社评：美方胁迫外交不灵了｜US' coercive diplomacy will fail

Prior to the departure of United States Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman for China on Saturday, senior US officials said in briefing on her two-day trip that she will tell her Chinese hosts there needs to be a level playing field and guardrails to ensure Sino-US competition does not veer into conflict.
在美国常务副国务卿温迪·舍曼周六启程前往中国之前，美国高级官员在介绍她为期两天的访问情况时表示，她将通过此次会谈告诉中国，美国乐见竞争但讲求公平，且必须为中美关系设立“护栏”，以确保彼此关系不会沦入冲突。

In a statement ahead of her visit, the US State Department said that Sherman's discussions with Chinese diplomats represent ongoing US efforts to hold candid exchanges with China to advance US interests and values, and to responsibly manage the relationship.

美国国务院在访华前的一份声明表示，此次舍曼与中国外交官的会晤，讨论了美国为与中国进行坦诚交流而正在做的努力，为推进美国的利益和价值观，对中美两国关系的发展更负责任。

However, judging from the report of her discussions with Vice-Foreign Minister Xie Feng in Tianjin on Monday morning provided by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, although she might have said all she was tasked to convey, China is not willing to be lectured by the US on how to manage relations.

然而，从她周一上午在天津与中国外交部副部长谢锋会谈的报告来看，尽管她可能已表达了要传达的所有内容，但中国不愿意接受美国就中美关系提出的一系列说法。

According to the Foreign Ministry report, Xie told Sherman that China is willing to maintain healthy and stable relations with the US, but that can only be on the basis of mutual respect, fairness and the basic norms of international relations.

据外交部报道，谢锋表示，中方愿意同美方保持健康稳定的关系，但这只能建立在相互尊重、公平竞争和国际关系基本准则的基础之上。

As Xie said, the reason Sino-US relations are in danger of veering into conflict is that some in the US treat China as an imaginary enemy — a combination of Japan before the Pearl Harbor was attacked and the Soviet Union after sending the first human-made satellite into space — and are hijacking the China policy of the US.
正如谢锋所说，中美关系目前陷入僵局，面临严重困难，根本原因在于美国一些人把中国当作“假想敌”。——就像珍珠港遭袭前的日本和将第一颗人造卫星送入太空之后的苏联，并且这种情况在美国的对华政策中处处体现。

The "competition-cooperation-confrontation" trichotomy the Joe Biden administration advocates for the management of the relations with China is nothing but a deceit.

美方主张的“竞争、合作、对抗”三分法不过是遏制打压中国的“障眼法”。

As Xie told Sherman, the Chinese people feel that the real emphasis is on the confrontational aspect, the collaborative aspect is just an expediency and the competitive aspect is a narrative trap.

正如谢锋向舍曼所称，中国人觉得对抗遏制是本质，合作是权宜之计，竞争是话语陷阱。

When the Biden administration needs China, it demands cooperation, and when it comes to the fields where the US is superior to China, it calls for decoupling and sanctions. And in the areas where the US wants to contain China, it leaves no stones unturned in trying to do so — ranging from interfering in China's internal affairs and long-arm jurisdiction to smearing and bullying — irrespective of the consequences.

美方在有求于中方时就要求合作，在自以为有优势的领域就脱钩断供、封锁制裁，为了遏制中国，干涉中国内政、抹黑霸凌也在所不惜。

In the face of the US' coercion, China's countermeasures are legal, rational and necessary to defend its sovereignty and core interests. If the US continues to pursue its current China policy, the most important bilateral relations in the world will descend unrecoverably into a vortex.Before Washington adopts a new direction for its diplomacy that encompasses common ground, there is no foundation on which to erect guardrails.

面对美国的施压，中国为维护主权和核心利益，采取适当的反制措施是合法的、理性的、也是必要的。如果美国继续奉行现行对华政策，世界上最重要的双边关系将不可避免地陷入漩涡。在美方改变外交方向并提供共同立场之前，双边关系就没有设立“护栏”的基础。

Sherman will not return home empty-handed as Xie gave her a list of actions that the US should stop and a list of individual cases that China is concerned about to help the US find a solid foothold on which to move relations forward.

舍曼不会空手而归，因为谢锋向她提出了两份清单。分别是要求美方纠正错误对华政策和言行的内容，和中方关切的重点个案清单，以帮助美国找到推动两国关系发展的坚实立足点。