“亚太再平衡”战略背景下的美泰军事同盟

US-Thai Military Alliance against the Background of“Asia-Pacific Rebalancing”

相比美日、美韩、美菲、美澳这四大亚太同盟关系,美泰同盟具有明显的特殊性,其发展近年来也磕磕绊绊,时而游离,时而受挫。截至2015年初,在美国亚太五大缔约盟国中,泰国是唯一未与美国建立外长加防长的“2+2”年度对话机制的国家。一方面,美泰对彼此的军事安全需求仍很大,军事同盟2012年获得有力提升,全方位军事合作也在向前推进,尤其是泰国作为美国在东南亚军事“协调国”的地位无可替代。另一方面,美泰在军事合作中相互间也存在诸多不满。泰国政治斗争频繁导致政府走马灯式地更换,2014年泰国军人再度发动政变推翻民选政府,陆军司令巴育将军随后担任总理。美国认为,泰国内乱迟滞了泰美军事合作,同时泰国非常注意美泰军事合作对中泰关系的影响,让美国觉得泰国在同盟问题上“三心二意”。泰国则不满美国借出售武器来监控泰国军队,很多泰国学者还担心美国“亚太再平衡”战略会给地区带来新的紧张局势,引发国家间军备竞赛。(1)

In comparison with the other four of America's Asia-Pacific alliances(with Japan,South Korea,the Philippines and Australia respectively),the US-Thai alliance has obvious particularity,in that its development in recent years is quite bumpy,sometimes experiencing dissociation and other times frustration.As of the beginning of 2015,Thailand was the only country among the five major US host countries in the Asia-Pacific region that had not established a“2+2”annual dialogue mechanism(Minister of Foreign Affairs and Secretary of Defense from both sides).On one hand,both the United States and Thailand have very strong military security needs for each other.The military alliance was strongly upgraded in 2012;an all-round military cooperation is moving forward.Especially,Thailand is irreplaceable as America's military“coordinator”in Southeast Asia.On the other hand,the United States and Thailand are dissatisfied with each other in their military cooperation.Political struggles in Thailand have led to the frequent alternation of government.In 2014,the Thai military once again launched a coup to overthrow the elected government,and the army commander General Prayuth then served as prime minister.The United States believes that Thailand's civil strife has delayed US-Thai military cooperation.In the meantime,Thailand also attaches great importance to the impact of US-Thai military cooperation on Sino-Thai relationship,which makes the United States think that Thailand is“half-hearted”on the issue of alliance.Conversely,Thailand is dissatisfied with the United States'surveillance of the Thai army by way of selling weapons to Thailand.Many Thai scholars also worry that America's“Asia-Pacific rebalancing”strategy will bring new tensions to the region and trigger inter-state arms race.