评论 | 分裂世界的“民主峰会”
Editor's note: A "Summit for Democracy" is to be held by the Biden administration from December 9 to 10. But it is worth noting that countries like China, Russia, Hungary, etc, are not invited. Carlos Martinez, a co-founder of No Cold War campaign and an author and activist based in London, shares his views on the purpose of holding this summit. The views expressed in this video are his and not necessarily those of CGTN.
编者按：美国将于12月9日至10日举办所谓的“民主峰会”，但中国、俄罗斯、匈牙利等国家却未受到邀请。国际倡议组织“拒绝冷战”的创办者之一卡洛斯·马丁内斯讲述了其对此次峰会目的的看法。本文仅代表受访者的观点，不代表CGTN的观点。
The "Summit (for Democracy)" is held in a sensitive international context. ——Carlos Martinez
“（民主）峰会”是在一个敏感的国际背景下举行的。——卡洛斯·马丁内斯
I think the international context is quite sensitive (and) quite fragile. The main reason behind this being the emerging “new cold war,” which is led by the United States and is directed primarily against China. It's also directed against Russia, Iran, Cuba, Venezuela (and) the DPRK.
我认为目前国际环境相当敏感、相当脆弱。其背后的主要原因是正在出现的“新冷战”。“新冷战”由美国主导，主要针对中国，也针对俄罗斯、伊朗、古巴、委内瑞拉、朝鲜。
Essentially, all those countries that you can say, they're unwilling to accept the U.S. vision of international relations, the so-called liberal international order in which the U.S. enjoys more or less unchallenged hegemony. And U.S.-China relations have really deteriorated in recent years, particularly since 2018.
基本上，所有这些国家都不愿意接受美国对国际关系的看法，即所谓的自由主义国际秩序，美国在其中或多或少享有不受挑战的霸权。美中关系近年来确实在恶化，尤其是2018年以来。
China's policy has been and remains one of peaceful coexistence of accepting and understanding ideological differences, but not allowing these to develop into conflict, not allowing these to develop into something that will get in the way of mutually beneficial cooperation. It seems Washington has started to realize that the dreams that it had (and) that its politicians had about China were not realistic.
中国的政策一直是，并将继续是，接受和理解意识形态差异的和平共处政策，但不会让这些差异发展成冲突，也不会让这些差异发展成互利合作的阻碍。似乎华盛顿已经开始意识到，美国政府和政客针对中国的幻想并不现实。
And what the U.S. hadn't counted on is China emerging as a powerhouse of science and technology, sending rockets to Mars, innovating on 5G, innovating on artificial intelligence, innovating on renewable energy, and so on. The U.S. hadn't counted on China upgrading its economy, becoming an advanced country, and it certainly hadn't anticipated things like the Belt and Road Initiative. So China's become a major power, and I think this has caused panic and confusion in the U.S.
美国没有想到的是中国正在成为一个科技强国，首次火星探测任务着陆火星取得成功、在5G方面进行创新、在人工智能方面进行创新、在可再生能源方面进行创新等等。美国没有想到中国会提升其经济水平，并成为一个先进的国家，当然也没有想到例如中国提出“一带一路”倡议这样的事情。中国已经成为一个大国，我认为这在美国引起了恐慌和困惑。
And I think President Biden has inherited what is essentially a very difficult (and) a very complex situation. And the big question of his presidency is whether he is going to continue to escalate this "new cold war" or whether saner voices will prevail, and they can find a way to reduce tensions and to help rebuild a mutually beneficial U.S.-China relationship.
我认为拜登总统面临的局面本质上是非常困难和复杂的。他在总统任期内的最大问题是，是否会继续升级这场“新冷战”，还是说更理智的声音会占据上风，并找到一种方法来缓解紧张的局势，帮助重建互利的美中关系。
The "Summit (for Democracy)" creates an "us against them" environment. ——Carlos Martinez
“（民主）峰会”创造了一个“我们与他们”的对抗环境。——卡洛斯·马丁内斯
I think the summit is a dangerous game that the U.S. is playing. They are sort of drawing a line of division in the world and creating an "us against them" environment, just as they did with the Cold War against the Soviet Union. And drawing that line on the basis of democracy is actually quite arbitrary.
我认为“民主峰会”是美国正在玩的一个危险游戏。美国这是在世界范围内划一条分界线，创造一个 “我们与他们”的对抗环境，就像它对苏联进行冷战时那样。打着民主的幌子划定这条界线实际上是非常武断的。
If you look at the list of countries (and regions) that are invited to the summit and the list of countries that aren't invited to the summit, the difference isn't about democracy. It's about which countries go along with the U.S. geopolitical strategy and which don't.
如果你看一下被邀请和未被邀请参加峰会的国家（和地区）名单，其区别并不在于民主，而在于哪些国家与美国的地缘政治战略一致，哪些国家不一致。
It kind of feels like Western politicians are using the words "democratic" and "authoritarian" as code words to mean, essentially, pro-imperialist and anti-imperialist. The dividing line being drawn here is about whether the 21st century is going to be characterized by U.S. domination, or whether it's going to be characterized by the transition to a multipolar multilateral system based on the principles of international law (and) based on the UN Charter.
这好似西方政客把“民主”和“专制”这两个词作为代号，而本质上是指“亲帝国主义”和“反帝国主义”。这里的分界线的标准是，关于21世纪的国际秩序是以美国的主导为特征，还是以过渡到基于国际法原则和联合国宪章的多极多边体系为特征。
Dividing the world into opposing hostile camps is really the last thing humanity needs. We face a set of enormous global challenges - climate change, pandemics (and) the possibility of nuclear conflict. And these challenges absolutely require close cooperation between all the countries of the world and particularly the major powers. And in that sense, a "new cold war" constitutes a very real (and) a very serious threat.
将世界划分为对立的阵营是人类最不需要的东西。我们当下正面临着一系列巨大的全球挑战——气候变化、大流行病、可能的核冲突等。而应对这些挑战绝对需要世界上所有国家，特别是大国之间的紧密合作。在这个意义上，“新冷战”构成了一个非常真实、非常严重的威胁。
This project isn't going to be successful. Very few countries are going to go along with the "new cold war" because, ultimately, it's not in their interests.
美国的企图是不会成功的。很少有国家会配合“新冷战”，因为这最终是不符合各国利益的。
China proposed whole process people's democracy opens up political power to the masses of the people. ——Carlos Martinez
中国提出的全过程人民民主让广大人民群众共同行使政治权力。——卡洛斯·马丁内斯
China's already taken up the ideological challenge, which is this attempt by the U.S. to universalize Western capitalist democracy and to present it as the only truly democratic system. The Chinese leadership has been talking a lot recently about China's whole-process people's democracy, which through the system of people's congresses, the system of consultative conferences, seeks to open up political power to the masses of the people.
中国正在遭受意识形态方面的挑战，即美国试图将西方资本主义民主普世化，并将其作为唯一真正的民主制度。中国最近一直在谈论全过程人民民主，通过人民代表大会制度、政治协商会议制度，让广大人民群众共同行使政治权力。
And it seems to me that it's quite clearly reflected in the actual priorities of the Chinese government. The big priorities for China are tackling poverty, tackling homelessness, ensuring that people are protected from the pandemic, dealing with pollution, developing renewable energy and a green economy, cracking down on corruption, improving the education and health care systems, and generally speaking, improving people's lives.
在我看来，这在中国政府的实际优先事项中得到了清楚的体现。中国的主要优先事项是解决贫困问题、解决无家可归问题、保护人民抗击疫情、处理污染问题、发展可再生能源和绿色经济、打击腐败及改善教育和医疗保健系统等，广泛地说，就是提高人民生活水平。
And in that sense, I think people can see China's government is much more responsive to the needs of its people than Western governments.
在这个意义上，我认为人们可以看到，中国政府比西方政府能更好地满足人民的需求。
So I think it's very much the right thing for China to talk about its own democratic model and to explain the nature of people's democracy (and) to explain the nature of socialist democracy.
所以我认为，中国谈论自己的民主模式并解释人民民主和社会主义民主的性质，是非常正确的事情。
The other key thing China is doing that I think helps to counter the U.S. strategy is that it's developing excellent relations with as many countries as possible.
中国正在做的另一件有助于对抗美国战略的关键事情是，中国正在与尽可能多的国家发展良好关系。
So, China isn't isolated, and it's not going to become isolated as a result of this U.S. "new cold war" strategy. Washington would really be best advised to drop that strategy and to take the opportunity to rebuild a collaborative, friendly and mutually beneficial relationship with China.
因此，中国并没有被孤立，也不会因为美国的 “新冷战”战略而变得孤立。美国最好放弃这一战略，并把握机会，与中国重建合作、友好、互利的关系。