小泉政府力促联合国改革的玄机

2005年是联合国改革年,小泉政府籍此推进其联合国改革外交,把删除敌国条款和加入常任理事国作为其主要目标。从国家利益出发,日本提出自己的联合国改革方案:恢复联大生机与活力、改革安理会、改革秘书处、修改敌国条款、重新考虑联合国会费分摊及增加联合国日本工作人员数量等。但由于联合国改革本身的复杂性和小泉政府的强硬外交路线,其联合国改革方案能否实现及落实程度仍未可知。     

Leveraging diplomatic power and influence on the UN Security Council: the case of Australia

ABSTRACT

There is scepticism about whether a state like Australia can secure its interests and exercise influence on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). A case study of Australia’s experience as a UNSC member in 2013–2014 shows that it directly influenced UNSC decision-making in a number of ways: first, in the response to the MH17 incident; second, pushing forward UNSC practice through the first-ever resolutions on both ‘small arms and light weapons’ and police in peacekeeping; and third, as chair of three sanctions committees, influencing the decision-making environment towards greater transparency. While Australia did not achieve all its objectives, it made its views well-known. A second case study demonstrates that Australia’s opportunities to influence UNSC decision-making are not limited to stints of membership. Australia was able to achieve many of its foreign policy objectives in East Timor in 1999 through strategically engaging with key UNSC players through an informal diplomatic grouping: the Core Group on East Timor. Both case studies show that Australia’s diplomatic engagement with the UNSC is desirable, necessary and strategic, whether or not it is a current or prospective member.     

1961年美蒋关于外蒙古联合国代表权问题的争论

20世纪60年代,国际社会支持中国恢复联合国席位的力量日益增加,为了阻止中国进入联合国,美国搬出外蒙古问题,企图通过让外蒙古进入联合国这一“迂回”手法,达到保护国民党席位的目的。在策划该计划的过程中,美蒋发生了激烈争吵。经过数轮讨价还价,美蒋最终达成妥协,从而为外蒙古进入联合国打开了方便之门。     

Italy's foreign policy toward China: missed opportunities and new chances

Abstract

This essay provides an account of the erratic and troubled history of the relations between Italy and the People's Republic of China since the 1950s. After reaching their highest point in the two years immediately following the Tiananmen events – when Italy, more than any other Western country, worked to break China's international isolation – they have considerably frozen for a long time. The reason has to be found not only in the crisis that, since 1992, has overcome the Italian political system, but even more so in the structural limits of Italy's economic foreign policy and in the lack of a coherent strategy aimed at promoting Italian goods in world markets that provide huge opportunities – opportunities mostly neglected by the political-economic Italian establishment. The Berlusconi government replaced this negligence with fear-mongering behavior and recurring and outspoken protectionist remarks of various centre-right leaders, who feared the potential damage caused by China's increased competitiveness (which represented, in their opinion, an unfair trade practice) to the national industry. Though too recent to say if it will bear fruit, Prodi has made a desperate attempt for Italy to make up lost ground by leading to China what has been emphatically defined ‘the greatest institutional and business mission ever organized by Italy’ just a few months after his comeback to Palazzo Chigi.     

从《气候变化框架公约》进展看当前国际环境关系

自1992年联合国环境与发展大会缔结了为气候变化问题上的全球合作提供法律框架的《气候变化框架公约》以来,国际上已经历六次缔约方大会。虽然1997年其第三次缔约方会议签订了具有削减温室气体排放数量和时间限制具体目标的《京都议定书》,取得了该领域的一个关键性进展,但最近在荷兰海牙召开的旨在就《京都协定书》的目标与措施达成具体协议的第六次缔约方会议却以失败而告终。纵观国际社会在《气候变化框架公约》问题上的后续行动进展,可以充分看出当前的国际环境关系具有环境问题政治化、环境关系复杂化、环境合作艰难化以及环境斗争激烈化的特点。这使中国今后在环境与发展的问题上将面临更加严峻的挑战,为此必须尽早采取有效对策。     

中国对联合国维持和平行动的认知和参与

中国参与联合国维和行动经过了一个复杂的历史演进过程,大致可分为新中国成立后至改革开放前的原则否定、概不参与,改革开放后至冷战结束前的区另I对待、有限参与,冷战结束至今的积极支持、扩大参与三个阶段。中国对联合国维和行动政策的调整与国际环境和中国国内政治的变化是相对应的,它从一个方面反映了中国国际地位的提高、中国世界观念的变革和中国外交行为方式的转型。中国参与联合国维和行动的历史演进过程表明,中国维护世界和平的大国责任意识日益彰显。     

China's Economic and Political Penetration in Africa

A senior American specialist on China and noted geographer presents a study of that country's economic and political penetration into the African continent. The author identifies three key elements of China's objectives and plan, namely (1) support for Chinese policies in international affairs, particularly with regard to Taiwan, (2) search for oil and other mineral resources, and (3) creation of a new market for Chinese goods and services in tandem with additional jobs in China. The paper includes four case studies highlighting economic activities stimulated by Chinese loans and investments in the Republic of South Africa, Egypt, Sudan, and Angola. Considerable attention is devoted to oil imports, exports of cheap consumer goods, and construction and repair of infrastructure by Chinese technicians and laborers, as well as the competition between Chinese imports and host-country manufacturing and the PRC's diplomatic support of rogue African nations. Journal of Economic Literature, Classification Numbers: F020, F210, F350, F540. 11 figures, 1 table, 47 references.     

An Acutely Embarrassing Affair: Whitehall and the Indian-South African Dispute at the United Nations (1946)

ABSTRACT

Before the Second World War it was a cardinal Commonwealth principle that intra-imperial disputes must be kept away from international fora. Yet in 1946 the not-yet-independent India complained to the United Nations about South African legislation discriminating against people of Indian origin. It did so without seeking Britain's approval, and went on to level fierce criticism at Britain's opposition to the UN General Assembly's discussion of the matter.

This article explains the circumstances which led to these events; uncovers the divergent responses of the relevant British government departments – the India Office, the Dominions Office, and the Foreign Office – and shows how they were resolved; depicts the way in which Britain's delegation to the General Assembly handled the matter; and discusses the significance and consequences of the dispute for South Africa and for Anglo-Indian relations.     

Parliament and the Press: Forging the United Nations in Wartime Britain, 1939–45

During the Second World War, not only the United States but also Great Britain played a leading role in planning and establishing the United Nations (UN) as a new international organisation to replace the League of Nations. While scholarship on post-war planning is extensive, relatively little exists on how the planning process was discussed and depicted publicly in Britain. The purpose of this article is to fill such lacunae by examining the two most important domains for public discussion at the time, the press and parliament. It will argue, first, that the League of Nations’ experience – its inability to use collective force and its optimistically democratic structure – overwhelmingly shaped public discourse in reference to the UN. By referring to the past, the press and politicians alike in Britain were content to relinquish interwar ideas such as equal rights and equal representation for all nations. Second, apart from the lessons of history, the less democratic structure of the new world organisation was justified from the perspective of great power politics. The desire to make the grand alliance between Britain, the United States of America, and the USSR functional despite all mutual suspicions, directed the view of the UN, and typically overrode all other concerns relating to post-war planning. Finally, throughout the wartime planning of the UN, public opinion, in so far as press and parliament were concerned, held fast to the idea that the British empire was not to be touched by the UN. In public, the establishment of the UN was hardly considered as a starting point for decolonisation. Instead, the UN was designed to become the post-war embodiment of the grand alliance, a vehicle through which the victory over the Axis powers would be managed at the global level: such management did not envision the need to let empire go. Viewed this way, it also becomes clear that nationalism and internationalism were not mutually exclusive or binary visions, but coexisted and shifted in importance throughout the period examined.     

论英国在新中国联合国席位问题上的政策(1949～1951年)

英国宣布承认新中国之后,以帮助新中国进入联合国作为推动两国外交关系的突破口,并试图影响美国的态度。执政党的民主社会主义理念、对于中国革命与前途的认知及对美国对华政策的负面印象使英国政府力图奉行独立的对华政策。随着冷战的升级,朝鲜战争的爆发,联合国席位问题复杂化。美国日益强硬的态度及英国在西欧防务问题上对美国的依赖,使英国违心屈服于美国的压力,但在某种程度上英国仍是打破冷战阵营的潜在力量之一。