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| Britain's global role |
| CCTV.COM 2003-07-21 09:07:27 |
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A country always has to know its place in the world. For Britain this is of special importance. Tony Blair has in recent years repeatedly reminded his people of knowing Britain's role in the world.
"As Britain approaches the end of the century, we have been with the same masters now for 18 years. We still have the talent, the skills, the inventiveness that we've already had － probably more so － but in a rapidly changing world we seem somehow lost our sense of purpose, " said Tony Blair on UK Labor Party 1997 Election Broadcast.
"Great Britain has lost an empire and has not yet found a role." （Dean Acheson, US Secretary of State, 1949－1953） For decades, Britain has pursued its new sense of purpose in the world, perhaps officially from the moment many British first read this assertion in 1962.
For the current Labor government, its Conservative predecessors tried unsuccessfully to find a way back, from Churchill's three concentric circles to Lady Thatcher's call to repel a European federal state.
"We will be out there telling Britain not to fear change but to embrace it. Because change is the key to unlocking the potential of this country and building a better future for all our people," said Blair on his election campaign in 1997.
In 1997, Britain voted for change. Two years later, Tony Blair and his New Labor cabinet said they believed the search for the country's global place could now end. Not to pretend to be the Greeks to the Americans' Romans, says Blair, it is to use the strengths of history to build Britain as a pivotal power.
Feng Zhongping, an European affairs analyst, said, "It has a lot of connections with world institutions, not only the UN. It is a member of the EU, it is a member of Commonwealth, it is a member of G8, it is a member of NATO. And also it has a powerful culture influence, the language. And of course it has close relations with the United States, the only superpower in the world. All these things make me reach the conclusion that the UK will continue to be one of the big powers."
To be a pivotal power in the world, Britain needs to act with allies. But which one, the EU or the United States？
Qian Chengdan of Nanjing University said, "It seems to me the common British people nowadays take themselves more as Europeans than as a small brother of the United States or anything you may think they are."
Despite Blair's claim that he acted as bridge across the Atlantic, New Labor has not yet really resolved the old dilemma － Europe or America.
At home Blair is paying the price for maintaining a special relationship with George W. Bush, although he does have fans in the US Congress, who awarded him a gold medal.
Blair's promise to call a referendum on the euro has met huge resistance. Public opinion is not only hostile to joining the single European currency but also remarkably un－enthusiastic about the EU itself.
Still, under New Labor, British foreign policy has been pushed forward in both directions.
It sounds like a messy compromise. But luckily, in history as well as at the present, the British seem to have found a way. After all they've always been good at compromise.
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Editor: Yang Feiyang CCTV.com
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