THE GRAND PACIFIC HOTEL is an old British colonial institution(英国殖民时期的建筑或机构) at the heart of Fiji’s capital. Tropical breezes blow off the harbour and through its whitewashed verandas to parliament across the street. On July 6th Fiji’s prime minister was hosting a banquet there for his Australian counterpart(对应的人；同行) to celebrate a new mutual-defence pact(共同防御条约) between their two countries. They had just signed the treaty when word reached them that a Chinese submarine would shortly test-launch a ballistic missile into international waters north of Fiji.(他们刚签署条约，就得知中国潜艇将试射导弹。) The test was only the second Chinese launch since 1980 of a ballistic missile into international waters. It spook(吓唬；使受惊)ed leaders of Pacific island countries, including Fiji, whose defence minister had unsuccessfully urged China to call it off, and some of whose soldiers are pictured above.
大太平洋酒店是斐济首都中心的一家古老的英国殖民时期机构。热带微风从港口吹来，穿过粉刷过的阳台，吹向街对面的议会大厦。7月6日，斐济总理在那里设宴款待澳大利亚总理，庆祝两国签署新的共同防御条约。他们刚刚签署条约，就传来消息说，一艘中国潜艇即将在斐济以北的国际水域试射弹道导弹。这是自1980年以来中国第二次向国际水域发射弹道导弹。这吓坏了太平洋岛国领导人，包括斐济，其国防部长曾敦促中国取消试射，但未成功，其中一些士兵出现在上图中。
For Fiji and several other Pacific island countries it was the latest in a series of(一系列) Chinese actions that have convinced them they have been right to align(使结盟；与……一致) more closely with Australia. Their concern about the missile launch is born of(源于；由……产生) their history. Bigger countries turned the Pacific into a battleground(战场) in the second world war and into a testing ground(试验场) for nuclear weapons during the cold war. (Both the July test and an earlier one in September 2024, which also landed in the Pacific, were of nuclear-capable missiles.) Now, many Pacific island leaders fear that rivalry between America and Asia’s biggest military power will once again destabilise(使不稳定；破坏稳定) their region.
对斐济和其他几个太平洋岛国来说，这是中国一系列行动中最新的一次，这些行动使它们确信，它们更紧密地与澳大利亚结盟是正确的。他们对导弹试射的担忧源于他们的历史。大国在第二次世界大战中将太平洋变成了战场，在冷战期间将其变成了核武器试验场。（7月的试射和2024年9月的一次更早试射都落在太平洋，都是可携带核弹头的导弹。）现在，许多太平洋岛国领导人担心，美国与亚洲最大军事强国之间的竞争将再次破坏该地区的稳定。
Rather than(而不是) choose between America and China, however, Pacific leaders are choosing to deepen(加深；深化) ties with Australia by signing the Asia-Pacific’s first new alliances since the early days of the cold war. The mutual-defence treaty between Australia and Fiji, the Pacific islands’ commercial and diplomatic hub(中心；枢纽), is the second new military alliance that Australia has signed with a Pacific island state in less than a year. It did a similar deal with the region’s biggest state, Papua New Guinea, in October 2025. Negotiations with Tonga, now the only Pacific island country with defence forces that does not have an alliance with Australia, are under way.(与汤加的谈判正在进行中，汤加是唯一有国防力量但未与澳大利亚结盟的岛国。) (Australia and New Zealand have been allies since the early days of the cold war.)
然而，太平洋领导人并没有在中美之间做出选择，而是选择深化与澳大利亚的关系，签署了自冷战初期以来亚太地区首批新联盟。澳大利亚与斐济（太平洋岛屿的商业和外交中心）之间的共同防御条约，是澳大利亚在不到一年内与太平洋岛国签署的第二个新军事联盟。2025年10月，澳大利亚与该地区最大的国家巴布亚新几内亚达成了类似协议。与汤加的谈判正在进行中，汤加是目前唯一拥有国防力量但与澳大利亚没有联盟的太平洋岛国。（澳大利亚和新西兰自冷战初期以来一直是盟友。）
