观点：美中全球角力全面铺开，特朗普该如何接招？

The most important international problem confronting the Trump administration isn’t in North Korea or Iran. Instead, it lies in the rapidly multiplying challenges posed by China.

特朗普政府面临的最重要的国际问题并非朝鲜或伊朗，而是来自中国的日益严峻的挑战。

Events of recent days have underscored that a global tug of war between the U.S. and China is now fully on. Indeed, it has become the dominant feature on the global landscape, and figures to stay that way for a long while.

近日发生的事件表明，美中之间的全球角力已全面展开，成为全球舞台上的主导性话题，并可能持续很长一段时间。

The newest challenges from China are military ones. The Pentagon last week disinvited China from participating in a set of military exercises in the Pacific to protest the way they think the Chinese have broken their promise not to militarize the disputed Spratley Islands.

中国发起的最新挑战来自军事领域。五角大楼上周取消了对中国参加太平洋地区一系列军事演习的邀请，理由是抗议中国违背承诺，在有争议的斯普拉特利群岛（中国称南沙群岛）采取军事化行动。

As if to underscore its unhappiness, the U.S. over the weekend sent two warships into waters near another set of disputed South China Sea islands, the Paracels, where the Chinese also have been flexing their military muscles. In response, China said it had dispatched its own warships to challenge the U.S. vessels—or, as the Chinese put it in a statement, “to drive them away.”

似乎是为了表达不满情绪，美国上周末派出两艘军舰驶近另外一系列存在争议的南中国海（译者注：中国称南海）岛屿——帕拉塞尔群岛（译者注：中国称西沙群岛）；中国也曾在帕拉塞尔群岛展示武力。作为回应，中方表示已派出军舰对美国军舰进行识别查证，并且如其在声明中所言，对美国军舰“予以警告驱离”。

Atop all challenges lies the most obvious one, the rising trade tensions between Washington and Beijing. The trade skirmishes are still unfolding, and their outcome uncertain, but the Chinese so far appear to be maneuvering through them nicely. The Trump administration threatened tariffs on Chinese goods but has backed off imposing them in exchange for promises for more access to Chinese markets. Similarly the administration threatened crippling sanctions on Chinese telecom giant ZTE for violating trade sanctions on North Korea and Iran, but has backed away from them as well, in anticipation of a broader trade deal.

在所有挑战中，最显而易见的是不断升级的美中贸易冲突。这场冲突还在不断发展，结果尚难预料，但中国目前似乎游刃有余。特朗普政府威胁对中国商品加征关税，但为了换取中国进一步开放市场，并没有将这些威胁付诸实施。相似的，美国政府也威胁对中国电信巨头中兴通讯实施严厉制裁，指责后者违反对朝鲜和伊朗的贸易禁令，但为了达成一项更广泛的贸易协议，这方面的立场也有所变弱。

Thus, American officials say they are bracing for a long-term pattern in which China will cooperate in areas where interests intersect, while testing the U.S. in other areas.

因此，美国官员表示，正在为两国往来的一种长期模式做准备，即中国会在出现利益交集的领域展开合作，而同时又在其他领域试探美国。