《2022年世足賽、卡達與東北亞經貿互動》

2022 FIFA World Cup, Qatar and Northeast Asia Economic Relations

研究國際關係者相信國家的外交政策行為主要是受到國家利益所驅動的。而國家利益大致可區分為安全利益、政治利益與經濟利益。事實上國家是可以透過運動來達成外交政策的目標的。最顯著的例子莫過於南韓藉主辦1988年漢城奧運會而完成其所推動的「北方政策」。進入廿一世紀，運動外交更成為公共外交(public diplomacy)之一個重要部分。因此，本文主旨就是試圖將卡達(Qatar)爭取主辦2022年世界盃足球賽看成是種外交政策行為，探討該國所追求的國家利益為何，進而檢視其如何達成外交目標、是否達成目標。而所代表的意義又是如何？尤其是對研究國際關係來說有哪些值得我們借鏡學習之處。
在討論卡達爭取主辦2022年世界盃足球賽前，我們有必要先就世界盃足球賽為何被卡達看中，然後再就國家利益角度來剖析，卡達的安全利益堪稱無虞，在經濟上又是當今世上數一數二的最富有的國家。所以，卡達爭取主辦2022年世足賽很明顯地應與求取安全利益與經貿利益關連性不大。政治利益才是其首要動機與目標。
卡達與其鄰國沙烏地阿拉伯、阿拉伯聯合大公國(UAE)在人口、國土面積與整體經濟規模相較很懸殊，但人均國內生產總值卻遙遙領先兩大鄰邦。因此推斷卡達主辦2022年世足賽首要動機與目標就是國家威望。卡達為阿拉伯國家中首個舉辦世足賽的國家。雖然卡達人口290萬，但卡達卻能以借力使力的策略得以成功舉辦此次世足賽。
卡達天然氣最大買家中國提供基礎建設的奧援是關鍵，所獲得廣告收入亦主要來自亞洲國家。本屆有百萬球迷前往中東觀賞，而開幕戰吸引全球約5.5億觀眾，而決賽更有近15億觀眾觀看。最大宗的贊助商亦來自中企，本次世足賽的贊助金接近14億美元，包括來自萬達企業、蒙牛、Vivo及海信等四家，超過美國的11億美元。卡達真是名利雙收。更值得我們特別注意的是，卡達與東北亞的中、韓、日、台的經貿關係因俄烏戰爭所帶來的能源危機、世足賽與綠能合作而大幅強化。而且，已成為中東與東北亞經貿互補與互動的新模式。

Those who study international relations believe that a country's foreign policy behavior is mainly driven by national interests. National interests can be roughly divided into security interests, political interests and economic interests. In fact, countries can achieve foreign policy goals through sports. The most obvious example is that South Korea completed its ''Northern Policy'' by hosting the 1988 Seoul Olympics. With the advent of the 21st century, sports diplomacy has become an important part of public diplomacy. Therefore, the main purpose of this article is to attempt to view Qatar's bid to host the 2022 World Cup as a foreign policy act, explore the national interests pursued by the country, and then examine how and whether it achieves its diplomatic goals. And what does it mean? In particular, what are the lessons we can learn from when studying international relations?
Before discussing Qatar's bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, it is necessary to first analyze why Qatar is interested in hosting the World Cup, and then analyze it from the perspective of national interest. Qatar's security interest is considered to be safe, and economically, it is one of the world's richest countries today. Therefore, Qatar's bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup obviously has little to do with pursuing security interests and economic and trade interests. Political interests are its primary motivation and goal.
Qatar and its neighbors Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are very different in terms of population, territorial size and overall economic scale, but Qatar’s per capita GDP is way ahead of the two neighboring countries. Therefore, it is assumed that Qatar's primary motivation and goal for hosting the 2022 World Cup is national prestige. Qatar is the first Arab country to host the FIFA World Cup. Despite having a population of 2.9 million, Qatar was able to leverage its strengths to successfully host the World Cup.
Qatar's biggest natural gas buyer China who provides assistance for infrastructure construction was key. In addition, Qatar's advertising revenue mainly comes from Asian countries. Millions of fans from all over the world went to the Middle East to watch the 2022 World Cup in person, with the opening match attracting an estimated 550 million viewers worldwide and the final match reaching nearly 1.5 billion. The biggest sponsors also came from Chinese companies, with nearly US$1.4 billion in sponsorship for the year's World Cup, including from four companies, including Wanda Enterprises, Mengniu, Vivo and Hisense, exceeding the US$1.1 billion from the United States. Qatar is truly blessed with both fame and fortune.