In short, the US requires partners if the twenty-first century is to be an era in which the majority of people around the world enjoy relative peace and satisfactory standards of living. But the partnerships that prevailed in the Cold War – between the US, Western Europe, and several Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, and Australia – are no longer adequate.
一句话，为了将21世纪变成全球绝大多数人能够享受相对和平和舒适生活的时代，美国需要寻找盟友。不过，冷战时代建立起来的那种盟友关系——那种在美国，西欧，以及包括日本，韩国和澳大利亚在内的亚洲国家之间建立的关系——当今显然已经不够用了。那些国家缺乏充分的资源，也通常缺少足够的动力来参与和处理大部分全球性问题。