美国求助中国阻止朝鲜军队为俄罗斯而战
【中美创新时报2024 年 11 月 1 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）随着朝鲜军队进入战斗位置帮助俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争，拜登政府正在求助于一位意想不到的对话者。为了向朝鲜传达威胁，美国官员正在与中国交谈。《纽约时报》记者Edward Wong 作了下述报道。
美国官员表示，他们希望这些对话进一步激起中国对军队部署的任何疑虑。
美国政府评估认为，中国对俄罗斯和朝鲜之间迅速加强的安全伙伴关系感到不安。中国是朝鲜的长期盟友，也是其最强大的经济和军事伙伴，但俄朝合作意味着北京必须越来越多地与莫斯科分享对平壤的影响力。
朝鲜对乌克兰的干预使欧洲更深地卷入东亚安全问题，而这并不是中国所希望的。周四，朝鲜发射了一枚洲际弹道导弹，这是近一年来首次进行此类试验，这引起了世界各国的警惕。
一位高级政府官员告诉《纽约时报》，美国国务院最近几天直接向中国官员提出了增兵问题。最新一次谈话发生在周二，副国务卿库尔特·坎贝尔、国务院亚洲事务高级官员丹尼尔·克里滕布林克和欧洲事务高级官员詹姆斯·奥布莱恩都在华盛顿大使谢锋的家中与中国外交官会面了几个小时。
这位官员说，国务卿安东尼·布林肯当天与乌克兰高级官员安德烈·叶尔马克谈到了与中国和其他国家的外交努力。
另一位美国官员说，拜登总统的国家安全顾问杰克·沙利文已敦促美国各机构向中国转达这些担忧，并强调可能产生的后果。这位官员拒绝透露更多细节。
希望中国至少能将这一信息传递给领导朝鲜的年轻独裁者金正恩，或试图让金正恩限制或停止部署。
周四，布林肯表示，约有 8,000 名朝鲜士兵在俄罗斯，即将加入驱逐乌克兰军队离开库尔斯克地区的战斗。
第一位美国官员表示，甚至在朝鲜军队的消息公开之前，布林肯就在最近与中国最高外交政策官员王毅的会晤中提出了该国与俄罗斯日益增长的伙伴关系。
多年来，中国和俄罗斯的关系越来越密切。2022 年 2 月，就在俄罗斯军队全面入侵乌克兰之前，北京宣布与莫斯科建立“无限制”伙伴关系。 美国官员表示，中国通过购买俄罗斯石油和进行贸易来支持俄罗斯的战争努力，这有助于总统弗拉基米尔·普京重建该国的国防工业，而该国正受到美国和欧洲主导的严厉制裁。
因此，从表面上看，中国似乎会支持朝鲜军队与俄罗斯一起对抗乌克兰士兵的想法。
然而，中国对这一问题的看法很模糊，美国情报机构正试图弄清中国领导人习近平和其他中国高级官员对部署有何看法，拜登称部署“非常危险”。
这种情况让人想起朝鲜战争，当时中国、朝鲜和俄罗斯（当时是苏联）在朝鲜半岛与美国领导的军队作战。但回想起来，那个反美联盟比表面上看起来的更加不稳定，其当代化身的性质尚不清楚。
美国官员和分析人士表示，这三个有着共产主义根基的国家在意识形态上仍然结盟对抗美国。但他们也表示，作为该集团中最强大的国家，中国对俄罗斯和朝鲜之间重新建立的联系感到不安，朝鲜依赖中国来支撑其孤立的经济。
分析人士称，如果由于朝鲜在欧洲为俄罗斯而战，欧洲国家更多地介入东亚安全问题（包括台湾和朝鲜半岛），中国可能会感到愤怒。中国反对美国鼓励其大西洋和太平洋盟友和伙伴建立更紧密的联系。
如果中国内部因朝鲜军队部署而出现紧张局势，美国官员将试图利用这一点。
美国国务院发言人马修·米勒周三告诉记者，美国一直在直接与中国对话，“以明确表示我们认为这应该引起中国以及该地区其他国家的担忧。”
上周，白宫发言人约翰·柯比表示：“我们不知道习近平主席和中国人如何看待此事。如果你从表面上理解他们希望该地区，特别是朝鲜半岛稳定和安全的言论，你会认为他们也对这一事态发展深感担忧。”
“但是，”他补充道，“你可以期待我们将就此事与中方进行沟通，并尽可能地分享我们的观点——并了解他们的观点。”
当被要求对本文中朝鲜问题发表评论时，中国驻华盛顿大使馆提到了中国外交部发言人林建上周在北京举行的新闻发布会上的讲话。在回答有关朝鲜军队的问题时，他重申了中国在乌克兰战争问题上的主要观点：“我们希望各方推动局势缓和，争取政治解决。”
美国官员还希望盟友向中国表达对朝鲜的担忧。其中包括欧洲国家、日本和韩国，它们都与中国有着重要的贸易关系。周四，布林肯和国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀预计将在华盛顿与韩国同行讨论这一问题。
本文最初发表于《纽约时报》。
题图：中国国家主席习近平和朝鲜领导人金正恩在中国官方媒体发布的一张照片中。中国是朝鲜的长期盟友，也是其最强大的经济和军事伙伴。Ju Peng/美联社
附原英文报道：
US turns to China to stop North Korean troops from fighting for Russia
By Edward Wong New York Times,Updated October 31, 2024
President Xi Jinping of China and Kim Jong-un, the leader of North Korea, in a photograph released by the Chinese state media. China is North Korea’s longtime ally and its most powerful economic and military partner.Ju Peng/Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration is turning to an unlikely interlocutor as North Korean troops move into combat position to help Russia in its war in Ukraine.
To convey threats to North Korea, US officials are talking to China.
And US officials say they hope the conversations further stoke any suspicions China might feel about the troop deployment.
The US government has assessed that China is uneasy about the rapidly strengthening security partnership between Russia and North Korea. China is North Korea’s longtime ally and its most powerful economic and military partner, but the Russia-North Korea collaboration means Beijing has to increasingly share influence over Pyongyang with Moscow.
And North Korea’s intervention in Ukraine draws Europe deeper into East Asian security matters, which China does not want. On Thursday, North Korea launched an intercontinental ballistic missile, its first such test in almost a year, raising alarms among nations around the world.
The State Department has raised the issue of the troops directly with Chinese officials in recent days, a senior administration official told The New York Times. The latest conversation took place on Tuesday, when Kurt Campbell, the deputy secretary of state, Daniel J. Kritenbrink, the department’s top Asia official, and James O’Brien, the top Europe official, all met with Chinese diplomats for several hours at the home of Ambassador Xie Feng in Washington.
And Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke to Andriy Yermak, a top Ukrainian official, the same day about diplomatic efforts with China and other nations, the official said.
Jake Sullivan, President Biden’s national security adviser, has urged US agencies to convey the concerns to China and stress potential consequences, a second US official said. The official declined to give more details.
The hope is that China will at the very least pass the message on to Kim Jong Un, the young autocrat leading North Korea, or try to get Kim to limit or halt the deployment.
On Thursday, Blinken said about 8,000 North Korean soldiers were in Russia and about to join the fight to repel Ukrainian troops from the Kursk region.
Even before news of the North Korean troops emerged in public, Blinken had raised the country’s growing partnership with Russia in recent meetings with Wang Yi, China’s top foreign policy official, the first US official said.
China and Russia have been getting closer themselves over many years. In February 2022, Beijing announced a “no limits” partnership with Moscow right before the Russian military’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. US officials say China supports Russia’s war efforts by buying Russian oil and doing trade that has helped President Vladimir Putin rebuild his country’s defense industry, which is under severe American and European-led sanctions.
So on the surface, it might seem that China would support the idea of North Korean troops fighting with Russia against Ukrainian soldiers.
Yet China’s views on the issue are murky, and US intelligence agencies are trying to figure out what China’s leader, Xi Jinping, and other top Chinese officials think of the deployment, which Biden has called “very dangerous.”
The situation echoes the Korean War, when China, North Korea, and Russia (then the Soviet Union) fought US-led troops on the Korean Peninsula. But in retrospect, that anti-American alliance was shakier than it appeared, and the nature of its contemporary incarnation is unclear.
US officials and analysts say the three nations with Communist roots are still ideologically aligned against the United States. But they also say China, as the most powerful nation in the group, is uneasy about the renewed bond between Russia and North Korea, which relies on China to prop up its isolated economy.
And China could be irate if European nations get more involved in East Asian security issues — including on Taiwan and the Korean Peninsula — as a result of North Koreans fighting for Russia in Europe, analysts say. China opposes the United States encouraging its Atlantic and Pacific allies and partners to forge greater ties.
If there is tension within China over the North Korean troop deployment, US officials would aim to exploit it.
Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesperson, told reporters on Wednesday that the United States had been talking directly to China “to make clear that we think this ought to be a source of concern for China as well as other countries in the region.”
Last week, John F. Kirby, a White House spokesperson, said: “We don’t know how President Xi and the Chinese are looking at this. One would think that — if you take their comments at face value about desiring stability and security in the region, particularly on the Korean Peninsula — one would think that they’re also deeply concerned by this development.”
“But,” he added, “you can expect that we’ll be communicating with the Chinese about this and certainly sharing our perspectives to the degree we can — and gleaning theirs.”
When asked to comment on the North Korea issue for this article, the Chinese Embassy in Washington referred to remarks by Lin Jian, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, at a news conference last week in Beijing. Answering a question about the North Korean troops, he reiterated China’s main talking point on the Ukraine war: “We hope all parties will promote the de-escalation of the situation and strive for a political settlement.”
US officials also hope allies will express their concerns about North Korea to China. That includes European nations, Japan and South Korea, all of which have important trade ties with China. On Thursday, Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin are expected to speak to their South Korean counterparts in Washington about the issue.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
