CNN重磅文章：中國不是敵人  美國政府正為愚蠢買單
On May 27, CNN published an opinion article written by American economist and public policy analyst Jeffrey Sachs titled China is not the source of our economic problems — corporate greed is.
 
In it, the author elaborated on the falsehood of blaming China as the "enemy", sharply pointed out how the trade tension was created out of the greed of Washington polices, and that "there will be no winners in such a conflict".
 
In a word, he said the US should find its own way out, using homegrown solutions, rather than finding scapegoat. 
 
Let's take a look at the article ↓↓
 
1
中國不是敵人
 
China is not an enemy. It is a nation trying to raise its living standards through education, international trade, infrastructure investment, and improved technologies. In short, it is doing what any country should do when confronted with the historical reality of being poor and far behind more powerful countries. Yet the Trump administration is now aiming to stop China's development, which could prove to be disastrous for both the United States and the entire world.
 
中國不是敵人。這是一個努力通過教育、國際貿(mào)易、基礎設施投資和技術(shù)改進來提高國民生活水平的國家。面對貧窮和落后于強國的歷史現(xiàn)實，中國在做任何國家都會做的事。但美國政府試圖阻止中國發(fā)展，這對美國和全球都可能是災難性的。
 
 
China is being made a scapegoat for rising inequality in the United States. While US trade relations with China have been mutually beneficial over the years, some US workers have been left behind, notably Midwestern factory workers facing competition due to rising productivity and comparatively low (though rising) labor costs in China. Instead of blaming China for this normal phenomenon of market competition, we should be taxing the soaring corporate profits of our own multinational corporations and using the revenues to help working-class households, rebuild crumbling infrastructure, promote new job skills and invest in cutting-edge science and technology.
 
中國被迫成為了美國不平等發(fā)展的替罪羊。多年來美中貿(mào)易關系一直互惠互利，但由于中國生產(chǎn)效率提高、勞動力成本較低，一些美國工人競爭不過。這是市場競爭正?，F(xiàn)象，我們不應為此指責中國，而應對利潤飆升的美國跨國公司征稅，用這些錢去幫助工薪家庭、重建破舊基礎設施、培訓新就業(yè)技能并向高新技術(shù)科技領域投資。
 
 
We should understand that China is merely trying to make up for lost time after a very long period of geopolitical setbacks and related economic failures. While China has seen incredible growth in the past four decades, the legacy of more than a century of poverty, instability, invasion and foreign threats still looms large. Chinese leaders would like to get things right this time, and that means they are unwilling to bow to the United States or other Western powers again.
 
我們應該認識到，中國遭遇了太久的地緣政治和經(jīng)濟挫折，如今只是在努力彌補。過去40年里中國經(jīng)濟高速增長，但曾經(jīng)一個多世紀的貧困、動蕩、入侵和外部勢力所遺留的問題仍在。這一次，中國領導人想把事情做好，這意味著他們不愿再屈從于美國或其他西方國家。
 
 
China is now the second-largest economy in the world, when GDP is measured at market prices. Yet it is a country still in the process of catching up from poverty. In 1980, according to IMF data, China's GDP per capita was a mere 2.5 percent of the United States, and by 2018 had reached only 15.3 percent of the US level. 
 
如果按市場價格計算國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值，中國如今是第二大經(jīng)濟體，但它仍處于擺脫貧困、向前追趕的過程中。1980年時中國人均GDP僅為美國的2.5%，到2018年也只上升到美國的15.3%。


2
中國“竊取”技術(shù)？想法太簡單
 
China has roughly followed the same development strategy as Japan, Korea and Singapore before it. From an economic standpoint, it is not doing anything particularly unusual for a country that is playing catch up. The constant US refrain that China "steals" technologies is highly simplistic.
 
中國的發(fā)展戰(zhàn)略與之前的日本、韓國、新加坡等差不多。從經(jīng)濟視角看，中國目前所做的與任何處于追趕中的國家并無不同。美國總說中國“竊取”技術(shù)，這種看法過于簡單化。
 
Countries that are lagging behind upgrade their technologies in many ways, through study, imitation, purchases, mergers, foreign investments, extensive use of off-patent knowledge and, yes, copying. And with any fast-changing technologies, there are always running battles over intellectual property. That's true even among US companies today — this kind of competition is simply a part of the global economic system. Technology leaders know they shouldn't count on keeping their lead through protection, but through continued innovation.
 
落后國家會通過多種方式升級技術(shù)，比如學習、模仿、購買、并購、投資、大量使用專利保護到期的知識甚至借鑒。對于高速發(fā)展的科學技術(shù)來說，圍繞知識產(chǎn)權(quán)的爭奪總是不可避免，美國公司之間也是如此——這種競爭只是全球經(jīng)濟體系的一部分。任何行家都知道不能靠保護來保持技術(shù)領先，而是要依靠持續(xù)創(chuàng)新。


The United States relentlessly adopted British technologies in the early 19th century. And when any country wants to close a technology gap, it recruits know-how from abroad. The US ballistic missile program, as it is well known, was built with the help of former Nazi rocket scientists recruited to the United States after World War II.
 
19世紀早期，美國不斷地采用英國技術(shù)。一旦有國家想縮小技術(shù)差距，美國就從海外招募相關專家。二戰(zhàn)后美國招聘了前納粹火箭科學家?guī)椭M建了有名的彈道導彈項目。
 
 
If China were a less populous Asian country, say like South Korea, with a little more than 50 million people, it would simply be hailed by the United States as a great development success story — which it is. But because it is so big, China refutes America's pretensions to run the world. The United States, after all, is a mere 4.2 percent of the world's population, less than a fourth of China's. The truth is that neither country is in a position to dominate the world today, as technologies and know-how are spreading more quickly across the globe than ever before.
 
如果中國是一個人口較少的亞洲國家，比如說韓國，人口只有五千萬多一點，那么它將被美國譽為一個發(fā)展成功的案例（當然中國也確實成功）。但中國的規(guī)模如此之大，何況它還駁斥了美國妄想統(tǒng)治世界的要求。畢竟，美國僅占世界人口的4.2%，不到中國人口的四分之一。實際上，由于技術(shù)和人才在全球的傳播速度比以往任何時候都快，沒有一個國家可以稱霸當今世界。
 
3
單方面挑起貿(mào)易戰(zhàn)是錯誤的
 
Trade with China provides the United States with low-cost consumer goods and increasingly high-quality products. It also causes job losses in sectors such as manufacturing that compete directly with China. That is how trade works. To accuse China of unfairness in this is wrong — plenty of American companies have reaped the benefits of manufacturing in China or exporting goods there. And US consumers enjoy higher living standards as a result of China's low-cost goods. The US and China should continue to negotiate and develop improved rules for bilateral and multilateral trade instead of stoking a trade war with one-sided threats and over-the-top accusations.
 
與中國的貿(mào)易為美國提供了低成本的消費品和越來越高質(zhì)量的產(chǎn)品。這也會導致美國制造業(yè)工作機會的流失，因為制造業(yè)直接面臨和中國的競爭。但貿(mào)易就是這樣運作的。指責中國在這方面不公平是錯誤的——許多美國公司已經(jīng)從中國制造業(yè)或出口到那邊的商品中獲益。由于中國的低成本產(chǎn)品，美國消費者享受著更高的生活水平。中美兩國應繼續(xù)雙邊和多邊貿(mào)易談判，并制定完善的規(guī)則，而不是以單方面威脅和無端指責來挑起貿(mào)易戰(zhàn)。

 
The most basic lesson of trade theory, practice and policy is not to stop trade — which would lead to falling living standards, economic crisis and conflict. Instead, we should share the benefits of economic growth so that the winners who benefit compensate the losers.
 
貿(mào)易理論、實踐和政策的最基本的教訓是不要停止貿(mào)易——這將導致生活水平下降、經(jīng)濟危機和沖突。相反，我們應該分享經(jīng)濟增長的好處，共同發(fā)展。
 
Yet under American capitalism, which has long strayed from the cooperative spirit of the New Deal era, today's winners flat-out reject sharing their winnings. As a result of this lack of sharing, American politics are fraught with conflicts over trade. Greed comprehensively dominates Washington policies.
 
然而，在長期背離新政時代合作精神的美國資本主義下，今天的贏家堅決拒絕分享他們的利益。由于缺乏共享，美國的貿(mào)易政策充滿了爭議。貪婪全面支配著華盛頓的政策。
 
4
美國真正的敵人是自己的大公司
 
The real battle is not with China but with America's own giant companies, many of which are raking in fortunes while failing to pay their own workers' decent wages. America's business leaders and the mega-rich push for tax cuts, more monopoly power and offshoring — anything to make a bigger profit — while rejecting any policies to make American society fairer.
 
美國真正的敵人不是中國，而是它自己的大公司。這些大公司中的許多人沒有給自己的工人支付體面的工資，反而在攫取財富。美國的商界領袖和超級富豪們都在鼓吹減稅、擴大壟斷、離岸外包等任何能獲取更大利潤的事，同時拒絕任何使美國社會更加公平的政策。
 
Trump is lashing out against China, ostensibly believing that it will once again bow to a Western power. It is willfully trying to crush successful companies like Huawei by changing the rules of international trade abruptly and unilaterally. China has been playing by Western rules for the past 40 years, gradually catching up the way that America's Asian allies did in the past. Now the United States is trying to pull the rug out from under China by launching a new Cold War.
 
美國政府正在猛烈抨擊中國，一廂情愿地認為中國將再次向西方國家低頭。它試圖通過突然單方面地改變國際貿(mào)易規(guī)則來打壓像華為這樣成功的公司。在過去的40年里，中國一直按照西方的規(guī)則行事，逐漸像美國的亞洲盟友一樣趕超了上來?，F(xiàn)在，美國卻想釜底抽薪，發(fā)動一場新的冷戰(zhàn)。
 
Unless some greater wisdom prevails, we could spin toward conflict with China, first economically, then geopolitically and militarily, with utter disaster for all. There will be no winners in such a conflict. Yet such is the profound shallowness and corruption of US politics today that we are on such a path.
 
除非有更明智的呼聲占上風，否則我們很可能就這樣轉(zhuǎn)向和中國的沖突。先是經(jīng)濟上，接著是政治和軍事上，給所有人帶去徹底的災難。在這樣的沖突中不會有贏家。然而，導致我們走上這樣一條道路的原因正是今天美國政治的膚淺和腐敗。



A trade war with China won't solve our economic problems. Instead we need homegrown solutions: affordable health care, better schools, modernized infrastructure, higher minimum wages and a crackdown on corporate greed. In the process, we would also learn that we have far more to gain through cooperation with China rather than reckless and unfair provocation.
 
與中國的貿(mào)易戰(zhàn)不能解決我們的經(jīng)濟問題。相反，我們應該尋求國內(nèi)解決方案：讓人們負擔得起醫(yī)保、上更好的學校、提供現(xiàn)代化的基礎設施、提高最低工資和打擊企業(yè)的貪婪。在這一過程中，我們也應認識到，相比魯莽和不公平的挑釁，從與中國的合作中我們獲益要大得多。
 

Jeffrey David Sachs  is an American economist, public policy analyst and former director of The Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is known as one of the world's leading experts on economic development and the fight against poverty.