奧巴馬政府爲TPP打地緣政治牌

The Obama administration is trying to refocus the fight with the president’s own party over trade as a question of US leadership, telling Democrats a failure to deliver a deal with Japan and 10 other Pacific Rim countries would hurt America’s standing in Asia.

在與總統本人所屬的民主黨圍繞貿易的鬥爭中，奧巴馬政府正試圖轉變策略，把它說成是一個關係到美國領導力的問題。白宮官員們告訴民主黨人，假如無法與日本等11個環太平洋國家達成貿易協議，將損害美國在亞洲的地位。

In an attempt to overcome Democratic opposition in Congress to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, administration officials have been lobbying members of Congress and others since Friday’s rebuke from representatives concerned about the impact of Mr Obama’s trade agenda on domestic jobs.

爲了消除民主黨人在國會上對《跨太平洋夥伴關係協定》(TPP)的反對意見，自上週五衆議員們因擔心奧巴馬貿易議程會損害國內就業而否決相關提案之後，官員們一直在遊說國會議員和其他人士。

At the core of the administration’s argument is that, if it failed to deliver the TPP, the US would be ceding leadership in Asia to a rising China. That would have consequences beyond trade and hit US efforts on issues from cyber security to human rights and maritime security in the South China Sea.

奧巴馬政府的核心論點是，如果未能達成TPP，美國將把在亞洲的領導地位拱手讓給正在崛起的中國。其結果將不止影響貿易，還將打擊美國在網絡安全、人權及南中國海(South China Sea)海上安全等諸多問題上的努力。

“It is hard to separate the future of TPP from the future of our efforts to demonstrate that the US is going to be engaged in the [Asia Pacific] region,” a senior administration official said on Tuesday. “You cannot take TPP out of that equation without having a knock-on effect on the ability of the US to pursue a much broader agenda.”

“很難把TPP的未來與我們爲顯示美國將參與亞太地區事務所做的努力分隔開來，”一名高級政府官員週二表示，“你不可能把TPP單獨抽離出來，而不使美國推行更廣泛議程的能力受到連鎖影響。”

One of President Barack Obama’s problems is that he has failed to convince Democrats on either the economic or geopolitical case for his trade agenda and the TPP.

美國總統巴拉克•奧巴馬(Barack Obama)面臨的一個麻煩是，無論是以經濟方面的理由，還是以地緣政治方面的理由，他都沒能說服民主黨人支持他的貿易議程和TPP。

Administration members acknowledge that for many in Congress the geopolitical case is alien, because to secure re-election they have to be able to make a simple case on jobs to their electorates. That is hard to do when competition with China has contributed to a hollowing out of the US manufacturing sector and the loss of millions of jobs over the past 15 years.

政府官員承認，對很多議員來說，地緣政治之說感覺太遙遠，因爲如果要確保再次當選，他們必須用就業方面的理由來爭取選民支持。這一點很難做到，因爲與中國的競爭已使得美國製造業空心化，過去15年美國流失了數百萬就業崗位。

Some lawmakers have complained that Mr Obama has focused on grand geopolitical ideas at the cost of domestic politics, and that this contributed to Democrats’ rebellion last Friday.

一些議員抱怨稱，奧巴馬以犧牲國內政治爲代價，把重點放在宏大的地緣政治概念上，造成了民主黨人上週五的反戈。

But with the battle for most Democratic votes effectively lost, the White House is turning back to geopolitics as an issue that some in the administration say can appeal to both pro-trade Democrats and Republicans.

但是，在爭取多數民主黨人投票支持的鬥爭實際上已經失敗的情況下，白宮重新回到地緣政治的問題上。一些官員稱這個話題既可以吸引支持貿易的民主黨人，也可以吸引共和黨人。

As evidence of what they see as rising trade competition with Beijing, officials on Wednesday pointed to a new trade deal signed between China and Australia, a TPP country.

政府官員週三提到中國與澳大利亞（TPP談判國之一）新簽訂的貿易協定，他們認爲這是美國與中國貿易競爭不斷加大的一個證據。

Andrew Robb, Australian trade minister, said the future of the TPP was looking “quite problematic” because of Congress’ failure to give Mr Obama the “fast-track” authority he needs to complete the trade negotiations.

澳大利亞貿易部長安德魯•羅布(Andrew Robb)稱，TPP的未來看起來“問題相當大”，因爲美國國會未能授予奧巴馬爲完成貿易談判所需要的“快車道”(fast-track)授權。

“We are literally one week of negotiation away from completing this extraordinary deal, but the US Congress, as it has sometimes before, has caused a problem,” Mr Robb said.

“我們距完成這個非同尋常的協定還要進行一週左右的談判，但是美國國會制造了一個麻煩，就像它以前有時的做法一樣。”羅布稱。

“If it’s not dealt with in the next two or three weeks, I think we’ve got a real problem with the future of the TPP,” he told Australian radio.

“如果接下來的兩三週無法解決這個麻煩，我認爲TPP的未來就真的麻煩了，”他向澳大利亞廣播公司表示。

Supporters of Mr Obama’s agenda also deployed two old national security hands on Wednesday to make their geopolitical case.

週三，奧巴馬貿易議程的支持者陣營由兩名國土安全方面的老將出面，大談地緣政治理由。

Sandy Berger, who served as national security adviser to Bill Clinton, told reporters: “Our perception in Asia and our leadership in the world will be significantly affected.” Countries in Asia “know China is going to be there in five years. They don’t know if we are going to be there in five years, or four years, or three years.” he said.

曾在比爾•克林頓(Bill Clinton)政府擔任國家安全顧問的桑迪•伯傑(Sandy Berger)向記者表示：“我們在亞洲的認知度以及我們在世界的領導力將會受到重大影響。”他說，亞洲國家“知道5年以後中國還會在那裏。他們不知道5年以後，或者4年，或者3年以後，我們是否還會在亞洲”。

Stephen Hadley, a former senior foreign policy adviser to President George W Bush, said the US was at risk of being left out as Asia was “knitting itself together” via trade agreements with China and others. “The TPP is our way of getting back in the game of this economic and trade explosion in Asia,” he said.

原爲小布什(George W Bush)高級外交政策顧問的斯蒂芬•哈德利(Stephen Hadley)稱，亞洲正在通過與中國和其他國家的貿易協定“緊密交織在一起”，美國面臨被冷落的風險。“TPP是我們重回亞洲這場經濟和貿易擴張的競賽的途徑。”