岛链、空间控制与霸权--美国对西太平洋地区的地缘政治想象

Chain of Islands, Space Control, and Hegemony: Western Pacific in U.S. Geopolitical Imagination

地缘政治想象是特定民族和国家对不同地理区域政治-战略重要性的总体判断,在特定国家对外政策和国家战略的制定、实施中发挥着关键作用。自20世纪初以来,美国对西太平洋地区的地缘政治想象在多位地缘政治学家的阐发下逐渐成形,并迅速构成美国亚太政策的主要精神线索。二战结束后,美国对西太平洋地区的地缘政治想象虽经历不同阶段,但呈现出连贯一致的逻辑,即"美国是太平洋国家",在西太平洋天然拥有"至关重要"的国家利益;西太平洋的边缘海尤其是离岸岛屿(岛链)具有异乎寻常的战略价值,对美国控制西太平洋至关重要;美国在西太平洋地区安全秩序中的"主导地位"是其全球霸权的重要组成部分,绝不允许亚洲大陆强国挑战其控制权,但对亚洲大陆的介入尤其是军事介入因形势不同而需慎重考虑。目前,随着"印太"战略的推出,美国对西太平洋地区的地缘政治想象正处于一个延续与变形交融的关键阶段,这对美国区域政策乃至全球战略缔造的影响愈发突出。

Geopolitical imagination, conducted by specific ethnic groups and countries, is the overall judgment of the political and strategic importance of different geographical regions, which plays a key role in the formulation and implementation of specific countries’ foreign policies. Since the beginning of the 20 th century, the U.S. geopolitical imagination of the Western Pacific Region has been based on the description of multiple geopoliticians, and become pivotal to the U.S. Asia-Pacific policy. Since the end of World War II, this geopolitical imagination has gone through different stages, yet the rationale behind the imagination remain consistent, including "The United States is a Pacific country" and naturally has "critical" national interests in the Western Pacific;the marginal seas of the Western Pacific, especially offshore islands(island chains), have irreplaceable strategic value and are essential for the United States to control the Western Pacific;U.S. leadership in the regional security order is an integral part of its global hegemony, which should never be allowed to be challenged by land powers of Asia, but intervention in the Asian continent, especially militaryintervention, requires careful consideration according to different circumstances. Nowadays, with the introduction of Indo-Pacific strategy, the U.S. geopolitical imagination of the Western Pacific is at a critical stage of continuation and transformation, which has become increasingly prominent in the formulation and implementation of U.S. regional policies and global strategies.