美軍太平洋司令部司令可能被提名出任美國駐澳大使

U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be looking to the military to fill yet another senior post in his administration, according to reports published Wednesday.

Citing three unnamed officials, The Washington Post said Admiral Harry Harris, commander of the U.S. Pacific Command, is being considered for appointment as the next U.S. ambassador to Australia.

Nominating the Pacific Command's top flag officer to be U.S. ambassador in Canberra would mean another high-profile Trump administration position likely would be held by a member of the U.S. military's most senior cadre, known as general and flag officers. Active-duty or retired generals already serve the president as defense secretary, national security adviser and White House chief of staff.

No decision has yet been made, The Post said, but Australian officials said they would be delighted to see Harris installed as the next U.S. representative in Canberra.

Australia's foreign minister, Julie Bishop, said Harris is “a very capable, competent man who knows Australia well.” Bishop said her most recent encounter with Harris was in Sydney during bilateral ministerial discussions in June.

Harris has led the U.S. Pacific Command, or USPACOM, since May 2015. USPACOM has not commented on reports of Harris's possible appointment, of course, but the command's official social media page has retweeted the admiral's thoughts last year about the alliance between the United States and Australia: “Australia-US alliance matters – it matters to our two great nations, it matters to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, and, in my opinion, it matters to the world. No one should doubt the power of this staying alliance to maintain security, prosperity and peace."

Harris was speaking in December to the Australian think tank the Lowy Institute, which featured his remarks on the front of its website Wednesday.

Harris is widely reported to hold tough positions on China, a country key to both the United States and Australia, both strategically and economically. He is known to have described China's actions in the contested South China Sea as building a “Great Wall of Sand.”

Japan's Kyodo News reported in May that China's ambassador to the U.S. requested that Harris be removed from his command post as a condition for Beijing's help on North Korea. The Washington Post reported that a similar request was made to President-elect Trump's transition team after last year's U.S. elections.

Chinese officials in Washington and Beijing have denied they made such requests.星期三的媒體報道顯示，美國總統川普似乎準備讓軍隊將領出任政府的又一高級職務。

華盛頓郵報援引3位不具名官員的話說，美軍太平洋司令部司令哈里·哈里斯可能會被任命爲下一屆美國駐澳大利亞大使。

提名太平洋司令部最高掛旗軍官出任美國駐澳大利亞大使意味着川普政府中又一重要職務很可能將由美國軍方最高指揮官之一擔任。目前，美國的國防部長、國家安全顧問和白宮辦公廳主任都是由現役或退役將軍擔任的。

華盛頓郵報說，最後決定尚未做出，但是澳大利亞官員說，哈里斯擔任美國駐澳大利亞大使，他們會很高興。

澳大利亞外長畢曉普說，哈里斯“很有能力，對澳大利亞很瞭解”。畢曉普說，她最近一次是6月份在悉尼舉行的澳美雙邊部長級會談中見到哈里斯的。

哈里斯從2015年5月來一直擔任美軍太平洋司令部司令。太平洋司令部尚未對哈里斯可能被提名的消息發表評論，但是其官方推特帳戶上轉推了哈里斯去年對美澳聯盟的看法。哈里斯認爲，“澳大利亞和美國的聯盟很重要，對我們兩個偉大的國家很重要，對印度洋-亞洲-太平洋地區很重要，在我看來，對整個世界都很重要。沒有人應該懷疑這一持久聯盟在維持安全、繁榮與和平上的強大力量。”

哈里斯是去年12月對澳大利亞智庫羅維國際政策研究所發表這番講話的，該研究所的網站上星期三也特別刊登了他的講話。

大量報道顯示，哈里斯對中國立場強硬，中國無論是在戰略上還是在經濟上，都對美國和澳大利亞很重要。哈里斯曾形容中國在有爭議的南中國海的行爲是修築“沙造的長城”。

日本共同社5月份的時候報道說，中國駐美大使曾要求美國撤換哈里斯作爲太平洋司令部司令的職務，做爲北京協助解決朝鮮問題的條件。華盛頓郵報也報道了去年美國大選後川普過渡團隊收到的類似要求。

北京和駐華盛頓的中國官員否認曾提出過這種要求。