The US Navy this week finally made good on its promise to challenge Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea. By sending an American warship within 12 miles of an artificial island that China has constructed, Washington underscored that it does not recognise Chinese claims to territorial waters lying thousands of miles from its mainland. Beijing’s reaction to the voyage of the USS Lassen was shrill — accusing the US of acting illegally and urging it to refrain from further “dangerous” and “provocative” actions.
美国海军本周终于兑现了其挑战中国在南中国海领土主张的诺言。通过派遣一艘军舰驶入中国建造的一个人工岛12海里范围内，美国明确表明了自己不承认中国对距中国大陆数千英里以外的水域的主权声索。中国对美国海军“拉森”号驱逐舰(USS Lassen)此次航行行动反应强烈——谴责美方此举为非法，敦促其不得采取进一步的“危险、挑衅”行为。
Any hint of military conflict between the two largest economies in the world, both of them nuclear-armed, needs to be taken seriously. Both sides have a responsibility to proceed with appropriate caution. But it is the US that seems to have international law and precedent on its side, in challenging the idea that the construction of artificial islands can create new territorial waters. By contrast, as it pushes its claims in the South China Sea through an island-building programme, rather than through the international legal system, Beijing is in danger of making a strategic mistake that could disrupt the peaceful trading environment that has been so crucial to its own rise.
美国和中国是全球最大的两个经济体，都拥有核武器，任何暗示这两国可能爆发军事冲突的蛛丝马迹都需要认真对待。中美双方都有责任适度谨慎前行。但在挑战建造人工岛能创造新领海这一看法方面，国际法和先例似乎站在美国这边。相比之下，随着中国通过造岛计划（而非通过国际法律体系）推动其在南中国海的领土主张，北京方面可能会犯下战略失误，可能会破坏一直以来对其自身崛起至关重要的和平贸易环境。
True, some of America’s allies are worried that Washington is being needlessly provocative. One argument is that there is no evidence that China intends to use its maritime claims to disrupt freedom of navigation in the Pacific. Another is that, as an emerging superpower, China will naturally seek to establish a zone of influence in its immediate neighbourhood — and that resistance is pointless and dangerous.
确实，美国的一些盟友担心，美国做出的挑衅举动是没有必要的。一种观点是，没有证据证明中国打算利用其海上领土主张破坏太平洋的航行自由。另一种观点认为，作为一个新兴超级大国，中国自然会寻求在其临近地区建立势力范围，抵制是没有意义和危险的。
Washington is nevertheless right to reject the notion of a Chinese “sphere of influence” that would allow Beijing to assert territorial or maritime claims that are rejected by its neighbours — and that would probably not withstand the test of international law. If China were to get its way, it would set a dangerous precedent with global implications — particularly in the aftermath of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
然而，美国对中国“势力范围”概念的反对是正确的：这个“势力范围”将令中国能够维护遭其邻国反对的领土或海上主张，而且中国的做法很可能经受不住国际法的考验。如果中国得手，会开创一个有全球性影响的危险先例，尤其会对俄罗斯非法吞并克里米亚的后果产生影响。
Beijing, for its part, is in danger of pursuing a policy driven by national prestige — but with little underlying strategic logic. As the world’s largest exporter of manufactured goods and its largest importer of oil, China has some reason to worry about the security of the sea lanes that supply its economy. But even if it could turn the whole of the South China Sea into a Chinese lake, Beijing would not secure the sea passages that fuel its economy — since these stretch all the way to the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf.
就中国本身而言，它有奉行一种受国家面子驱动、但缺乏战略逻辑作支撑的政策的风险。作为全球最大制成品出口国和最大石油进口国，中国有理由担心为其经济带来供给的海上航道的安全。然而，即便中国能将整个南中国海变为中国的一个湖，它也无法确保为其经济提供物资的各条海上通道的安全，因为这些通道一直通向印度洋和波斯湾。
Pouring money into the Chinese navy and into new missiles that potentially threaten the aircraft carriers that are the basis of American power in the Pacific could spark needless antagonism with the US. But it would not do much to solve China’s underlying security dilemma.
航空母舰是美国在太平洋实力的基础，中国向海军和可能威胁航空母舰的新导弹投入资金，可能会引发美国不必要的对抗。但这对解决中国的潜在安全难题作用不大。
The wiser course for China would be to stick to an alternative formula that has worked well for it over the past 40 years. It should rely on the mutual interests created by globalisation as the best guarantee that all sides will work to preserve freedom of navigation. China’s efforts to develop a new Silk Road across central Asia towards Europe and the Middle East will also provide an alternative to an over-reliance on vulnerable sea lanes.
对中国而言更明智的做法应该是，坚持一种在过去40年一直行之有效的替代政策。中国应依靠全球化带来的共同利益，作为各方将努力维护航行自由的最佳保障。中国在中亚地区开发一条新的通向欧洲和中东的“丝绸之路”的努力，也会为过度依赖脆弱的海上航线提供替代选择。
It was always likely that the rise of China would provoke tensions with the United States, the world’s dominant power. The US Navy’s South China Sea mission is an important new test in the relationship. Both sides must now make an effort to defuse tensions. A deterioration in relations between the world’s two largest economies would serve no one’s interests.
中国的崛起总是有可能引发它与全球霸主美国的紧张关系。美国海军在南中国海的行动是对两国关系提出的新重要考验。双方现在都必须努力缓解紧张关系。全球最大的两个经济体之间关系恶化，对任何人都没有好处。