【双语社评】谈判好啊，但美国的诚意依然缺席
China and the US are trying to restart talks to avert a full-blown trade war, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. It quoted a source familiar with the matter as saying that representatives of US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He are having private meetings. Another Western media source reported that US President Donald Trump is considering raising the tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion of Chinese goods. It seems that Trump is trying to force China to make its biggest concession by both carrot and stick.
彭博社报道说，中美正试图重启贸易谈判，以避免双方爆发全面贸易战。该社援引知情人士的话说，美财长姆努钦和中国副总理刘鹤的代表正在私下会谈。与此同时，西方媒体另一则报道说，特朗普准备把对下一批2000亿美元中国产品的征税税率从10%提升到25%。看来特朗普政府在软硬兼施，试图快速达到迫使中国做出最大让步的目的。
Negotiation between China and the US is not a bad thing. But obviously Trump's administration still lacks sincerity and is maximizing pressure on Beijing. This is not a regular trade war. Trump wants to establish his "America first" policy and the trade war is a head-on blow to the entire world. For Beijing and Washington, the trade war is a process to redefine bilateral ties amid a changing global balance of power. During the process both countries' trading power, comprehensive strength, will and cohesion will count.
我们认为，中美谈起来，总不是坏事。但在现阶段，特朗普政府显然还没有形成与中国通过平等谈判达成妥协的诚意，它处在继续对华极限施压的惯性中。这的确不是普通的贸易战，特朗普总统要确立“美国优先”的原则，贸易战是他给全世界的下马威。就中美之间来说，贸易战是两国实力格局和国际大形势均发生变化之后重新定义中美关系的过程，两国的贸易力量、综合实力还有意志、凝聚力都将参与这一次的定义。
The redefinition of China-US relations will come sooner or later. Some American elites do not accept China's prosperity, believing the US can strategically contain the rise of China. They are eager to show their capability and force China to be a US economic vassal just like Japan when it accepted the Plaza Accord.
中美关系的这场重新定义早晚要来。美国的一些精英不接受中国强盛，他们认为美国有能力以遏制的方式结束中国复兴，他们一直摩拳擦掌要展示这一能力，迫使中国像当年接受广场协议的日本一样甘心做美国的经济附庸。
If the Sino-US trade war is about economic interests, it won't be hard to resolve. When both sides suffer losses during the battle, they will eventually head toward negotiations and reach a compromise, which is much better than keeping on fighting. If both Washington and Beijing continuously raise the stakes, conflict becomes more of an overall redefinition of Sino-US relations.
中美贸易战如果就是点经济利益问题，是不难解决的。打着打着，双方都吃了亏，就会走向谈判，达成一个比打贸易战好得多的妥协方案。如果中美能够轮番加码持续打下去，说明打的已经不是一点贸易利益，而确实就是对中美关系的整体再定位。
Does China have the right to further keep developing itself? Should it yield to the US, listen to Washington's command and reconstruct China's economic operation mode, making it conform to US interests? Should Beijing hand over most of its economic sovereignty to the US? China says "no" and is prepared to bear some painful results of the trade war.
中国还有没有权利继续发展，我们是否应当臣服于美国，是否应当听从华盛顿的指挥，配合美方利益重构中国的经济运行模式，甚至一言以蔽之：中国是否应该将自己经济主权的一大部分交给美方？如果我们的决定是“不”，那么我们是否应当为捍卫这个决定承受一些贸易战的痛苦呢？
Repositioning ties between China and the US through a trade war, instead of a hot war or an overall Cold War is probably not a bad choice for Beijing. China's trading and economic power is precisely the strongest of all its strengths.
让中美关系的艰难定位通过贸易战、而非热战或全面冷战来进行，这对中国或许是最不坏的选择。因为中国的经济和贸易实力恰是各项实力中最强的。
Facing turmoil in Sino-US ties, the Chinese people do not need to panic. Washington has the initiative to launch and terminate the trade war. But once the trade war breaks out, the US has no ability to control its development. As long as the Chinese stay united, defensive battling could rock the US trade offensive.
中国人完全不必因中美关系当前的动荡而惊慌。美国有发动和终止贸易战的主动，但它没有贸易战开打后的战役控制权，中国只要团结一心，顶得住一时困难，我们就能打出一场强烈震撼美国的阵地防守战。
China must stay calm and fight this trade war like a protracted war until Washington agrees to solve bilateral trade disputes through equal negotiations and make the episode with China an example for future bilateral consultations. It is believed that China has considerable strength to keep fighting until that day comes.
我们要冷静、坚定地把这场贸易战当持久战来打，直到美国同意通过平等谈判来解决双方经贸争议，并把它作为今后两国平等协商解决问题的范例。请相信，我们有更多后劲坚持到那一天的到来。
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