经济学人下载:中美军事误解(2)

The Americans are sometimes led around empty Potemkin bases and entertained with Kung Fu shows rather than genuine drills. They wonder why they should waste their time on such junkets, which offer little insight into Chinese intentions or how the two sides might defuse a crisis. When senior officers of the two sides meet, the Chinese tend to spend much of the time lambasting American foreign policy rather than discussing how to build trust.
有时，美国人会被带到波坦金基地，以功夫表演取乐而不是真正的军演。他们不知为何浪费时间在这种旅游上，这对了解中方意图、双方如何化解危机并无助力。高级官员会面时，倾向花大量时间抨击外交政策，而不是讨论如何建立信任。

In recent years China has forged ever-closer military ties with Russia. In September China sent thousands of troops to join Russia’s largest manoeuvres since the cold war. But when invited to take part in American exercises, China has behaved boorishly. In 2014 America, to its credit, allowed the Chinese navy to join RIMPAC, the world’s largest multinational war games at sea. Instead of responding with camaraderie, China demanded plum roles, sent spy ships to snoop on the manoeuvres and barred Japanese officers from the traditional shipboard cocktail party. America excluded China from RIMPAC this year in protest against China’s deployment of missiles on artificial islands it has built in the South China Sea. That upset the Chinese navy, but the Americans rightly felt no loss. Even when given a nopportunity to build bridges, Chinese officers have chosen to ignore it.
近年来，中国与俄罗斯建立了日益密切的军事关系。今年9月，派遣数千名士兵参加了俄罗斯自冷战以来规模最大的军事演习。但是当被邀请参加美国的演习时，却没那么积极。2014年，为了声望，参加环太平洋军演，这是世界上最大的海上多国军事演习。并没有以友好的态度回应，要求扮演重要角色，派遣间谍船窥探演习，并禁止日本军官参加传统的船上鸡尾酒会。今年，排除在环太平洋军演之外。这让中国海军感到不安，但美国没有感到损失，这是正确的。即使没有机会修建交好桥梁，官员也选择无视。

The two armed forces do not just use faxes to communicate. A channel called the Defence Telephone Link was set up adecade ago. A whizzier video link between the chairman of America’s joint chiefs of staff and his Chinese counterpart was established more recently. The problem is not a lack of channels. It is how they are used. American officials have made clear that if China were to call during a crisis, they would pick up the phone. They are not sure whether China would do the same.
两国军队不只是用传真来沟通。十年前两国建立了一个叫做国防电话线路的频道。最近，美国参谋长联席会议主席和中国参谋长联席会议主席之间建立了一种更为巧妙的视频联系。问题不在于缺乏渠道。而在于渠道的使用方式。美国官员已经明确表示，如果中国在危机期间打电话，他们会接。他们不确定是否也会这么做。