冷战后美澳联盟为何依然存在？--基于海上航道安全的理解

Why Does Australia Still Follow the US After the Cold War?—From the Perspective of Sea Lane Security

冷战结束后,澳大利亚周边安全环境明显改善,以应对共同威胁为基础的美澳联盟不仅没有松散、瓦解,反而在新形势下不断巩固与发展,双方的战略合作相较于冷战时期不仅没有弱化,反而有不断加强的趋势,而且澳大利亚还频频充当美国强化亚太联盟的先锋。为何会出现这样的情况?美澳联盟维持与强化的动力何在?本文通过对冷战后澳大利亚对外贸易和海上航道安全进行分析发现,对外贸易的大幅增长使得澳大利亚对海洋运输的依赖日益加深,海上航道安全对于澳大利亚的繁荣与稳定至关重要。而澳大利亚自身实力有限,唯有加强与美国的同盟关系,借助美国的力量才能维护海上航道安全,这是美澳联盟持续发展的动力所在。

After the end of Cold War, despite the fact that the security environment around Australia has improved significantly, the US-Australia alliance in response to mutual threats hasn＇t been loose or disintegrated. Instead, it has been enhanced and consolidated under the new situation. The strategic cooperation between the two countries hasn＇t been weakened but tended to be strengthened compared to the Cold War era. Moreover, Australia has fre- quently led to consolidate America＇s Asia-Pacific alliance. What leads this and serves as the driving force to main- tain and reinforce the US-Australia alliance？ Security-driven Theory, Theory on International Status Elevation, Chi- na Threats Theory and Shared Values all fail to give a complete explanation of this. The paper holds that its de- pendence on foreign trade makes Australia attach great importance to its sea lane security which is highly relevant to Australia＇s prosperity and stability. This drives the sustained development of the alliance after the Cold War.