除了香港，中国并没有威胁到我们的利益

 鉴于香港在柯利達爵士的管理下发生的事情，这些私人笔记照亮了我们对他的哲学的理解。

正如他在 "第一份笔记 "中所说，这是一个暗淡的哲学。

他在1984年的 "第一想法 "也简明扼要地阐述了西方的利益。

他写道："除了香港，中国并没有威胁到我们的利益，""事实上，鉴于中苏关系的状况，她给英国和西欧带来了巨大的战略利益。

 

In the light of what happened to Hong Kong under Cradock’s stewardship, these private notes illuminate our understanding of his philosophy. It was, as he said in his ‘First Notes’, a bleak one. His ‘First Thoughts’ of 1984 also set out the West’s interests succinctly: ‘Hong Kong apart, China does not threaten our interests,’ he wrote, ‘in fact, given the state of Sino-Soviet relations, she confers great strategic benefits on the UK and Western Europe.’

 

英国在他的批准下，毫无顾忌地纵容了一个行为。

它支持中国对其在柬埔寨的客户--红色高棉的外交保护，红色高棉在其种族灭绝行为众所周知后仍坚持其在联合国的席位。

越南于1979年入侵柬埔寨并制止了这一行为。

但越南得到了苏联的支持。

这使得柬埔寨的命运成为冷战时期的竞争问题。

英国部长们大概认为，支持中国的立场可能有助于香港问题的谈判；公平地说，他们也在遵循西方的一般路线。

这些提法埋藏在1979年至1984年的英国文件中，几乎是在与中国人的会谈中作为事后诸葛亮而加入的。

 

Britain indulged with his approval in one act devoid of scruple. It backed China’s diplomatic protection of her clients in Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge, who clung on to their seat at the United Nations after their genocide was well known. Vietnam invaded Cambodia in 1979 and put a stop to it. But Vietnam was backed by the Soviet Union. This made Cambodia’s fate a matter of Cold War rivalry. British ministers presumably thought that supporting the Chinese position might help with the talks on Hong Kong; to be fair, they were also following a general Western line. The references are buried in British documents of 1979 to 1984, almost shamefacedly added as afterthoughts in talks with the Chinese.

 

柯利達爵士当时认为，苏联对西方构成的主要威胁不是通过入侵，而是通过削弱欧洲的决心，使各国顺从其意愿："游戏不动一兵一卒就会输。

这预示了下个世纪关于中国的辩论。

柯利達爵士用 "最成功的征服者是不费一枪一弹就拿下城市的人 "这句格言来说明这一点。

 

Cradock argued at the time that the Soviet Union posed the principal threat to the West, not through invasion but by weakening European resolve so that nations conformed to its wishes: ‘the game would be lost without a soldier moved.’ This foreshadowed the debate about China in the next century. Cradock illustrated it with the maxim that ‘the most successful conqueror is one who takes the city without firing a shot.’

 

在柯利達爵士离任时，苏联已经消失。

苏联的解体使指导他这样的人的一套原则失去了基础。

在20世纪90年代初，如果有的话，哪个国家可能取代它的位置还很不清楚。

中国似乎太弱，而且不愿意这样做。

对于像柯利達爵士这样近距离体验过中国的残酷和领导人的人来说，中国的威慑力是真实的。

这也许可以解释他看着约翰-梅杰和彭定康偏离他所建立的复杂平衡时的痛苦。

 

The Soviet Union had gone by the time Cradock left office. Its collapse unanchored a set of principles which had guided people like him. In the early 1990s it was far from clear which power might take its place, if any. China seemed too weak, as well as disinclined, to do so. For those like Cradock, who had experienced its cruelties and its leaders at close quarters, China’s power to intimidate was none the less real. That may explain his pain as he watched John Major and Chris Patten deviate from the intricate balance he had established.