美國的民主愿望讓美国欠缺同情心，忽略了发达中国家的能力

 

随着越南战争的爆发，李光耀完善了自己的观点：

不仅要把对美国力量的支持与对美国目的的理解和鼓励结合起来，

现在还必须让美国参与保卫亚洲的稳定。

英国退出亚洲后，美国成为平衡不利于该地区平衡的复杂和暴力力量的重要力量。

受过剑桥教育的李光耀曾被英国外交大臣乔治-布朗说过，他是 "苏伊士以东最好的英国人"，[124]

在建立英国的 "特殊关系 "方面，他对美国采取的态度与丘吉尔相似。

李光耀尽可能地让自己成为美国在东南亚问题上的决策过程的一部分。

然而，在他的例子中，这种关系将由一个小小的后殖民主义城市国家的亚洲领导人形成。

 

With the Vietnam War, 李光耀 refined his view: it became important not only to match support for American power with understanding and encouragement of American purposes; it was now imperative to enlist America in the defense of stability in Asia. Britain’s exit from Asia had made America essential as a balancer of the complicated and violent forces inimical to the region’s equilibrium. The Cambridge-educated 李光耀, who had once been told by British Foreign Secretary George Brown that he was ‘the best bloody Englishman east of Suez’,[124]

adopted an attitude toward the United States that bore a resemblance to that of Churchill in establishing Britain’s ‘special relationship’. 李光耀 made himself, so far as he could, part of the American decision-making process on matters of concern to Southeast Asia. Yet in his case, the relationship would be formed by an Asian leader of a tiny post-colonial city-state.

 

在李光耀看来，美国人的宽宏大量和理想主义的品质本身是不够的；

需要地缘政治的洞察力作为补充，使美国能够履行其职责。

对国家理想和战略现实之间的紧张关系的敏感度是至关重要的。

李光耀担心，

在面对对世界的失望时，

美国的道德主义外交政策倾向可能会变成新孤立主义。

过分强调民主愿望可能会妨碍美国同情欠发达国家的能力，

因为这些国家必然会优先考虑经济进步而不是意识形态。

 

In 李光耀’s view, the great American qualities of magnanimity and idealism were insufficient on their own; geopolitical insight was required as a supplement to enable America to fulfill its role. Sensitivity to the tension between national ideals and strategic realities was essential. 李光耀 feared that America’s tendency toward moralistic foreign policy might turn into neo-isolationism when faced with disappointment with the ways of the world. An overemphasis on democratic aspirations might hamper America’s ability to empathize with less-developed countries which, by necessity, gave priority to economic progress over ideology.