冷战初期美国对缅援助的冷战视野与地缘政治

U.S.Assistance to Burma in the Context of Cold War and Geopolitics,1949-1952

冷战初期,美国为了遏制亚洲共产主义力量,曾向东南亚国家开展多种形式的援助项目,但这些援助项目的成效大相迥异。从1948年到1952年,美国对缅甸的态度经历了从置身事外、有限援助、全面援助再到援助缩减的演化历程。当缅甸甫一独立便向美国寻求援助时,美国认为缅甸无关自身利益,于是选择袖手旁观;待到中华人民共和国成立时,美国才启动旨在防范共产主义"颠覆"缅甸的对缅援助计划;在朝鲜战争爆发和中国派遣志愿军入朝作战后,美国对所谓的共产主义"扩张"更为恐慌,计划进一步加大对缅援助力度。然而,令美国始料未及的是,中缅之间的地缘政治条件和中国与缅甸的外交关系,成为美国实施对缅援助计划的主要干扰因素。作为一个与中国接壤且刚刚摆脱西方殖民统治的民族国家,缅甸恪守"中立主义"外交方针,始终拒绝与美国结盟,以图营造平稳的中缅关系。最终,美国冷战思维与缅甸地缘政治思维的差异,促使缅甸中止接受美国援助。美国对缅援助计划的扩张与缩减,是中、美、缅三方国家安全策略博弈的结果,反映了亚洲冷战格局的复杂性。

From 1949 to 1952,the attitude of the United States towards Burma had undergone a changing process from staying out of the way,limited assistance,comprehensive assistance,and then to the reduction of assistance.When Burma turned to the United States for help as soon as it became independent,the United States decided that Burma had nothing to do with its own interests and chose to stand by.It was not until the founding of the People’s Republic of China that the United States launched an assistance program aimed at preventing communism from "subverting" Burma from the perspective of the Cold War.As the result of the Korean War and the PRC’s performance in Korea,the United States became more panicked about the so-called potential of communist expansion and contemplated to enlarge its assistance program to Burma.As a nation-state bordering China and just freed from Western colonial rule,Burma adhered to the foreign policy of "neutralism" and refused to form an alliance with the United States in an attempt to create a stable Sino-Burmese relationship.In the end,the issue of the Kuomintang Army in northern Sino-Burmese border area exposed the difference between the Cold War interest of the United States and the geopolitical concern of Burma,which prompted Burma to suspend its acceptance of U.S.assistance.The expansion and reduction of the U.S.assistance to Burma was the result of the competing national security strategy of China,the United States and Burma,reflecting the complexity of the Cold War situation in Asia.