CGTN主播王冠：美国关闭中国领馆的真正原因

Let's face it. Washington's decision to close the Chinese consulate in Houston will go down in history as the milestone event in the Trump administration's new Cold War on China.

让我们面对现实吧。华盛顿关闭中国驻休斯敦领事馆的决定或将被写入历史，成为特朗普政府对华新冷战的里程碑。

Washington's arguments for closing the consulate sounded bizarre and far-fetched.

华盛顿对此给出的理由听上去怪异牵强。

On July 21, the U.S. State Department said it did so "to protect American intellectual property and Americans' private information" without giving details.

7月21日，美国国务院称，这一决定的目的是“保护美国的知识产权和美国人的私人信息”，但并未做出任何详细说明。

And on July 22, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. did it to "protect the American people, protect our security, our national security, and also protect our economy and jobs. That's the actions you are seeing taken by President Trump. We will continue to engage in this."

7月22日，美国国务卿迈克·蓬佩奥称美国这样做“是为了保护美国人民，保护我们的安全，我们的国家安全，保护我们的经济和就业岗位。这就是目前特朗普总统采取各种措施的目的。我们会继续关注这方面的进展。”

But with all due respect, Mr. Secretary, many don't understand how expelling some 60 Chinese diplomats and their families whose mission, for the most part, is to look after consular and commercial interests of their own citizens, would protect U.S. se-curity, economy and jobs. 

恕我直言，国务卿先生。很多人不明白的是，这些中国外交人员的大部分工作是处理领事事务和维护中国公民的商业利益。驱逐他们和他们的家人能怎么保护美国的安全、经济和就业呢？

The explanation given by David Stilwell, assistant secretary of state for East Asia, is at least more substantive. Stilwell said the U.S. closed the Houston consulate because it had a history of engaging in "subversive behavior" with recent attempts of "scientific thefts" which "could be related to efforts to develop a vaccine for the coronavirus."

而负责东亚事务的助理国务卿史达伟做出的解释至少没有那么空洞。他说，美国关闭中国驻休斯敦领事馆是因为该领事馆长期参与“颠覆活动”，近期曾试图“盗取可能与新冠病毒疫苗开发相关的科学成果”。

Again, no evidence is provided, the lack of which raised more questions than an-swers.

他同样没有拿出任何证据。这种毫无根据的指控所暴露的疑点比揭示的事实要多得多。

While the U.S. tripled its COVID-19 cases in the past two months, China has kept its outbreak largely under control for months. It's a bit difficult to imagine Chinese dip-lomats risking it all to "steal" vaccines on American soil. Perhaps one true reason the administration didn't or couldn't say was Trump's re-election and his base.

过去的两个月里，美国的新冠肺炎病例达到了之前的三倍。而中国却基本控制住疫情已经数月有余。难以想象中国外交官会冒着巨大风险到美国“窃取”疫苗。或许美国政府没有说出来，或不能说出来的一个原因是特朗普的竞选和他的基本盘。

According to RealClearPolitics, Biden is leading Trump in all major polls.

“真清晰政治”网的数据显示，拜登在所有主要民调中均领先特朗普。

Even in the swing states that helped Trump win in 2016, Biden is leading.

即便是在2016年帮助特朗普赢得大选的摇摆州中，拜登也处于领先位置。

To salvage Trump's re-election campaign, top Republican leaders recently told Foreign Policy magazine that party polling consistently reveals that China-bashing is immensely popular among Trump supporters and that the "blame China" theme can help re-elect the president in November, offsetting some of the disdain many Americans have for his handling of the country's COVID-19 crisis.

为挽救特朗普在竞选中的颓势，中国被当成了工具。主要共和党领导人近期向《外交政策》杂志表示，党内民调结果一致显示，“抨击中国”深受特朗普支持者的欢迎，而且“怪罪中国”的论调能够帮助特朗普再次赢得大选，因为这可以抵消很多人对总统疫情应对表现的不满。

This Pew survey showed 72 percent of Republicans have negative views toward Chi-na, most of whom probably wouldn't mind seeing Trump getting tougher with Bei-jing.

皮尤研究中心的调查显示，72%的共和党人对中国持负面看法，其中大多数可能并不介意特朗普采取更为强硬的对华政策。

Even the BBC commented on the consulate incident by saying: "In the midst of a presidential re-election campaign and with the U.S. economy and society battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Trump has determined that there is political advantage in playing the China card." 

甚至BBC也就领事馆事件做出评论说，“竞选活动正在进行，又正值美国经济和社会受到疫情的严重冲击，特朗普先生认为自己能够通过打中国牌获得政治优势。”

While Trump is mostly concerned with elections, people around him took advantage of that to push their own agendas.

特朗普最关心的是选举，于是他周围的人就利用这一点来达成各自的目的。

The intelligence community and military-security establishment have long sought to contain a rising China and prevent it from becoming a superior economic, military and technological power.

长期以来，美国的情报和军事安全机构一直试图遏制中国的崛起，阻止中国在经济、军事和科技上超越美国。

Liberals on the left, who long took issue with China's human rights record and its lack of commitment to Western-style democracy, joined the action.

左翼的自由主义者始终对中国的人权记录指指点点，对中国未走西方式的民主道路心怀不满，于是也加入了打压中国的行动。

It is appalling that Chinese diplomats became sacrificial lambs in this politically charged season.

在充斥着各种政治动机的当前环境下，中国外交官成为了牺牲品。这实在让人感到震惊。

It's even more upsetting that U.S.-China relations are now held hostage by a small group of politicians to advance their own political interests against the wishes of most people on both sides who are just sick and tired of this endless tit-for-tat.

更令人不安的是，美中关系现在被一小撮政客所挟持，用来推进自己的政治利益，这有悖于中美两国大多数人的意愿，因为人们已经深深厌倦了两国关系无休止的对峙和恶化。

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