美军轰炸机投放集束弹药。（资料图）US bombers drop cluster munitions. (File Photo)

By Huang Bing

(资料图片仅供参考)

黄冰

The US government announced in early July its decision to provide US$800 million worth of extra military assistance to Ukraine, including cluster munitions of mass destruction that have been banned by the US law, and that Ukraine have already used according to media reports in late July. Compared with regular munitions, cluster munitions are more likely to cause civilian casualties. The supply of them to Ukraine has triggered waves of protests within the US and widespread controversy and criticisms in the international community.

7月初，美国政府宣布向乌克兰提供价值8亿美元的额外军事援助，其中包括被美国法律划归为违禁类别的大杀伤力集束弹药。据媒体7月下旬报道，乌克兰已经使用了美国提供的集束弹药。与普通弹药相比，集束弹药造成平民伤亡的可能性更大。美国向乌克兰提供集束弹药的行径，在美国内引发抗议声浪，也在国际社会引起广泛争议和批评。

Cluster munitions are also known as cargo shells. One cluster munition can carry hundreds of submunitions that, once dropped, would be released in air over a wide expanse and detonate once touching the ground or afterwards. Some of them that fail to do so become duds that pose long-term threats to the civilians living around the area where they land.

集束弹药又被称为子母弹药，一枚集束弹药可以装载数以百计的子弹药，投放后会在空中大范围释放子弹药。这些子弹药会在接触地面时或之后引爆。但是，这些子弹药也可能无法正常引爆，变成哑弹，从而对散落地点附近的平民构成长期威胁。

According to the US Department of Defense (DoD), the cluster munitions supplied to Ukraine this time are launched by 155mm howitzers with a dud rate of no more than 2.35%. This notwithstanding, the supply in itself is a violation of US law, which prohibits the production, use or transfer to other countries of cluster munitions with a dud rate of more than 1%. The Washington Post reported that the cluster munitions supplied by Washington to Kyiv contain 72 bomblets each with a dud rate of around 6%. That means at least four bomblets would end up being duds per every such munition launched.

根据美国国防部的说法，此次援乌的集束弹药由155毫米口径榴弹炮发射，哑弹率已降至不高于2.35%。即便如此，美国政府向乌克兰提供集束弹药仍然违反美国相关法律。美国法律禁止生产、使用或向他国转移哑弹率高于1%的集束弹药。据《华盛顿邮报》报道，美国此次援乌的集束弹药每枚内包含72枚小炸弹，哑弹率约为6%。这意味着，每发射一枚此种集束弹药，平均有至少4枚小炸弹为哑弹。

The US has used this kind of munitions in large quantities in the Vietnam War, Gulf War, Kosovo War, Afghan War and Iraqi War, causing immense civilian casualties.

在越南战争、海湾战争、科索沃战争、阿富汗战争、伊拉克战争中，美军曾大量使用集束弹药，造成众多平民死伤。

During the Vietnam War, American troops used cluster munitions in multitudes in order to block the Ho Chi Minh Trail, an important route along which materials were transported from the north to the south of Vietnam. The munitions, statistics show, either killed or wounded thousands of civilians in Quảng Trị Province alone that sat on the south-north boundary. It has also been shown that the undetonated bomblets left during the War have cumulatively caused a death toll of over 42,000 people, with another 62,000 wounded, in the country, including many children.

越南战争期间，为了封锁越南北方向南方运输物资的重要通道——胡志明小道，美军曾大规模使用集束弹药。据统计，仅在处于越南南北分界线的广治省就造成数千名平民伤亡。有数据显示，战争遗留的未爆炸炸弹累计造成越南超过4.2万人死亡、6.2万人受伤，其中包括不少儿童。

As the Ho Chi Minh Trail passes Laos, the Xieng Khuang Province sitting on the Vietnam-Laos boundary has also been exposed to the damage of cluster munitions. From 1964 to 1973, the US dropped more than 270 million cluster munitions in Laos, of which around 30% didn"t detonate, leaving approximately 80 million bomblets scattered and buried across the country, and only 1% of them have been cleared and removed since 1996. Most of the unexploded bomblets still remain on mountains, in rivers and forests, continuing to harm the locals for a long time to come.

由于胡志明小道借道老挝，地处越老边境的老挝川圹省也深受集束弹药伤害。1964年到1973年间，美国总计在老挝投下超过2.7亿枚集束弹药，其中约30%未爆炸，约8000万枚子弹药散落、隐埋在老挝国土上。1996年以来，老挝只有约1%的未爆炸弹药得到清理。多数集束弹药被投放在山区、河流和森林里，遗祸至今。

During the 20-year-long Afghan war, the US killed at least 30,000 Afghan civilians by using weapons of mass destruction. Data from the Cluster Munition Coalition show that in 2001 and 2002, American forces dropped more than 1,200 cluster munitions in Afghanistan, containing over 240,000 bomblets.

美国入侵阿富汗20年间，使用大规模杀伤性武器夺去至少3万名阿富汗平民的生命。集束弹药联盟数据显示，2001年与2002年，美军在阿富汗投下1200余枚集束弹药，内含超过24万枚子弹药。

Now the US is providing the same deadly weapon with long-lasting consequences to Ukraine, once again against the whole world"s opposition. A US DoD official even said that the US has hundreds of thousands of cluster munitions at Ukraine"s service. It"s foreseeable that these cluster munitions will not only seriously threaten the personal safety of civilians, but also pose numerous obstacles to the homecoming of displaced people and post-war reconstruction after the conflict ends, with grave aftermaths in the long term.

如今，美国又一次冒天下之大不韪，向乌克兰提供集束弹药。美国国防部官员甚至表示，“美国有数十万枚集束弹药可供乌克兰使用”。可以预见，这些集束弹药不仅严重威胁平民的人身安全，也将对冲突结束之后人们重返家园和战后重建构成重重障碍和长期影响。

Since the Ukraine crisis escalated last February, the US has provided more than 40 batches of military assistance to the country, amounting to well over US$40 billion. Washington"s pouring oil on flames goes counter to the international efforts to facilitate peace talks and will only ratchet up tension and the intensity of the war, which will lead to tremendous casualties, including civilians, and property losses. No winner will come out of conflicts or wars. Dialogue and negotiation are the only right way out. The US should stop exacerbating the conflicts and keep the Ukraine crisis from further worsening.

自乌克兰危机去年2月升级以来，美国先后向乌克兰提供40多批、总额超过400亿美元的军事援助。美国不断“拱火浇油”的行为，与国际社会劝和促谈的努力背道而驰，只会加剧紧张局势和战争烈度，从而造成包括平民在内的巨大人员伤亡和财产损失。冲突和战争没有赢家，对话谈判是唯一正确出路，美国应停止激化矛盾，避免使乌克兰危机进一步恶化。