重申和重振美国的联盟
国务卿安东尼·布林肯（Antony J. Blinken）发表讲话
北约总部议事大厅（NATO Headquarters Agora）
比利时布鲁塞尔（Brussels）
2021年3月24日
国务卿布林肯：下午好。
几个星期前，我在开始担任国务卿后不久曾直接向美国人民发表讲话表示，我的首要工作是保证美国的对外政策能切实为他们谋利益——使他们的生活更安全，为他们的家庭和社区创造机会，并解决日益影响他们未来的全球性挑战。
我当时表示，我们切实为美国人民谋利益的一个重要途径是，重申和振兴我们在世界各地的联盟和伙伴关系。
为此，这个星期我来到布鲁塞尔。现在我直接从北约总部向诸位发表讲话。近75年来，北约联盟始终捍卫了欧洲和北美的安全和自由。
现在，美国人民在若干问题上相互有不同看法，但是联盟和伙伴关系的价值问题并不在其中。据芝加哥全球事务理事会（Chicago Council on Global Affairs）最近进行的民意调查，美国每10人中有9人认为，维护我们的联盟是实现我国对外政策目标最有效的方式。9与10比例。其中的原因不言自明。他们看到我们面临的威胁，诸如气候变化、COVID-19新冠病毒疫情、经济不平等、中国的日益张扬等。他们认识到，美国与伙伴们同心协力处理这些问题比单枪匹马效果更好。我们的盟国也会这样说。
目前，世界局势与几十年前我们建立众多联盟的时期大相径庭，甚至与四年前的情况也完全不同。各种威胁层出不穷。竞争日趋激烈。权力的消长变幻无常。对我们联盟的信任出现动摇——相互间的信任和对我们的承诺坚定性的信心。在我们各联盟之间，甚至在联盟内部，对于我们面临的威胁以及如何抗击这些威胁的问题，我们并非一贯保持一致的看法。我们关于民主和人权的共同价值观正受到挑战——不仅来自我们各国的外部，而且也来自内部。新出现的威胁超过了我们为防范这些威胁建立的能力。
但是，上述变化都无法改变我们需要联盟的这个事实——现在需要，可能比以往任何时候都更需要。我们面临的挑战是，适应形势重振联盟，使之能够抗击今天的各种威胁，一如既往继续切实为我们的人民谋利益。
今天，我将谈谈如何实现这个目标的问题。
首先我将确定我们面临的共同威胁有哪些。其次，我将谈谈为了重申和振兴我们的联盟需要做些什么，使之不仅能够防范这些威胁，也能保护我们共同的利益和价值观。最后，我将阐述我们的盟国能够期待美国做些什么，以及我们反过来期待我们的盟国做些什么。
首先需要确定我们今天面临的最紧迫的威胁。
我认为可以分成三大类。
首先是来自其他国家的军事威胁。我们看到中国试图威胁航行自由，推进南中国海（South China Sea）军事化，采取日益精密的军事力量针对印度–太平洋（Indo-Pacific）各地的国家。北京的军事野心逐年扩大。再加上现代技术的现实情况，一度似乎远在世界另一边的种种挑战已不再遥远。我们还看到俄罗斯发展新的军事力量和战略，对我们的联盟构成了挑战，同时破坏了保证我们集体安全的有规可循的秩序。其中包括莫斯科（Moscow）在东乌克兰的侵略活动；军备的增长、大规模的演习和在波罗的海和黑海（Baltic and Black Sea）、东地中海（Eastern Mediterranean）、北方高纬地区（High North）的恐吓行动；其核能力的现代化；以及在北约土地上对持批评意见的人士使用化学武器。
除了中国和俄罗斯外，伊朗和朝鲜等地区性角色正在发展对美国盟国和伙伴构成威胁的核能力和导弹能力。
第二类是上述很多国家造成的非军事威胁——对我们的安全构成威胁的技术、经济和信息手段。其中包括通过散布假消息和以腐败为武器的活动在我们各民主政体内制造不信任，以及以我们重要的基础设施为目标的网络攻击和盗窃知识产权的行为。例如，中国对澳大利亚明目张胆的经济胁迫，俄罗斯利用假消息破坏对选举和安全有效的疫苗的信心等等——这些侵略性行为不仅对我们各国，而且对我们的共同价值观构成了威胁。
第三类是气候变化和COVID-19疫情等全球性危机。这些威胁并非由特定的政府造成——具有全球性。 气温上升、海平面升高和激烈暴风的增多，使军事备战、人员迁移形式和食品安全等所有的方面都受到影响。COVID-19疫情已十分清楚地表明，我们在卫生安全方面休戚与共，只有我们最薄弱的环节才能决定其坚固的程度。
我们还面临往往横跨上述各类别的全球恐怖主义。在我们显著降低恐怖主义威胁的情况下，这方面的威胁仍然很严峻，特别是因为某些团伙和个人得到政府的支持和提供的庇护所 ，或者在   不受管辖的空间得到藏身之处。
此外，在我们的联盟成立之初，上述很多方面的威胁还不属于优先考虑的问题，其中有些根本不存在。但这正体现了我们联盟的强大威力：善于适应形势——继往开来迎接新的挑战。
为此，下面谈谈今天我们怎样才能适应形势。
首先，我们必须继续坚持对我们联盟的承诺——同时维护作为其坚强后盾的共同价值观。
当美国遭遇9/11袭击的时候，我们的北约盟国立即一致援引第五项条款——对某一个成员的攻击就是对全体的攻击。这仍然是有史以来唯一一次援引第五项条款的事例——为了保护美国。我们永远不会忘记。今天，我们的盟国可以期待我们采取同样的行动。正如上个月拜登总统（President Biden）在慕尼黑安全会议（Munich Security Conference）上所说的，你们得到我们坚持不渝的誓言：美国全面恪守对北约的承诺，包括第五项条款。
这是本星期我向我们的北约盟国重申的誓言。
奥斯汀（Austin）国防部长和我对我们在日本和韩国的盟友表示了同样的承诺，我们最近在那里完成了关于分担责任协议的谈判，这些协议将有助于在未来岁月里维护印度-太平洋地区的和平与繁荣。
我们建立联盟是为了捍卫共同的价值观。因此，我们重新作出承诺就必须重申这些价值观以及我们所发誓保护的国际关系的基础，即自由、开放和基于规则的秩序。在这方面我们的使命已经摆在眼前。全球几乎每一个民主国家——包括美国——现在都在应对挑战。我们在同深重的不平等、系统性的种族主义、政治两极分化作斗争，每一个问题都降低我们民主的活力。
要靠我们来展现我们的体制所始终具有的最伟大的实力——我们的公民，以及我们对他们将使我们的社会和机制得到改进的信心。对我们民主体制的最大威胁并不是它们有缺陷——它们一向有缺陷。最大的威胁是我们的公民对民主制度有能力纠正这些缺陷和把建设更完美联邦的奠基承诺坚持到底失去信任。民主国家与独裁国家的区别在于，我们有能力并且愿意公开正视我们的缺陷，而不是佯装它们不存在，无视它们，或掩盖它们。
我们也必须要求彼此将这些价值观置于联盟的核心——对抗全球各地的民主倒退。当一些国家的民主和人权下滑时，我们大家必须大声疾呼。这是民主国家的做法：我们开诚布公地对待挑战。我们也必须通过加强民主制度的保护机制——如自由独立的媒体；反腐败机构；以及维护法治的机制——来帮助那些国家重新回到正确的方向。
这也是对我们的联盟作出重新承诺的含义。
第二，我们必须将我们的联盟现代化。
这要从改善我们的军事能力和备战能力做起，从而确保我们继续拥有强大可靠的军事威慑力。例如，我们必须确保继续使我们的战略核威慑安全、可靠、有效，尤其是面对俄罗斯进行的现代化。这对继续保持我们对盟国的有力可靠的承诺至关重要，即使是在我们采取步骤进一步削减核武器在国家安全中的作用的情况下。我们还将与我们的印度–太平洋盟国共同努力，应对那个地区多方面的复杂的安全挑战。
我们必须扩展能力，应对经济、技术和信息领域中的威胁。我们不能只打防守——我们必须采取积极的方针。
我们已经看到北京和莫斯科正在加紧利用可得到的关键资源、市场和技术向我们的盟国施压，在我们之间制造分裂。当然，各个国家有自己的决定，但我们一定不能把经济胁迫与其他形式的压力区分开来。当我们当中的一个国家受到胁迫时，我们应作出盟国的回应，通过使我们经济的彼此融合度超过同主要竞争者的融合度，共同努力减少我们的风险。这意味着联合力量，发展最新创新；确保我们敏感的供应链具有承受力；确立管理新兴技术的规范和标准；使违规者承担代价。历史告诉我们，当我们这样做的时候，会有更多国家选择我们共同打造的开放和有保障的空间。
我们必须扩展能力，应对跨国威胁——特别是气候变化和像2019冠状病毒病这样的疫情。这些挑战如此之大——需要采取的应对措施具有如此深远的影响，必须把解决它们容纳到我们所进行的几乎一切事务中，并与广泛的伙伴进行协调。
第三，我们必须组织起更广泛的盟国和伙伴联盟。
我们太惯常于让联盟和伙伴关系各自为营。我们没有充分将它们汇合到一起，而我们应该这样做。因为有更多实力和能力互补的国家为共同的目标联合起来，就越好。
这就是我们称为“四方对话伙伴”（the Quad）的一组国家——澳大利亚、印度、日本和美国——所基于的设想。拜登总统最近主持了四方对话伙伴的首次领导人峰会。我们抱有对自由、开放、包容和健康的——不受胁迫钳制并基于民主价值观的——印度–太平洋地区的共同愿景。我们构成一个好团队。我们的合作将增强平行的努力，确保在东中国海和南中国海（East and South China Seas）的安全，并且扩大对安全、可支付和有效的疫苗的生产和平等的获取机会。
深化北约–欧盟合作是另一个例子。在诸如网络安全、能源安全、健康保障和保护关键基础设施等问题上扩大合作，将有助于增强我们对当今威胁的抵御能力和防备。我们起来维护我们的价值观也使我们更加强大。
想一想美国刚与加拿大、欧洲联盟和英国联手对在新疆残酷迫害维吾尔族人的人所实施的制裁。中国随之对欧洲议会（European Parliament）和欧盟政治与安全委员会（EU’s Political and Security Committee）成员以及学术界和智库人士所进行的报复性制裁，更需要我们坚定团结地站在一起，否则向人们传递的信息可能是霸凌奏效。我们也要坚持支持我们在欧洲的非北约伙伴，其中许多国家在北约前沿地区继续坚定地与我们站在一起。
我们还将放眼国家政府之外的私人行业、公民社会、慈善机构、城市和大学。多元的、广泛的合作对维护全球百性利益极其重要——所有人都有权分享和受益于那些资源，而这些资源正在受到我们对手的蚕食。
例如5G，在这方面中国的技术带来严重的监控风险。我们应该将瑞典、芬兰、韩国、美国等国家的技术公司聚集起来，运用公共和私人投资，形成安全和值得信任的其他选择。我们花了几十年时间与全球四面八方同我们有共同价值观的国家发展关系。这是我们之所以为这些合作关系给予了如此大量投入的原因——为的是我们能够以新颖的方式走到一起，解决这类新的挑战。
对我们以这种方式共同努力可以取得什么样的成就持怀疑态度的任何人，我可以指出科学家进行的前所未有的合作，他们跨机构和跨国界分享了数以百计病毒基因序列——这种研究对在创纪录的时间内找出数种安全、有效的2019冠状病毒病疫苗起到了不可或缺的作用。世界卫生组织（World Health Organization）批准的最早第一种疫苗是由一位在土耳其出生、在德国长大的医生开发，这位医生与人联合创办的一家欧洲制药公司与美国同行结成了生产疫苗的合作伙伴。
那么，美国的盟国和伙伴也许今天听着我的话会说，“我们需要知道我们能够对你们有什么样的期待”。因为如我所说，过去几年里信任在某种程度上被动摇了。
那么请让我表明美国能够对我们的盟国和伙伴作出什么样的承诺。
当我们的盟国承担他们应有的负担时，它们将可以合理期待在决策中享有应有的发言权。我们将尊重这点。这将以早期和经常地与我们的朋友进行磋商为开端。这是拜登–哈里斯（Biden-Harris）政府外交政策的一个关键部分，这是我们的盟国已经看到的和欣赏的变化。
我们将把我们的盟国发展更大能力的努力视为一种财富，而不是一种威胁。更强大的盟国能形成更强大的联盟。在美国发展我们的能力来应对我今天所阐明的威胁之时，我们将确保它们继续与我们的同盟兼容共存——并为增强我们盟国的安全做出贡献。我们也将同时向我们的盟国提出同样的要求。
美国不会迫使我们的盟友在中国问题上做出“我们或他们”的选择。毫无疑问，北京的胁迫行径威胁着我们共同的安全和繁荣，而且它正在大肆活动，损害国际体制的规则以及我们和我们的盟国所共有的价值观。但这并不意味着各国不能在可能的领域同中国合作，例如在气候变化和卫生安全等挑战方面。
我们知道我们的盟国同中国的关系是错综复杂的，而且并不总能完美地协调一致。但我们应当共同应对这些挑战。这意味着和我们的盟国共同努力填补在技术和基础设施这样的领域中的空白，而北京正在利用它们来施加胁迫性压力。我们将依赖创新，而不是最后通牒。因为如果我们共同努力让我们对国际秩序的积极愿景付诸实现——如果我们捍卫我们知道能为人类的独创性、尊严和联系提供最佳条件的自由开放的体系——我们就有信心能在任何竞争领域超出中国或其他任何人。
我们将始终发挥自己的力量，但我们也将在我们的盟国发挥他们的力量时认识到这一点。请让我坦率直言：这往往是一个有争议的问题，特别是在跨大西洋关系中。我们认识到我们的很多北约盟国为改善防卫投资所取得的显著进展，包括为满足到2024年使防务开支占国内生产总值（GDP）2%的威尔士（Wales）承诺所取得的进展。全面履行这些承诺是至关重要的。但我们也认识到有必要采纳一种分担负担的更全面的看法。没有一个数字能够全面反映一个国家对保卫我们的共同安全和利益的贡献，特别是在一个不能用军事力量抗击的威胁日益增多的世界。我们必须承认，由于盟国具有独特的能力和相对优势，他们将以不同的方式承担各自的一份责任。但这并不意味着放弃我们为自己设定的目标或少做努力。事实上，我们所面对的共同威胁要求我们必须做出更多努力。
我们应当能够进行这些艰难的对话——甚至持不同意见——同时仍然能够相互尊重以待。近几年来发生得太多的情况是，我们美国似乎忘记了我们的朋友是谁。但这种情况已经改变了。
美国将明智审慎地使用我们的力量，特别是军事力量，作为一种解决海外冲突的手段。我们将避免我们有原则的雄心大志与我们愿意为实现它们而承担的风险之间的不平衡，在不小的程度上是因为当我们过度扩展时，我们会妨碍我们集中应对可能对美国人民的生活产生最重大影响的其他种种挑战的能力。
最后，我们的一些盟友想知道我们对于他们的安全的承诺是否持久。他们听到我们说“美国已经回归”并且想问一问——会持续多久？
这是一个合情理的问题。我的回答如下。
绝大多数美国人民——包括两党人士——都支持我们的联盟，即使他们在很多其他问题上意见不一，这是有原因的。出于同样的原因，国会的共和党人和民主党人一贯对我们的盟友重申我们的承诺是坚定不移的。这是因为我们不将我们的联盟视为负担，而将其视为一个在打造体现着我们的利益和我们的价值观的世界时从其他方面获得帮助的途径。
但为了保持这一支持的力度，我们这些有幸在世界舞台上代表美国的人必须确保我们的联盟也为美国人民提供所需。我们不能忽视这一点。
我们必须展现的不仅是我们的联盟所抵御的是什么，而且还有他们支持的是什么，例如各个地方的全体人民得到有尊严的待遇以及他们的基本自由得到尊重的权利。仅仅因为我们制定我们的外交政策以反映这个世界的现状并不意味着我们只能放弃将世界打造成它可能成为的样子——一个更安全、更和平、更公正、更公平的世界，一个让更多人拥有更好的健康、更强大的民主、更多的机会的世界。
简而言之，我们需要有一个能让人民一起致力于共同事业的积极愿景。这是我们的对手们无法提供的。这是我们最强大的实力之一。
这就是我们希望成为值得信任的盟友与满足我们公民的需求的紧密相连之处。我们无法在不维护有效力的联盟的情况下制定切实为美国人民谋利益的对外政策。而且我们不能在不展示它们如何切实为美国人民谋利益情况下保持有效力的联盟。
70年前，在新泽西州（New Jersey）迪克斯堡（Fort Dix）受训的一名美国陆军（U.S. Army）士兵给当时担任欧洲（Europe）盟军（Allied Forces）首任最高统帅的德怀特·艾森豪威尔（Dwight D. Eisenhower）写了一封信。这名士兵在信中问艾森豪威尔，他服役除了——引述原文——“杀人或被杀”之外是否还有任何意义。
艾森豪威尔是一位经验丰富的现实主义者。他曾亲眼目睹战争的残酷。他对于让美国人冒着生命危险保卫我们的盟友的生与死的后果有着清醒的认识。但他依然相信，正如他在给那名士兵的回信中所写的——引述原文——“人类的真正目的包含一些远比仅仅是强者生存更丰厚、更具建设性的东西”。
他写道，美国及其盟国必须共同努力，建立一个植根于共同价值观的体系。这些话语同指导着我们在美国的日常生活的价值观没有多大不同——正如艾森豪威尔所言，“尝试以正直、公平和公正的方式来解决不断出现在我们面前的多种多样的问题”。这并不意味着试图解决世界上的每一个问题。而是意味着当我们必须解决一个问题时，我们不会忽视我们的价值观，它们既是我们的实力又是我们的谦逊之源。艾森豪威尔对那名士兵说，他希望他的话能带来“一点点乐观和信心”。
艾森豪威尔无法预见我们今天所面临的诸多挑战。但他知道，无论出现什么新威胁，我们都希望和拥有与我们共同的价值观的合作伙伴一起面对。
过去的一年是我们各国历史上最具挑战性的时期之一，而且我们尚未走出危机——尽管我们看到了抱有希望的真切理由。而我们同盟友及合作伙伴的协作为我们提供的不仅仅是一点乐观和信心。这为我们指明了前进的道路：齐心协力，植根于我们共同的价值观，不仅致力于重建我们的联盟和伙伴关系，而且致力于将它们重建得更好。如果我们这样做，就没有任何挑战是我们无法及未能战胜的。非常感谢你们。

Reaffirming and Reimagining America’s Alliances
ANTONY J. BLINKEN, SECRETARY OF STATE
NATO HEADQUARTERS AGORA
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
SECRETARY BLINKEN:  Good afternoon.
A few weeks ago, not long after becoming Secretary as State, I spoke directly to the American people.  I said that my number one job is to ensure that America’s foreign policy delivers for them – that it makes their lives more secure, creates opportunities for their families and communities, and addresses the global challenges that are increasingly shaping their futures.
And I said that a key way we will deliver for the American people is by reaffirming and revitalizing our alliances and partnerships around the world.
That’s why I’ve come to Brussels this week.  I’m speaking to you now from the headquarters of NATO, the treaty alliance that has defended the security and freedom of Europe and North America for nearly 75 years.
Now, Americans disagree about a few things, but the value of alliances and partnerships is not one of them.  According to a recent poll by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, nine in ten Americans believe that maintaining our alliances is the most effective way to achieve our foreign policy goals.  Nine in ten.  It’s not hard to see why.  They look at the threats we face – like climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, economic inequality, an increasingly assertive China – and they know that the United States is much better off tackling them with partners, rather than trying to do it alone.  And all our allies can say the same.
Now, the world looks very different than it did decades ago, when we forged many of our alliances – or even than it did four years ago.  Threats have multiplied.  Competition has stiffened.  Power dynamics have shifted.  Trust in our alliances has been shaken – trust in each other and trust in the strength of our commitments.  Across and even within our alliances, we don’t always see eye to eye on the threats we face or how to confront them.  Our shared values of democracy and human rights are being challenged – not only from outside our countries, but from within.  And new threats are outpacing our efforts to build the capabilities we need to defend against them.
Yet none of this changes the fact that we need alliances – now as much and maybe even more than ever.  The challenge we face is to adapt and renew those alliances so that they can meet today’s threats, and continue to deliver for our people now, as they have in the past.
Today, I’ll make the case for how to do that.
I’ll first define the common threats we face.  Next, I’ll speak to what we need to do to reaffirm and revitalize our alliances so they cannot only defend against these threats, but also protect our shared interests and values.  And finally, I’ll set out what our allies can expect from the United States, and what we in turn expect of our allies.
It starts by identifying the most urgent threats we face today.
As I see it, there are three categories.
The first is military threats from other countries.  We see this in China’s efforts to threaten freedom of navigation, to militarize the South China Sea, to target countries throughout the Indo-Pacific with increasingly sophisticated military capabilities.  Beijing’s military ambitions are growing by the year.  Coupled with the realities of modern technology, the challenges that once seemed half a world away are no longer remote.  We also see this in the new military capabilities and strategies Russia has developed to challenge our alliances and undermine the rules-based order that ensures our collective security.  These include Moscow’s aggression in eastern Ukraine; its build-up of forces, large-scale exercises, and acts of intimidation in the Baltic and Black Sea, the Eastern Mediterranean, the High North; its modernization of nuclear capabilities; and its use of chemical weapons against critics on NATO soil.
And beyond China and Russia, regional actors like Iran and North Korea are pursuing nuclear and missile capabilities that threaten U.S. allies and partners.
The second category is non-military threats from many of these same countries – the technological, economic, and informational tactics that threaten our security.  These include the use of disinformation campaigns and weaponized corruption to fuel distrust in our democracies, and cyberattacks that target our critical infrastructure and steal intellectual property.  From China’s blatant economic coercion of Australia, to Russia’s use of disinformation to erode confidence in elections and in safe, effective vaccines – these aggressive actions threaten not only our individual countries, but also our shared values.
And the third category are global crises like climate change and COVID-19.  These aren’t threats posed by specific governments – they’re global.  Higher temperatures, rising sea levels, and more intense storms affect everything from military readiness to human migration patterns to food security.  As the COVID-19 pandemic has made abundantly clear, our health security is intertwined, and only as strong as our weakest link.
We also face global terrorism, which often cuts across these categories.  While we have significantly degraded the threat of terrorism, it remains significant, especially when groups and individuals enjoy support and safe harbor from governments, or find havens in ungoverned spaces.
Now, many of these threats weren’t front of mind when our alliances were formed.  Some didn’t exist at all.  But that’s the great strength of our alliances: they were built to adapt – to keep evolving as new challenges emerge.
So here’s how we can adapt them today.
First, we must recommit to our alliances – and to the shared values that sustain them.
When America was attacked on 9/11, our NATO Allies immediately and unanimously invoked Article 5 – an attack on one is an attack on all.  This is still the only time in history that Article 5 has been invoked – and it was to protect the United States.  We will never forget it.  And our allies can expect the same from us today.  As President Biden said to the Munich Security Conference last month, you have our unshakable vow: America is fully committed to NATO, including Article 5.
That’s a vow I reaffirmed to our allies at NATO this week.
And Secretary of Defense Austin and I expressed that same commitment to our allies in Japan and South Korea, where we recently concluded negotiations on burden-sharing agreements that will help maintain peace and prosperity in a free, open Indo-Pacific for years to come.
Our alliances were created to defend shared values.  So renewing our commitment requires reaffirming those values and the foundation of international relations we vow to protect: a free and open rules-based order.  We’ve got our work cut out for us on this front.  Virtually every democracy in the world is dealing with challenges right now – including the United States.  We’re up against deep inequities, systemic racism, political polarization, each of which makes our democracy less resilient.
It’s on all of us to show what has always been the system’s greatest strength – our citizens, and the faith we put in them to improve our societies and institutions.  The biggest threat to our democracies isn’t that they are flawed – they’ve always been.  The greatest threat is that our citizens lose trust in democracy’s ability to fix those flaws – to follow through on our founding commitment to form a more perfect union.  What separates democracies from autocracies is our ability and willingness to openly confront our own shortcomings – not to pretend they don’t exist, to ignore them, to sweep them under the rug.
We also have to hold one another to the values at the heart of our alliances – to confront the democratic recession around the world.  We all must speak up when countries backslide from democracy and human rights.  That’s what democracies do: we deal with challenges out in the open.  We also must help those countries move back in the right direction, by strengthening the guardrails of democracy – like a free and independent press; anti-corruption bodies; and institutions that protect the rule of law.
This, too, is what it means to recommit to our alliances.
Second, we must modernize our alliances.
That begins with improving our military capabilities and readiness, to ensure that we maintain a strong and credible military deterrent.  For example, we must ensure that our strategic nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure, and effective, particularly in light of Russia’s modernization.  That’s critical to keeping our commitments to our allies strong and credible, even as we take steps to reduce further the role of nuclear weapons in our national security.  We’ll also work with our Indo-Pacific allies to address a wide range of complex security challenges in the region.
We’ve got to broaden our capacity to address threats in the economic, technological, and informational realms.  And we can’t just play defense – we have to take an affirmative approach.
We’ve seen how Beijing and Moscow are increasingly using access to critical resources, markets, and technologies to pressure our allies and drive wedges between us.  Of course, each state’s decision is its own, but we must not separate economic coercion from other forms of pressure.  When one of us is coerced, we should respond as allies and work together to reduce our vulnerability by ensuring our economies are more integrated with each other than they are with our principal competitors.  That means teaming up to develop cutting-edge innovations; ensuring that our sensitive supply chains are resilient; setting the norms and standards that will govern emerging technologies; imposing costs on those who break the rules.  History tells us that, when we do, more countries will opt for the open and secure spaces that we build together.
And we must expand our ability to address transnational threats – especially climate change and pandemics like COVID-19.  These challenges are so vast – and the measures needed to address them so far-reaching – that tackling them must be integrated into virtually everything we do and coordinated across a wide array of partners.
Third, we must weave together broader coalitions of allies and partners.
Too often, we put our alliances and partnerships into siloes.  We don’t do enough to bring them together.  But we should.  Because the more that countries with complementary strengths and capacities can unite to achieve shared goals, the better.
That’s the idea behind the group of countries we call “the Quad” – Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.  President Biden recently hosted the Quad’s first ever leader-level summit.  We share a vision of a free, open, inclusive, and healthy Indo-Pacific region, unconstrained by coercion, and anchored by democratic values.  We make a good team.  And our cooperation will strengthen parallel efforts to ensure security in the East and South China Seas and to expand safe, affordable, and effective vaccine production and equitable access.
Deepening NATO-EU cooperation is another example.  Greater collaboration on issues like cybersecurity, energy security, health security, and safeguarding critical infrastructure will help build our resilience and preparedness against present-day threats.  It also makes us stronger when we stand up for our values.
Consider the sanctions that the United States just imposed in unity with Canada, the European Union, and the United Kingdom on individuals engaged in the atrocities being committed against Uyghurs in Xinjiang.  The retaliatory sanctions that China then imposed on members of the European Parliament and the EU’s Political and Security Committee, academics, and think tanks make it all the more important that we stand firm and stand together, or else risk sending the message that bullying works.  This includes sticking by our non-NATO partners in Europe, many of whom continue to stand firm with us on the alliance’s front lines.
And we’ll look beyond national governments to the private sector, civil society, philanthropies, cities, and universities.  Diverse, broad-based cooperation is essential to protecting the global commons – those resources that all people have a right to share and benefit from, and which are now being encroached upon by our adversaries.
Consider 5G, where China’s technology brings serious surveillance risks. We should bring together tech companies from countries like Sweden, Finland, South Korea, the United States, and use public and private investment to foster a secure and trustworthy alternative.  We’ve spent decades developing relationships with countries that share our values in every part of the globe.  This is why we invested so much in these partnerships – so we can come together in innovative ways to solve new challenges like these.
To any who doubt what we can achieve when we work together in this way, I’d point to the unprecedented cooperation by scientists who shared hundreds of viral genome sequences across institutions and borders – research that was indispensable to the discovery of several safe, effective COVID-19 vaccines, in record time.  The very first of those vaccines to be approved by the World Health Organization was pioneered by a doctor born in Turkey, who grew up in Germany, and who co-founded a European pharmaceutical company that partnered with an American counterpart to produce the vaccine.
Now, America’s allies and partners may be listening to my words today and saying, “We need to know what we can expect from you.”  Because as I said, trust has been shaken to some degree over the past few years.
So let me be clear about what the United States can promise to our allies and partners.
When our allies shoulder their fair share of the burden, they’ll reasonably expect to have a fair say in making decisions.  We will honor that.  That begins with consulting our friends early and often.  This is a key part of the foreign policy in the Biden-Harris administration, and it’s a change our allies already see and appreciate.
We’ll treat the efforts of our allies to develop greater capacity as an asset, not a threat.  Stronger allies make for stronger alliances.  And as the U.S. develops our capacities to address the threats I’ve outlined today, we’ll make sure they remain compatible with our alliances – and that they contribute to strengthening our allies’ security.  We’ll ask the same of our allies in return.
The United States won’t force our allies into a “us or them” choice with China.  There’s no question that Beijing’s coercive behavior threatens our collective security and prosperity, and that it is actively working to undercut the rules of the international system and the values we and our allies share.  But that doesn’t mean that countries can’t work with China where possible, for example, on challenges like climate change and health security.
We know that our allies have complex relationships with China that won’t always align perfectly.  But we need to navigate these challenges together.  That means working with our allies to close the gaps in areas like technology and infrastructure, where Beijing is exploiting to exert coercive pressure.  We’ll rely on innovation, not ultimatums.  Because if we work together to make real our positive vision for the international order – if we stand up for the free and open system that we know provides the best conditions for human ingenuity, dignity, and connection – we’re confident that we can outcompete China or anyone else on any playing field.
We will always pull our weight, but we’ll also recognize when our allies are pulling theirs.  And let me be frank:  This has often been a contentious issue, particularly in the transatlantic relationship.  We recognize the significant progress many of our NATO allies have made in improving defense investments, including progress toward meeting the Wales commitment of spending two percent of GDP on defense expenditures by 2024.  The full implementation of these commitments is crucial.  But we also recognize the need to adopt a more holistic view of burden sharing.  No single number fully captures a country’s contribution to defending our collective security and interests, especially in a world where a growing number of threats cannot be confronted with military force.  We must acknowledge that because allies have distinct capabilities and comparative strengths, they will shoulder their share of the burden in different ways.  Now, that doesn’t mean abandoning the targets we’ve set for ourselves or doing less.  In fact, the common threats we face demand that we do more.
We need to be able to have these tough conversations – and even to disagree – while still treating one another with respect.  Too often in recent years, we in the United States seem to have forgotten who our friends are.  Well, that’s already changed.
The United States will be judicious about our use of power, particularly our military power, as a means of addressing conflicts abroad.  We will avoid imbalances between our principled ambitions and the risks we’re willing to take to achieve them, in no small part because when we’re overextended, we hamper our ability to focus on other challenges that can have the biggest impact on the lives of the American people.
Finally, some of our allies are wondering whether our commitment to their security is a lasting one.  They hear us say “America is back” and they ask – for how long?
It’s a fair question.  So here’s my answer.
There’s a reason the vast majority of the American people – from both political parties – support our alliances, even if they’re divided along party lines on many other issues.  It’s the same reason why Republicans and Democrats in Congress have consistently reassured our allies that our commitments are resolute.  It’s because we see our alliances not as burdens, but as a way to get help from others in shaping a world that reflects our interests and our values.
But to keep that support strong, we who have the privilege of representing the United States on the world stage have to make sure that our alliances deliver for the American people.  We can’t lose sight of this.
We must demonstrate not only what our alliances defend against, but also what they stand for, like the right of all people everywhere to be treated with dignity and have their fundamental freedoms respected.  Just because we make our foreign policy to reflect the world as it is does not mean we have to give up on shaping the world as it might be – a world that’s more secure, more peaceful, more just, more equitable, a world with greater health, stronger democracies, and more opportunity for more people.
In short, we need to have a positive vision that can bring people together in common cause. That’s something our adversaries can’t offer.  It’s one of our greatest strengths.
This is where our interest in being trustworthy allies is bound up in fulfilling the needs of our citizens.  We can’t build a foreign policy that delivers for the American people without maintaining effective alliances.  And we can’t sustain effective alliances without showing how they deliver for the American people.
Seventy years ago, a U.S. Army private training at Fort Dix in New Jersey sent a letter to Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was then serving as the very first supreme commander of the Allied Forces in Europe.  In his letter, the private asked Eisenhower whether there was anything more to his service than to – quote – “kill or be killed.”
Eisenhower was a seasoned realist.  He’d seen up close the devastation of war.  He was clear-eyed about the life-and-death consequences of putting American lives on the line to defend our allies.  Yet he still believed, as he responded in a letter to that soldier, that – quote – “True human objectives comprise something far richer and more constructive than mere survival of the strong.”
The United States and its allies, he wrote, had to work together to build a system rooted in shared values.  And these words were not so different from the values that guided our everyday life in the United States – as Eisenhower put it, “Attempting to solve in decency, in fairness, and in justice the multitude of problems that constantly present themselves to us.”  That doesn’t mean trying to solve every problem in the world.  Rather, it means that when we must address a problem, we do not lose sight of our values, which are simultaneously a source of our strength and humility.  Eisenhower told the soldier that he hoped his words would provide “a small bit of optimism and faith.”
Now, Eisenhower couldn’t have imagined many of the challenges we face today.  But he knew that whatever new threats emerged, we would want to face them with partners who shared our values.
The last year has been one the most challenging times in the history of our nations, and still we’ve not emerged from the crisis – even if we see real reason for hope.  But our cooperation with allies and partners provides us with more than a small bit of optimism and faith.  It shows us the way forward: together, rooted in our shared values, and committed not only to rebuilding our alliances and partnerships, but to building them back better.  If we do this, there are no challenges we cannot and will not overcome.  Thank you very much.