从“帝国”遗产到英国“飞地”:二战结束前后美国视野中香港形象的转变及其意义

From Imperial Legacy to British Enclave:The Changing Image of Hong Kong in U.S. Discourse and Its Implication by the End of WWⅡ

二战期间至战后初期,美国政要和社会精英一度热议涉港事务,初步形成对涉港问题的基本态度和政策框架。香港对于中英两国的特殊意义,以及香港对于美国的有形和无形价值,在二战结束之际随着大国关系的变化发生显著转变,美国视野中香港的形象相应地从“帝国”遗产转变为英国“飞地”。以此为起点,美国政府始终围绕美中、美英关系塑造香港的形象,评估香港的价值,进而制定香港政策。在中国收回香港主权以前,美国对香港的定位始终没有脱离美、中、英三国关系,美国对港政策在本质上是美国对华政策和对英政策的一部分。

With the the outbreak of the Pacific War, Hong Kong related issues became one of the criticalthemes under intensive debate among U.S. government and social elites, which lead to a consensus and apolicy framework toward the region during and by the end of the war. This comprehensive review ondocuments, both official and unofficial, reveals that Hong Kong's political importance to China and U.K.as well as its practical and potential values to U.S. underwent a significant change along with thedevelopment of international relations during this period. The outcome was the transformation of HongKong image from an imperial legacy to a British enclave. The documents indicate that the primarydeterminant for U.S. government to depict Hong Kong image, assess its values and formulate relevantpolicy is the China-U.S.-U.K. relationship. Before the reunification of Hong Kong with China, U.S.government's attitude on the regional issues depended to a high degree on this trilateral relationship, andthe policy on Hong Kong by its very nature was a component of U.S. policy toward China and U.K.