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美国发动“骂(scold)战”,无力搞“冷(cold)战”(中英双语)

王文 人大重阳 2020-09-04

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编者按:在环球时报英文版第38篇“变局”专栏中,作者中国人民大学重阳金融研究院执行院长王文提出一个新词“Scold War”(骂战),回应当下美国舆论屡屡挑衅对华“冷战”的言论。文章已引起不少国际学者的关注与肯定。人大重阳君为您推荐该文的中英文版。


本文英文版在Global Times的版面截图

  判断美国,我常常是少数派。当多数人乐观时,我通常悲观,比如,五年前我出版专著《美国的焦虑》,剖析美国对中国崛起的纠结心态;三个月前,美国不到100个感染病例时,我当时专栏文章预测“美国大规模爆发疫情”。当多数人悲观时,我更乐观,比如,近期许多人担心中美爆发冷战,我不这么看。

  5月24日,中国国务委员兼外交部长王毅“两会”期间,用两个小时系统地回答几乎所有国际热点,尤其是中美关系。我听完后,更坚定了对中美未来审慎乐观的预测。

  这位中国民众心目中的“外交男神”当天最频繁的用词包括“合作”、“人类”、“历史”等。他还明确讲“新冷战是开历史倒车”。很明显,他的战略站位明显比特朗普更高,更强于像怨妇般天天骂中国的蓬佩奥。

  事实已证明,即便美国有不少人想发动对中国的冷战,但中国没有兴趣。不应战,并非不敢,而是没必要,更不需要。与美国打冷战,丝毫帮助不了中国发展与世界利益,这是中国决策者的共识,也是国际社会的共识。

  即使在美国本土,发动冷战也未必有共识。我完全同意当过美国常务副国务卿、世界银行行长的佐利克先生近期在《华尔街日报》的文章:“那些鼓吹与中国打一场新冷战的人不知道他们想要的目标。新冷战斗士们无法遏制中国,其它国家也不会加入我们的阵营。”这与1949年北约成立时的美国国际号召力完全不同。

  我与佐利克见过几次。他的智慧令我佩服。他坦承,当下美国对中国的方式只剩下发泄情绪。是的,这正是我想说的。美国对中国发动的不是冷战(cold war),而是骂战(scold war)。那些人像是堂吉诃德,拿起长矛,冲向大风车,摆出一幅勇士的样子。

  特朗普总统2月份还多次发推特肯定中国抗疫。到3月中旬,美国新增病例超过1万后,他变得焦躁不安,于是甩锅中国,试图转移国内舆论的批评注意力。他必须连任,否则可能遭清算,像许多韩国前总统那样。而拜登害怕被贴“亲中”标签,加入了“骂战”竞争。

  于是,美国媒体有了报道的料,美国社会的情绪被调动。最可怜的是单纯的美国民众,被美国政客与媒体耍得团团转,几乎忽视了已10万人死于新冠病毒,且还会死得更多。

  历史不能由美国政客的谎言来书写。中国被迫还击。4月开始,中国几乎所有媒体火力全开,将美国政府尤其是两国关系下滑的罪魁祸首蓬佩奥批得狗血喷头。一场骂战在太平洋两岸打响。这场“骂战”比的是事实的真相与历史的道义。

  不过,中国政府是克制的。除了外交部发言人等少数官员的话语回击外,中国高层保持着忍耐与包容。中国对美国人民的关切也是真诚的。截至5月24日,中国向美国提供了120亿个口罩。还应该肯定的是,两国军人保持着应有的大国理性,成为两国关系稳定的新压舱石。

  这就对了。特朗普政府对中国唾沫横生了三年多,并没有颠覆性地改变了什么。发动贸易战,最终还是回到谈判桌,中国仍保持着对美顺差;打压中国投资,却便宜了其他国家;想欺负华为,反而提升了华为的全球知名度,还激发了中国人技术自主的决心与斗志。

  难怪中国网民调侃特朗普为“川建国”,意指“帮助建设中国”。这是新时代中国人的自信与乐观。原因很简单,中国不学苏联,变身对抗美国的拳击手,而是融为美国与全球利益的内化存在,像是空气与血液。美国当然没有能力抽离自己所需要的空气与血液。

  有位医学家朋友曾比喻,新冠病毒与人的大小比例,像人体之于地球。无法想象单个人赤手空拳能打败地球,但人类却被微小的新冠病毒打得溃不成军。历史将会这样记录,因为美国发动“骂战”,毁掉了全球最大两个经济体本应有的团结,并陷入近半个世纪以来最严重的舆论紧张中。

5月24日国务委员兼外交部长王毅答记者问


以下为英文版

US launches Scold War, not Cold War

By Wang Wen

  I am usually in the minority when it comes to judging Washington. While most people hold optimistic views, I take pessimistic perspective. In 2016, I published my monograph - Anxiety of US - to analyze the tangled US mind-sets toward China's rise. On March 2, when fewer than 100 confirmed cases of COVID-19 hit this North American country, in my column, I predicted there would be "a large-scale coronavirus outbreak in the US." Recently my role flipped: While the majority felt pessimistic, I became an optimistic. 

  I don't approve of the ongoing argument that there would be a cold war between China and the US.

  In fact, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday spent 100 minutes systematically answering almost all matters of global hot spots - in particular China-US ties. This strengthens my cautiously optimistic anticipation of future bilateral ties.

The phrases Wang used most frequently were ones such as cooperation, humanity, and history. He noted that a new cold war is trying to reverse the wheel of history. His strategic stance is clearly higher than that of US President Donald Trump, and much wiser than that of US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who have been repeatedly attacking China in the past several months.

  It has been proven that even though a few US politicians hope to launch a cold war against China, the second-largest economy in the world is not interested in such a cold war. China is not echoing the intention of the cold war not due to a lack of courage, but because it is not necessary. A cold war with the US will do no good to China's development, nor cater to global interests. on which China's decision-makers and international community are on the same page.

  Domestically, Americans have failed to reach a consensus to launch a cold war with China. I fully agree with the opinion of an article published in the Wall Street Journal, written by Robert B. Zoellick, former World Bank president and US trade representative and deputy secretary of state. The article goes, "The proponents of a 'New Cold War' have declared their objections to China, but not what they plan to accomplish." It continues, "The New Cold Warriors can't contain China given its ties throughout the world; other countries won't join us." Washington's current international appeal completely differs from when NATO was established in 1949.

  I have met Zoellick several times and admire his wisdom. He confessed that Washington's approach to Beijing at present "relies on confrontation and accusation," which is exactly what I want to express. What the US has launched against China is not a cold war, but a scold war. The people who started that are behaving like Don Quixote - They are picking up their spears, rushing toward the windmill, and acting as warriors.

  Trump in February tweeted several times praising China's efforts in curbing the novel coronavirus. But as of mid-March, when the number of infected cases exceeded 10,000 in the US, he became restless and spared no efforts to pass the buck to China, in a bit to divert attention away from domestic criticism he was confronted with. He has to win reelection, otherwise he could be held accountable, as many former South Korean presidents have been. 

  Fearful of being labeled pro-China, Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, also joined the scold war.

  Hence, US media outlets have stories to report, and the emotions of Americans have been mobilized. Having been fooled by US politicians and their media, the US public, sadly, have almost ignored the fact that nearly 100,000 died as of Sunday due to COVID-19 in their own country and that the number is expected to continue to grow.

  History shouldn't be written based on US politicians' lies. China has been left with no other options but to fight back. Since April, almost all Chinese media outlets fired a battle against the US government, especially against Pompeo, the true culprit of the decline of China-US ties. The scold war, a contest of truth and historical morality, is raging on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. 

  However, the Chinese government has been restraining itself. Despite some diplomats' counterattacks, China's top leadership has been patient and tolerant. And China's care about the American people is sincere. According to the latest data of China's customs, from March 1 to May 5, China sent to the US at least 344 million surgical gloves, 44 million protective outfits, 6.75 million goggles, and about 7,500 ventilators. Till Sunday, China has sent at least 12 billion face masks to the US, Wang said during the press conference. Besides, the two countries' militaries have kept rationale as a new ballast stone to stabilize China-US relations.

  This is it. The Trump administration has been finding fault with China for over three years, but it hasn't drastically changed anything. It launched a trade war against China, but eventually sat back at the negotiation table. It suppressed Chinese investment, but then favored some of the countries' other trading partners. It aimed to crack down on Chinese high-tech giant Huawei, but ended up enhancing the company's prestige and inciting China's determination and fighting will to develop technological autonomy.

  That's why many Chinese netizens call President Trump "Jianguo," which literally translates as "help construct China." The term Jianguo shows Chinese people's confidence and optimism in this new era. China hasn't followed in the steps of Soviet Union, which was engaged in confrontations against the US. Quite the opposite, it has chosen to integrate itself within US' and world's interests. China to the US is what blood and air are to a person.

  A friend of mine who is a medical professional made this contrasting metaphor: Comparing in size, the virus is as small to a person as a person is to our planet. He really meant that only in fiction can a person defeat the Earth with their bare hands. But in reality the tiny novel coronavirus has left a big mess to the human society. 

  When people in the future review history, they will find that the US started the scold war to destroy the due solidarity of the world's largest two economies. This left the two countries in a worst-case scenario for public opinion tensions.

(The author is professor and executive dean of Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China, and executive director of China-US People-to-People Exchange Research Center. His latest book is Great Power's Long March Road.

百年变局(王文 贾晋京 刘玉书 王鹏 著)北京师范大学出版社(请点击购买)


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中国人民大学重阳金融研究院(人大重阳)成立于2013年1月19日,是重阳投资董事长裘国根先生向母校捐赠并设立教育基金运营的主要资助项目。


作为中国特色新型智库,人大重阳聘请了全球数十位前政要、银行家、知名学者为高级研究员,旨在关注现实、建言国家、服务人民。目前,人大重阳下设7个部门、运营管理4个中心(生态金融研究中心、全球治理研究中心、中美人文交流研究中心、中俄人文交流研究中心)。近年来,人大重阳在金融发展、全球治理、大国关系、宏观政策等研究领域在国内外均具有较高认可度。

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