华尔街日报 | 担心中国制霸海洋，美国寻求海上复兴

Fear That China Rules the Waves Jolts U.S. to Pursue Maritime Revival

面对中美关系紧张的局面，华盛顿方面重新审视美国作为海上贸易国的根基。越来越多的声音认为美国商业航运和造船业的没落带来了国家安全风险。


中国在航运和造船领域中都占主导地位。

中美两国关系日益紧张，华盛顿方面由此重新审视美国作为海上贸易国的根基。
Rising tensions with China are prompting Washington to revisit America’s roots as a trading nation of the seas.
1794年，为了打击北非巴巴里海盗，美国国会授权建造了美国海军首批新型战舰，以保护商船水手及其货物。海上贸易当时是这个年轻共和国经济增长的关键，对国家安全至关重要。
Protecting merchant sailors and their cargo was what compelled Congress to commission the U.S. Navy’s first new warships. That was in 1794, targeting North African Barbary pirates. The young republic’s seaborne traders, a linchpin of economic growth, were vital to national security.
如今，美国海军已发展成为一支强大的全球作战力量。但美国的商船船队却几乎销声匿迹。
The Navy became a mighty global fighting force. America’s commercial cargo fleet has withered almost to nonexistence. 
现在，政界人士再次将国家安全与充满活力的海事部门（非军事海洋活动）以及该部门为造船、物流链等各领域带来的好处联系起来。华盛顿方面正设法扭转美国海事部门衰落的局面，包括借鉴其他行业的例子，鼓励与造船盟友建立联系，并深入研究美国最伟大的海洋战略家的着作。
Now politicians are once again linking national security to a vibrant maritime sector—nonmilitary aspects of the seas—and the benefits it brings to everything from shipbuilding to logistics chains. Washington is seeking ways to reverse its collapse by tapping examples from other industries, encouraging links with shipbuilding allies and plumbing the writings of America’s greatest sea strategist. 


韩国企业完成了对费城造船厂的收购，费城造船厂是美国最后一批商船生产商之一。

历史上，还没有哪个国家能在没有强大海上力量的情况下成功跻身世界海军强国之列。苏联、纳粹德国以及美西战争前的西班牙等国都曾试图在没有强大商业航运网络的情况下展现海上力量，但均以失败告终。
No nation has ever successfully ranked as a world naval power without also being a global maritime power. Countries that tried but failed to project seaborne might without robust commercial sea networks include the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and Spain before the Spanish-American War.
就在不久前，美国的海上货运能力还在全球领先。二战结束时，美国商船队伍的运力约占全球货运能力的一半。20世纪50年代，一位美国企业家提出了集装箱运输概念，彻底改变了国际贸易。
Not long ago, America led the world in sea freight. At the end of World War II, the U.S. commercial marine fleet accounted for about half of the world’s cargo-shipping capacity. An American entrepreneur in the 1950s pioneered the shipping container, which revolutionized international commerce. 
 
如今，美国海军从红海到南中国海（中国称：南海）投入了大量资源来捍卫航行自由，但受到保护的船只中悬挂美国国旗的却寥寥无几。
The Navy today expends vast resources from the Red Sea to the South China Sea defending the freedom of navigation, but few ships being protected fly the American flag. 
 
当前，美国商船占全球船队的比例不到1%。美国港口饱受罢工和自动化之争的困扰，而自动化已在全球范围内大力推动了集装箱码头的扩张。美国海军难以找到商船来支持其在世界各地的行动。
U.S. commercial ships today account for less than 1% of the world fleet. U.S. ports are racked by strikes and battles over the type of automation that has supercharged expansion of container terminals across the globe. The Navy struggles to find commercial vessels to support its far-flung operations.
 
与此同时，中国在航运和造船领域都占据主导地位。中国政府对国内海事部门提供巨额补贴，进而提高了快速推进的海军造船活动的效率。美国当选总统特朗普(Donald Trump)最近表示希望重新控制巴拿马运河，并指出这一想法部分源于中国是该运河的主要使用者。
China, meanwhile, dominates both shipping and shipbuilding. Beijing heavily subsidizes its maritime sector, in turn boosting the efficiency of its breakneck naval shipbuilding campaign. President-elect Donald Trump recently expressed a desire to regain control of the Panama Canal, pointing to China—a top user of the waterway—as part of his thinking.
 
冷战结束后，由于政府支持减少，美国私营航运公司已屈服于全球化的经济力量。如今，要求华盛顿方面帮助重振美国商业造船和货运的呼声越来越高。
U.S. private shippers succumbed to economic forces of globalization after the Cold War, when government support shrank. Now calls are increasing for Washington to help resurrect U.S. commercial shipbuilding and freight hauling.
 
美国海军部长卡洛斯·德尔·托罗(Carlos Del Toro)一直主张重视“海洋治国方略”，强调商业航运对海军的重要性，包括为船只加油和运送重要的军事物资。他一直在推动支持美国造船厂，这些船厂不仅建造军舰，还建造商船。
Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro has advocated a focus on “maritime statecraft,” stressing commercial shipping’s importance to the Navy in tasks including refueling ships and carrying vital military supplies. He has pushed to support American shipyards that build not just warships but also commercial vessels.
 
他还主张扩大美国商船队(U.S. Merchant Marine)，这是一支由商船水手组成的队伍，可以在战时协助美国海军，该队伍在近几十年来规模大幅缩减。政府和行业官员估计，目前美国商船水手人数不到10,000人，较1960年时的约50,000人急剧下降。
And he has championed expanding the U.S. Merchant Marine, a corps of commercial sailors who can assist the Navy in wartime and whose ranks have plunged over recent decades. Government and industry officials estimate the U.S. now has fewer than 10,000 merchant mariners, compared with roughly 50,000 in 1960.
 
“我不会傻到认为这很容易，”德尔·托罗在一艘美国海军货船上接受采访时说。“但我们得从某个地方开始。”
“I’m not foolish enough to think it’s going to be easy,” said Del Toro in an interview aboard a Navy cargo ship. “But we’ve got to start somewhere.”
 
美国海军和行业官员希望，这个起点就是亚利桑那州民主党参议员马克·凯利(Mark Kelly)和印第安纳州共和党参议员托德·杨(Todd Young)以及两名众议员最近提出的一项法案，即《美国造船和港口基础设施繁荣与安全法案》(Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security for America Act)。如果获得通过，这将是自1936年以来首部重要的海事立法。
That start, Navy and industry officials hope, is a piece of legislation recently introduced by Sens. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.) and Todd Young (R., Ind.) and two House members, the Shipbuilding and Harbor Infrastructure for Prosperity and Security for America Act. If passed, it would be the first major piece of maritime legislation since 1936. 
 
该法案被称为《船舶法案》(SHIPS Act)，旨在在未来十多年里重振造船和航运行业，同时重建商船队。该法案呼吁投入与能源、半导体和航空领域政策相当的资源，并要求白宫层面的参与。德尔·托罗和他的顾问们帮助制定了这项立法，他的任期将随着拜登政府下台而结束。其他几十个政府部门和贸易团体也发表了意见。
The SHIPS Act, as it is known, aims to revitalize shipbuilding and shipping over more than a decade while rebuilding the merchant marine. It calls for resources and White House-level involvement comparable to policies on energy, semiconductors and aviation. Del Toro, whose term ends with the Biden administration, and his advisers helped shape the legislation. Dozens of other government offices and trade groups also weighed in.
  
特朗普提名的海军部长约翰·费伦(John Phelan)是海军事务的新手，他尚未对该法案发表评论。
Trump’s choice for Navy secretary, John Phelan, a newcomer to naval issues, hasn’t commented on the bill.


1907年，美国海军康涅狄格号从弗吉尼亚州出发，1909年返回，作为大白舰队的一部分环游世界，展示美国海军的实力。

凯利是一名海军退伍军人，也是美国商船学院(U.S. Merchant Marine Academy)首位进入国会的毕业生。他说，他之所以提出这项法案，是因为他认为目前存在一种危险的失衡：中国在国际贸易中有超过5,500艘远洋商船，而美国只有80艘。
Kelly, a Navy veteran and the first graduate of the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy to serve in Congress, said he was motivated by what he sees as a dangerous imbalance: China has more than 5,500 oceangoing merchant vessels in international trade while the U.S. has 80. 
 
“这对我们来说是一个大问题，特别是如果我们卷入冲突，或者我们陷入这样一种局面，即中国出于某种原因决定要阻止我们的经济，并对其大力踩下刹车，”凯利在接受采访时说。“他们有能力做到这一点。”
“It’s a major problem for us, especially if we wound up in a conflict or we wind up in a situation where China decides for whatever reason that they want to, you know, stop our economy and put brakes on it in a big way,” Kelly said in an interview. “They have the ability to do that.” 
 
在一个党派分歧严重的国会，该法案的前景尚不明朗。支持者表示，该法案由两党和参众两院共同提出是一个积极信号。凯利起草该法案的早期合作伙伴是佛罗里达州共和党众议员迈克·沃尔茨(Mike Waltz)，特朗普已提名沃尔茨为国家安全顾问，这表明该法案可能会赢得即将上任的特朗普政府支持。
The bill’s prospects in a fractious Congress are uncertain. Supporters say its sponsorship from both parties and both houses is a positive. A sign that it may win favor from the incoming Trump administration is that Kelly’s early partner in drafting the bill was Rep. Mike Waltz (R., Fla.), whom Trump has nominated as his national security adviser.
 
沃尔茨在9月份与凯利一起讨论海洋战略时表示，中国正凭借对商业造船业的大规模投资来扩大海军规模。“这样一来，能够生产全球最大集装箱船的造船厂可以很容易地转向生产航空母舰，而且可以依靠商业造船业投资的劳动力、钢铁、铝和专门技能进行大规模生产，”他说。
Waltz, in a September discussion of maritime strategy alongside Kelly, said that China is expanding its navy on the back of massive investment in commercial shipbuilding. “So a shipyard that can produce one of the world’s largest containerships can then pretty easily flip and produce an aircraft carrier, and do it at scale with the workforce, the steel, the aluminum, and the know-how that has been invested and paid for by their commercial shipbuilding industry,” he said.
 
自冷战以来，美国官方对海上存在的思考主要集中在军舰和军事战略家所说的“力量投射”上，即在远离本土的地方采取军事行动的能力。在伊拉克和阿富汗战争以及规模较小的冲突中，美国海军舰艇发挥了至关重要的作用。
Since the Cold War, most official U.S. thinking about presence on the seas focused on warships and what military strategists call “force projection,” or the ability to act militarily far from home. During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and smaller conflicts, Navy ships played a critical role.
 
中国崛起为美国的军事对手促使美国推动海军进行现代化改造和扩张。2020年末，时值特朗普第一个总统任期的尾声，他的政府呼吁大幅增加海军造船量。
China’s rise as a military rival to the U.S. prompted a push to modernize and expand the Navy. In late 2020, at the end of Trump’s first term, his administration called for a surge in Navy shipbuilding. 
 
拜登政府也按照自己的计划朝着类似目标前进。德尔·托罗在努力提高海军作战能力的同时，还鼓励韩国和日本投资美国海运业。今年12月19日，韩国企业集团韩华(Hanwha)完成了以1亿美元从挪威投资者手中收购费城造船厂(Philly Shipyard)的交易，费城造船厂属于美国最后一批商船生产商。
The Biden administration has followed its own plans toward similar objectives. Del Toro, while working to improve the Navy’s fighting capacity, has encouraged South Korea and Japan to invest in the U.S. maritime sector. South Korean conglomerate Hanwha on Dec. 19 closed a $100 million takeover of the Philly Shipyard, one of the country’s last producers of commercial ships, from Norwegian investors.
  
在新冠疫情期间，美国及其盟国面临着像医用口罩这种基本必需品都短缺的问题，商业航运对国家安全的重要性再次受到关注。对于中国在海运业务、港口以及追踪货物数据等不起眼专业领域的主导地位，西方各国政府愈发感到担忧。
Commercial shipping’s importance to national security gained renewed attention during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the U.S. and allies faced shortages of necessities as basic as surgical masks. Alarm grew in Western capitals about China’s domination of the sea-freight business, ports and obscure specialties such as tracking cargo data. 
   
美国海军部长德尔·托罗2023年在哈佛大学(Harvard University)肯尼迪政府学院(Kennedy School of Government)发表的一次演讲中阐述了他对海洋治国方略的愿景，他说，这一愿景不应仅仅基于强大的海军和海军陆战队。
Navy Secretary Del Toro, in a 2023 speech at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government, presented his vision of maritime statecraft, which he said should be based on more than a strong Navy and Marine Corps. 


图为美国海军部长卡洛斯·德尔·托罗。

“还应该同样强有力地参与经济发展、贸易和气候外交等领域，使我们能够在全球范围内更成功地展开竞争，”他说。
“It should also be equally strong on engagement in areas of economic development, trade and climate diplomacy to enable us to compete more successfully on a global scale,” he said. 
 
德尔·托罗引用了海军战略家阿尔弗雷德·塞耶·马汉(Alfred Thayer Mahan)的着作，马汉于1914年去世，他的着作正引起新的关注。德尔·托罗说，马汉“认为，海军力量孕育着海上商业力量，而对海上商业的控制会催生更强大的海军力量”。
Del Toro cited the writings of Alfred Thayer Mahan, a naval strategist who died in 1914 and whose work is drawing fresh attention. Mahan “argued that naval power begets maritime commercial power, and control of maritime commerce begets greater naval power,” Del Toro said.
 
他表示，中国领导层“已经阅读并研究了马汉的理论，而且他们的行动也证明了这一点”。
China’s leadership, he said, “has read and studied Mahan’s theory, and their actions show it.” 
 
马汉去世时，美国正成为一个海军强国。1907年，时任美国总统西奥多·罗斯福(Theodore Roosevelt)派遣了16艘战列舰进行为期两年的环球武力展示，这些战舰被称为“大白舰队”(Great White Fleet)。
Mahan died just as the U.S. was becoming a great naval power. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1907 had sent 16 battleships, dubbed the Great White Fleet, on a two-year, round-the-world show of force. 
 
当时美国已是一个海事大国。19世纪30年代，美国东海岸的造船工人开发出了快速帆船，这种速度很快的船只让使用者能够比竞争对手更快地运送货物，从而抢占生意。
America was then already a great maritime power. In the 1830s, East Coast shipwrights had developed clippers, speedy ships that let their users grab business by delivering cargo faster than rivals could. 
 
为了展示美国的造船实力，新成立的纽约游艇俱乐部(New York Yacht Club)在1851年参加了一场维多利亚女王(Queen Victoria)也出席的英国帆船比赛——百吉尼杯帆船赛(Hundred Guinea Cup)。该俱乐部那艘融合了各种创新的帆船“美洲号”(America)轻而易举地超越了来自当时最大海军强国英国的竞争对手。“美洲号”的船主们带着奖杯回国，该赛事之后也更名为美洲杯帆船赛(America’s Cup)。
To showcase U.S. shipbuilding prowess in 1851, the newly formed New York Yacht Club entered an English race attended by Queen Victoria, the Hundred Guinea Cup. The club’s innovation-packed yacht, America, blew past competitors from the era’s greatest naval power. The America’s owners took their trophy home and renamed it the America’s Cup. 
 
近一个世纪后，在第二次世界大战期间，美国各地造船厂如雨后春笋般涌现，不仅制造军舰，还制造货船，即自由轮(Liberty Ship)，这种货船的设计初衷是能够快速建造。造船厂之间的竞争将每艘船的生产时间从七个多月缩短至六周左右。
Nearly a century later, during World War II, shipyards sprouted around the U.S. to make not just warships but also cargo carriers, known as Liberty Ships, designed to be built quickly. Rivalry among yards slashed production time from over seven months per ship to around six weeks. 


自由轮是盟军故意击沉的船只之一，目的是制造防波堤，为诺曼底登陆提供帮助。

二战结束时，美国拥有大约4,500艘商用货船和75,000名商船船员。随着船舶规模和效率的提高以及国际竞争的加剧，这些数字有所下降。里根(Reagan)政府在20世纪80年代决定停止对航运和造船业的补贴，部分原因是为了让造船厂专注于美国海军扩张，这加速了美国国内航运业的衰落。
At war’s end, the U.S. had roughly 4,500 commercial cargo ships and 75,000 merchant mariners. Those numbers shrank as ships grew in size and efficiency while international competition increased. Decisions by the Reagan administration in the 1980s to end subsidies for shipping and shipbuilding, in part to focus shipyards on a Navy expansion, accelerated the domestic industry’s decline.
   
卡琳·莱登·沃克(Carleen Lyden Walker)领导着一个海运贸易组织，并在今年帮助起草了一项名为零点四(Zero Point Four)的行业支持计划，这一名字指代美国船只在全球远洋货船船队中所占百分比。莱登·沃克指出，美国如今是全球领先的液化天然气出口国，但其船队中却没有一艘液化天然气运输船。
Today the U.S. is the world’s leading exporter of liquefied natural gas, but doesn’t have a single LNG ship in its fleet, notes Carleen Lyden Walker, who leads a maritime trade group and this year helped draft a plan to support the sector, titled Zero Point Four, referring to the percentage of the world fleet of oceangoing cargo ships in U.S. hands.
  
莱登·沃克致力于推广高薪但空缺的海事工作。她说，她演讲的听众都不知道衣服、手机、燃料和水果是通过船舶运输的。她表示：“我们国家患上了海盲症。”
“Our nation suffers from sea blindness,” said Lyden Walker, who works to promote high-paying but unfilled marine jobs. She said audiences she addresses have no idea that clothes, cellphones, fuel and fruit move by ship.
 
海事行业支持者表示，迅速采取行动至关重要，因为进展将是缓慢的。
Advocates of maritime-industry support say quick action is vital because progress would be slow.
美国海岸警卫队(U.S. Coast Guard)退役少将詹姆斯·沃森(James Watson)说：“在这个国家，最难的事情之一就是重建重工业。”他与莱登·沃克共事，并认为早就应该重新关注海事行业了。
“One of the hardest things to do in this country is recreate a heavy industry,” said James Watson, a retired U.S. Coast Guard rear admiral who works with Lyden Walker and sees renewed attention to the sector as past due.
 
沃森表示：“不把海事行业视为经济的重要组成部分，这有点疯狂。”
“Not thinking of the maritime industry as an important part of your economy, that’s kind of crazy,” he said.
版主:icemessenger于2024_12_30 20:07:34编辑