登月成功 「中國夢」新開始？
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2013/12/27
2013-12-23 Web only 作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：flickr.com/photos/jurvetson/ |
一份中國報紙表示，那是「中國夢的新開始」。12月15日，中國媒體評論者找到了足以與阿姆斯壯於1969年留下的月面鞋印相比之物：月球探測車玉免在月球上留下了「中國足跡」，其母船亦完成了1976年以來首次月面軟著陸。國家主席習近平在地面控制站中觀看整段過程，並在影像出現於螢幕之時拍了拍手；對於這位中國夢的推廣者來說，那是個非常珍貴的時刻。
習近平於2012年11月、就任數日之後，就提出了「中國夢」這個口號。自那時開始，中國夢便襲捲全中國，出現在各地的看板和宣傳海報之上；上個月，它在共產黨中央委員會的決議中出現了兩次，標誌著習近平的掌控程度增加。習近平曾表示，中國夢包括「強國夢」和「強軍夢」，他也一直展現強人作風，特別是在中全會之後。
中國在亞洲的部分行動亦顯得更加獨斷。12月5日，中國海軍船艦在南海與美國巡洋艦爆發緊繃衝突；雙方對此皆保持沉默，直到超過一周之後，美國官員才表示，考斯本號巡洋艦被迫轉向以免與中國船艦相撞。
此意外發生之時，美國巡洋艦正在觀察中國最新、也是唯一的航空母艦遼寧號；那是遼寧號首度進入滿是海權爭議的南海（9月發行的「中國夢」紀念郵票一套共四張，其中之一就印著遼寧號；另外三張中，兩張印著中國太空船，一張印有深海潛艇）。美國就船艦在國際水域幾乎相撞一事向中國提出抗議，然而，一份中國報紙指控考本斯號威脅「中國的國家安全」。此衝突可能會讓美國更加擔心，中國想讓擁有重要貿易路線的南海成為自家後院。
在這次衝突之前，中國於11月23宣佈了東海的「防空識別區」，要求所有飛經該區的飛機向中國官方提交報告。此事讓掌有區內島嶼的日本極為憤怒，也引來美國、南韓等國批評。12月16日，美國國務卿凱瑞（John
Kerry）在訪問河內之時表示，該防空識別區增加了「危險誤算或意外」的風險。中國似乎並未強力執行防空識別區規定，但國內的民族主義派皆盛贊此設立防空識別區。就在凱瑞發表意見當日，身在雅加達的中國國防部長常萬全表示，批評此區「百害而無一利」。
中國在報導嫦娥三號太空船登陸月球、成功派出印著中國國旗的玉兔探測車之時，處處可見「中國夢」一詞。習近平在6月與三名環繞地球的中國太空人公開通話之時表示，「飛天夢是強國夢的重要組成部分」。即使微博上有些人抱怨，重製蘇聯和美國那麼久以前就做過的事沒什麼意義，但習近平似乎就和過去的領導者一樣，對月球念念不忘。軍方的主要發言管道《解放軍報》指出，目前尚無法確知中國人何時可以登上月球，但中國太空人「正以前所未見的速度朝此目標前行」。
北京則謠言四起，指出習近平為了展示其政治實力，將前政治局常委周永康軟禁以調查貪汙等罪行。《紐約時報》於12月15日報導，1949年共產黨掌權至今，首次有如此高層的人員接受正式貪汙調查；《紐約時報》指出，不具名人士表示，習近平等領導人物是在12月初決定採取此行動。在習近平上任、周永康卸下中央政法委書記職務之前，周永康擁有極大的權力；各界認為他是前政治局委員薄熙來的支持者；薄熙來於9月因貪汙和濫權被判無期徒刑。
雖然習近平表面上充滿自信，近期的宣傳活動亦透露了黨內精英階層間彌漫的不安全感。12月初，官方報紙開始讚揚一篇匿名的網路文章，該文希望中國人能從其他地區的威權政府倒台記取教訓，並指出「我們擁護習近平主席，因為我們不想成為第二個利比亞」，該文標題為「沒有了祖國，你將什麼都不是」。儘管有部分微博使用者嘲諷該文，但也有部分國營企業員工受令集體研讀該文。（黃維德譯）
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
The Economist
Power and patriotism
Reaching for
the Moon
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: December 23, 2013
Dec 21st 2013 | BEIJING | From the print edition
Xi Jinping has consolidated power quickly. Now he is showing it off.
IT WAS, as a Chinese newspaper put it, "a new beginning for the
Chinese dream". On December 15th the imprint left by Neil Armstrong's boot
on the moon in 1969 found its near-equivalent in the minds of China's media
commentators: the "Chinese footprint" gouged in the lunar dust by
Yutu, a Chinese rover, after its mother ship made the first soft landing on the
moon by a spacecraft since 1976. President Xi Jinping, watching from ground
control, clapped as the image appeared on the screen. For the promoter-in-chief
of the Chinese dream it was a moment to cherish.
Mr Xi launched the "Chinese dream" slogan within days of
taking power in November 2012. It has since swept the nation, appearing
everywhere on billboards and propaganda posters. It featured twice in a
resolution adopted by the Communist Party's Central Committee at a plenum last
month that marked the tightening of Mr Xi's grip. He has said the Chinese dream
includes a "dream of a strong nation" and a "dream of a strong
army" and, especially since the plenum, he has been playing up the
strongman image.
Some Chinese actions in the region have appeared more assertive, too.
On December 5th a Chinese naval ship had a tense encounter with an American
cruiser in the South China Sea. Both sides kept quiet about it until more than
a week later when American officials revealed that their vessel, USS Cowpens,
had been forced to manoeuvre to avoid hitting the Chinese ship, which had
passed in front.
The incident occurred while the American cruiser was watching China's
new and only aircraft-carrier, the Liaoning, as it made its first foray into
the area, which is riven with competing maritime claims. (TheLiaoning features
in a special issue of four "Chinese dream" postage stamps issued in
September; two others show Chinese spacecraft and one a deep-sea submersible.)
America lodged protests with China about the near-miss in international waters.
A Chinese newspaper, however, accused the Cowpens of posing a threat to
"China's national security". The encounter is likely to add to
American concerns that China is trying to claim the sea, a vital trading route,
as its backyard.
The maritime near-miss came after the announcement on November 23rd of
an "Air-Defence Identification Zone" in the East China Sea that would
require all aircraft flying through it to report to the Chinese authorities.
This enraged Japan, which controls islands within the zone, and was criticised
by other countries, including America and South Korea. On December 16th during
a visit to Hanoi, America's secretary of state, John Kerry, said the zone had
increased the risk of a "dangerous miscalculation or an accident".
China's enforcement of it seems to have been scant, but nationalists at home
have hailed the move. On the same day as Mr Kerry spoke, China's defence
minister, Chang Wanquan, was in Jakarta, where he said that critics of the zone
were causing "a hundred harms and no benefits".
"Chinese dream" rhetoric has suffused China's coverage of the
moon landing by the Chang'e-3 spaceship, and the Yutu (Jade Rabbit) rover's
successful deployment from it, sporting the Chinese flag on its side. In a
televised call to three Chinese astronauts orbiting Earth in June, Mr Xi had
said: "The space dream is an important part of the dream of a strong nation."
Despite some mutterings on Chinese microblogs about the pointlessness of
replicating feats performed so long ago by the Soviet Union and America, Mr Xi
appears as fixated on the moon as his predecessors were. The army's main
mouthpiece, the People's Liberation Army Daily, said it was hard to say exactly
when a Chinese person would land on the moon, but that Chinese spacemen were
"heading towards this goal with unprecedented speed".
The urge to purge
In Beijing rumours have continued to swirl that Mr Xi has been flexing
his political muscles by putting a retired member of the Politburo's Standing
Committee, Zhou Yongkang, under house arrest on suspicion of corruption and
other crimes. The New York Times reported on December 15th that Mr Zhou had
become the first person of such rank to be placed under formal investigation
for corruption since the Communist Party came to power in 1949. The newspaper
quoted unnamed sources as saying Mr Xi and other leaders decided to take this
action in early December. Mr Zhou enjoyed enormous power as head of the
internal security apparatus before stepping down at the same time as Mr Xi took
office. He was also widely thought to be the patron of Bo Xilai, a Politburo
member who was sentenced to life in prison in September for corruption and
abuse of power.
But although Mr Xi usually appears confident, a recent propaganda
campaign has betrayed a sense of insecurity that still permeates the party
elite. In early December official newspapers began praising an anonymous
internet posting that urges Chinese to draw lessons from the chaotic collapse
of authoritarian regimes elsewhere. "We support Chairman Xi Jinping
because we don't want to become a second Libya," says the article, titled
"You are nothing without your motherland". Some microbloggers have
mocked it, but employees of some state enterprises have been corralled into
studying it. Mr Xi's glorious dreams of the future, it appears, alternate with
nightmarish visions.
©The Economist Newspaper Limited 2013
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