文化差异何其大 美国为何难以理解中国

Yet America’s predominance in east Asia contributes little to the security of a nation whose geography and unsurpassed military capabilities would anyway make it close to invulnerable. The US is the most secure great power in history – even more so if you factor in the deterrent effect of nuclear weapons. The true cause of American insecurity is not an imminent encroachment on its territory but the risk that US alliances – especially with Japan – will draw it into a regional conflict.
然而，在东亚地区的主导地位并不会让美国更安全——不管怎样，美国所处的地理位置和拥有的无可匹敌的军事能力让其处于一种近乎无懈可击的状态。美国是历史上最安全的大国——如果你考虑到核武器的威慑作用，就会更肯定这一点。美国真正的不安全因素不是其疆域会遭到入侵，而是同盟关系——尤其是美日同盟——将其拖入地区冲突的风险。

The US wants to maintain its east Asian dominance to keep the region’s markets open to American goods and its people open to liberal ideas. China threatens this openness, on which America’s security is wrongly believed to depend.
美国希望保持在东亚地区的主导地位，以让该地区的市场继续向美国商品开放，其民众继续接受自由主义思想的熏陶。中国威胁到了这种开放，而美国的安全被错误地以为依赖于这种开放。

The liberal assumptions embedded in American foreign policy put the US at odds with China, and also heighten Beijing’s mistrust of Washington’s intentions and ambitions. The spiral of animosity that threatens to culminate in a confrontation between the two countries is in large part a creation of American policy.
美国外交政策中蕴含的自由主义思想导致美国与中国立场不一致，也加深了北京方面对华盛顿意图和抱负的不信任感。这种不断增长的、有可能在两国对抗中达到顶峰的敌意，在很大程度上是美国政策导致的。

As China’s rises, Washington has a last clear chance to avoid the looming Sino-American conflict.
在中国的崛起过程中，美国有最后的避让机会，可以避免不断迫近眼前的中美冲突真正爆发。

This would entail making real concessions on Taiwan and on China’s territorial claims in the East and South China Seas. It would also involve a commitment that Washington would not interfere in China’s internal affairs.
这需要美国在台湾问题以及中国涉及东中国海和南中国海的领土主张上做出真正的妥协。此外美国也需承诺不干预中国内部事务。

America’s political culture – based on exceptionalism, liberal ideology, and openness – is a big obstacle to coming to terms with a resurgent China. So is the fact that the foreign-policy elite remains wedded to American primacy, and refuses to accept that this will inevitably slip away because of the relative decline of US power.
美国建立在例外主义、自由主义思想和开放观念等基础之上的政治文化，是影响美国接受复兴的中国的一大障碍。另一个障碍是，美国外交政策圈子中的精英们依然痴迷于“美国主导地位”，并拒绝接受这种地位随着美国实力相对衰落必将丧失的观点。

History is also a problem.
历史也是一个问题

US policy makers are quick to invoke what they take to be the lessons of the 1930s while overlooking the causes of the first world war. David Calleo, a professor at Johns Hopkins, has observed that what we should learn from the earlier conflict “is not so much the need for vigilance against aggressors, but the ruinous consequences of refusing reasonable accommodation to upstarts”.
美国政策制定者迅速摆出他们从上世纪30年代事件中归纳的教训，却无视一战的起因。约翰斯-霍普金斯大学(Johns Hopkins University)的戴维•卡莱奥(David Calleo)教授指出，我们应该从更早那场冲突中学到的主要教训，“不是必须警惕侵略者，而是拒绝合理包容新崛起者将带来破坏性后果”。

If the US wants to avoid a future conflict with China, it cannot allow liberal ideology to obstruct a reconciliation with an ever more powerful China. That is the real lesson of 1914.
如果美国想要避免未来与中国发生冲突，就不能让自由主义意识形态妨碍它与越来越强大的中国修好。这是1914年带给我们的真正教训。