and 11 other nations in the Asia-Pacific region, and now awaits ratification.

但现实是，美国在贸易上最优先考虑的对象既非英国，也不是欧盟，而是亚洲。围绕TTIP的谈判仍需数年才能有结果，但美国与亚太地区其他11个国家已就《跨太平洋伙伴关系协定》(TPP)达成一致，现在协议正等待美国国会批准。

Some Brits and Europeans hope that the departure of President Obama might mean that the US places less emphasis on Asia and pivots back to the Atlantic. That is unlikely. Any US president who looks at America’s strategic priorities is likely to come to conclusions similar to Mr Obama’s. Hillary Clinton, his likeliest successor, is a firm believer in the “pivot” to Asia, as she made clear in a 2011 article entitled “America’s Pacific Century”.

一些英国人和欧洲人希望，奥巴马总统任期的结束或许意味着美国会降低对亚洲的重视程度，重新将重心转向大西洋。这种情形不大可能出现。任何一位美国总统对美国的各个战略优先对象进行权衡之后，都可能得出与奥巴马类似的结论。最有希望成为奥巴马继任者的希拉里•克林顿(Hillary Clinton)是“转向”亚洲战略的坚定支持者——正如她在2011年发表的一篇题为《美国的太平洋世纪》(America’s Pacific Century)的文章中表明的那样。

The British, in particular, have few grounds to complain about America’s current preoccupation with Asia and the Pacific, since the Cameron government has been conducting its own pivot to Asia — even at the expense of ties to the US. David Cameron has led a succession of high-profile trade delegations to Asia and signed Britain up as a founder member of the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, against the express wishes of the US government. One member of the Obama administration complained (to the Financial Times) about Britain’s “constant accommodation” of China.

英国尤其没有理由抱怨美国当下对亚太地区的专注，因为卡梅伦政府一直在实施自己的转向亚洲战略——甚至不惜损害与美国的关系。英国首相戴维•卡梅伦(David Cameron)曾多次高调率领贸易代表团访问亚洲，而且忤逆美国政府的明确意愿，让英国成为了总部设在北京的亚洲基础设施投资银行(AIIB)的创始成员国。奥巴马政府的一名官员曾向英国《金融时报》抱怨英国“不断迁就”中国。

Of course, there are still deep historic and cultural ties linking Britain and America. Anybody who doubts that should consider the number of leading members of the US foreign-policy establishment who once studied at Oxford. Susan Rice, Mr Obama’s national security adviser, Bill Burns, who was Mrs Clinton’s deputy at the State Department, and Jake Sullivan, one of her closest advisers, are all Oxford alumni.

当然，依然有深厚的历史、文化纽带将英美两国连在一起。所有对此存疑的人都应该看看，美国外交政策圈有多少主要成员曾就读于牛津大学(Oxford)。奥巴马的国家安全顾问苏珊•赖斯(Susan Rice)、希拉里担任国务卿时的副国务卿比尔•伯恩斯(Bill Burns)以及希拉里最亲近的顾问之一杰克•沙利文(Jake Sullivan)，都是牛津大学校友。

These kinds of links help give Britain easy access in Washington. But, in future, even elite educational ties may be thinner. Stephen Schwarzman, an American financier, has just set up a major scholarship scheme, inspired by the Rhodes scholarships to Oxford, to take high-achieving Americans and others to study at Tsinghua University in Beijing. Mr Schwarzman’s not-unreasonable assumption is that, in future it might be more important for aspiring American leaders to understand China.

这些联系可以帮助英国很容易地接近华盛顿。但未来，即使精英校友的纽带都可能变得薄弱。美国金融家苏世民(Stephen Schwarzman)刚刚设立了一个大规模奖学金项目——受牛津大学罗兹(Rhodes)奖学金的启发——资助优秀的美国及其他国家学生到北京的清华大学(Tsinghua University)学习。苏世民不无道理的假设是，对有抱负的未来美国领导者而言，了解中国或许更加重要。

The rise of Asia is also changing the nature of Canada and Australia, two other key members of the historic Anglosphere. Australia does 10 times as much trade, by value, with China and Japan as it does with Britain. The population of Toronto, Canada’s largest city, is now around 35 per cent ethnic Asian, and the figure is well over 40 per cent for Vancouver on the Pacific coast.

亚洲的崛起也正在从根本上改变盎格鲁文化圈的另外两个关键成员——加拿大和澳大利亚。按价值算，澳大利亚与中国和日本的贸易是其与英国贸易的十倍。在加拿大最大城市多伦多，如今约35%的人口是亚裔，而在太平洋沿岸的温哥华，亚裔比例大大超过40%。

Still, any Brits who feel nostalgic for the Anglosphere, and a little resentful about Mr Obama’s “back of the queue” comments, might reflect how much they still benefit from the cultural power of the US. The traditional Anglosphere may be in disrepair. But a different sort of Anglosphere has emerged in Brussels, with English now the common language of the EU institutions.

不过，所有怀念盎格鲁文化圈而且对奥巴马的“队伍末尾”言论感到些许愤恨的英国人，或许都应该想一想，他们仍多么大地受益于美国的文化力量。传统的盎格鲁文化圈或许已经没落。但一种不同类型的盎格鲁文化圈已出现在布鲁塞尔——英语如今是欧盟各机构的通用语言。