双语:世界变局中的中国外交政策和中新关系
发布时间:2022年08月08日
发布人:nanyuzi  

世界变局中的中国外交政策和中新关系

China’s Foreign Policy and China-NZ Relationship in a Changing World

 

王小龙大使在新中关系促进委员会发表演讲

H.E. Ambassador Wang Xiaolong Delivered a Speech at the New Zealand China Council

 

2022年6月1日

1 June 2022

 

感谢新中关系促进委员会邀请我出席今天的午餐会,很荣幸见到如此众多令人印象深刻的委员会成员。你们是多元而充满活力的新西兰社会的缩影,也是丰富而强劲的中新关系的缩影。

Thank you for inviting me to the luncheon today. I am honored and, honestly, humbled to join such an impressive array of council members, which is a mirror image of the diverse and vibrant NZ society, and also of the rich and robust relationship between our two countries.

 

我想借此机会与大家分享我对中国外交政策,以及处在迅速变化世界中的中新关系的看法。

I would like to take this opportunity to share my thoughts with you on China’s foreign policy and our bilateral relationship in this rapidly and in some areas, drastically changing world. I have been advised to wrap all this up in 15 minutes. Not easy, but I will try.

 

让我们先从中国政策尤其是外交政策的基本面谈起。

Let me start with the fundamentals of China’s policy, including in particular our FOREIGN policy.

 

大家也许听说过中国共产党和中国政府制定的“两个一百年”奋斗目标。我们已经实现了第一个百年奋斗目标,即在2021年中国共产党成立一百周年之前消除绝对贫困,在中国全面建成小康社会,让中国人民过上较为美好的生活。第二个百年奋斗目标是到本世纪中叶,新中国成立一百周年之际,将中国的总体发展水平提高到中等发达国家水平,使人民过上富足幸福的生活,最终实现中华民族的伟大复兴,实现我们所说的“中国梦”。换言之,发展经济、改善民生一直是并将继续成为中国的首要目标。其他一切都为此服务,因为它定义了中国所有政策的起点和主题,包括外交政策。而外交政策的核心目标就是为经济发展和实现中国梦创造和平和有利的外部环境。

You may have heard of the two “Centennial Goals” set by the Chinese Communist Party and Government. The first such goal, which we have largely achieved, is to eradicate absolute poverty and build China into a “Xiaokang Society”, where Chinese people can lead reasonably good lives, by the one hundredth anniversary of the CCP in 2021. The second Centennial Goal is to elevate the level of overall development of China to that of a medium-level developed country to enable our people to enjoy a happy life of abundance and fulfillment by the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic around mid-century, bringing about the eventual Great Rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation to realize what we call the Chinese Dream. In other, more mundane words, developing the country’s economy and improving people’s lives has been, and WILL BE the paramount goal for China. Everything else flows from there, as it defines the starting point and the overarching theme of ALL of our policies, including our foreign policy, the central aim of which is to create a peaceful and favourable external environment for economic development to take place and for the Chinese Dream to come true. 

 

尽管我们希望世界和平,但当今世界并不太平。中国有句俗话叫“树欲静而风不止”。我们这一代人正在目睹战后世界史上发生的一些最剧烈甚至根本性的变革。这种变化在某种程度上是由人为造成的所谓新的大国竞争和新冠肺炎疫情引起的,并因近期乌克兰局势而加剧。其结果导致不确定性、风险甚至直接危险显著上升。过去不可能发生的事情似乎正在变得不再那么不可思议了。

As much as we hope for peace in our world, the world today is hardly a very peaceful place. We have a saying in Chinese, the trees want to stay quiet, but the wind keeps on blowing. Our generation is witnessing some of the most drastic and even foundational changes in our world in post-war history, brought on by, in some cases, unsolicited, renewed great-power rivalry and the Covid-19 pandemic, and exacerbated by the Ukrainian situation more recently. As a result, uncertainties, risks and even outright dangers have risen significantly. What used to be out of the question whatsoever is somehow becoming not that inconceivable anymore.

 

尽管我们专注于应对当下最紧迫的一些问题,但也绝不能忽视面临的根本挑战。我们应及时从已经发生的事情中吸取更大的教训,以避免措手不及的“膝跳式反射”或在“梦游”中走向失控。

While we focus on some of the most pressing issues of the moment, we must not lose sight of the fundamental challenges we face, and need to reflect on some of the larger lessons we might draw from what has transpired, to avoid knee-jerk reactions and sleep-walking out of control before it is too late.

 

以下是中国从近来局势的发展中得到的一些启示。

Here are some of the lessons China has drawn.

 

首先,我们的世界在很大程度上仍是相互联系的,而且这些联系往往比某些人意识到的更密切和多元。无论喜欢与否,无论是疫情、气候变化、能源安全、粮食安全,还是通货膨胀和生活成本压力甚至危机,抑或长期增长和经济可持续性,世界某一地区发生的事情都会外溢到其他地区。关于“脱钩”、“去全球化”或“平行体系”的叙事既不反映现实,也无济于事,只会削弱而非增强世界的稳定性和韧性。

First, our world is, STILL, very much interconnected. And more often than not, more closely and in more ways than some of us have sometimes realised. Like it or not, be it the pandemic, climate change, energy security, food security, or inflation and cost-of-living pressures or even crisis, or longer-term growth and sustainability, what happens in one part of the world would spill over into the rest. The narratives on decoupling, de-globalization or parallel systems neither reflect the realities, nor are they helpful. If anything, they lead to LESS rather than GREATER stability, robustness and resilience.

 

其次,国家间或意识形态间的竞争、对立和对抗,以及强权政治和军事同盟并不是它们所声称的解决世界问题的办法。相反,它们往往是这些问题的根源,甚至是问题本身。依靠“强权即真理”式的霸权,或者损害他国安全,无法确保真正的安全和持久和平。历史上,由考虑不周的军事同盟引发或加剧的战争并不罕见。最近乌克兰的事态再次证明,军事同盟未能防止冲突爆发。如果一方试图在战场上战胜另一方,乌克兰局势很难得到解决。唯一的出路是相互妥协和让步,而这只能在谈判桌上实现。历史经验告诉我们,没有别的路可以选,但人们很容易遗忘我们曾付出高昂代价而得来的教训。将世界描述为民主国家与专制国家的对立是错误的和危险的,因为这很可能会导致世界重回冷战时代,而所有人都太熟悉冷战的后果,而且都不想再看到它。

Second, competition, rivalry and confrontation between states or ideologies, power politics and military alliances are not the solutions to the problems of the world they purport to be. On the contrary, they are often the root causes of these problems or even the problems themselves. No real security and lasting peace can be secured through hegemony based on might is right or by making other countries insecure. In fact, history is in no scarcity of wars caused or aggravated by ill-conceived military alliances. Recent developments have again borne out the failure of military blocs to prevent conflicts from breaking out. And there will not be resolution to the current situation if one side attempts to triumph over the other on the battlefield. The only way out will be mutual compromise and accommodation, which can only be found at the negotiating table. Based on lessons from history that were learned the hard way but risk being forgotten, there is simply no other alternative. And framing the world as democracies versus autocracies is wrongheaded and dangerous. For it is a sure recipe for at least relapsing into the Cold War era, the consequences of which all of us are only too familiar with, and none of us would like to see again.

 

第三,尽管多边主义,以联合国为核心的国际体系,以及以集中体现在《联合国宪章》中的国际法为基础的国际秩序存在缺陷,但它仍是我们最好的集体选择,即使对最强大的国家也是如此,对相对弱小的国家尤其如此。在开放和共同商定的规则基础上开展合作,仍是各国和国际社会实现长期和平与发展以及应对疫情和气候变化等全球性挑战的最佳方式。搞集团政治,建立排他性小圈子,制造和加剧意识形态、制度甚至所谓文明断层线,都违背多边主义的本质和精神。事实上,它可能导致人类滑入灾难的深渊。

Third, for all its imperfections, multilateralism, the international system centered on the United Nations and an international order based on international law as best embodied in the UN Charter is still our best collective choice, even for the most powerful of all countries, but particularly for the lesser powerful ones. Cooperation on the basis of openness and commonly agreed rules, still represents the best chance of realizing long-term peace and development as individual countries and collectively, and of addressing the global challenges we face, such as COVID and climate change. It goes against the very nature and spirit of multilateralism to practise bloc politics, establish exclusive circles, or create and deepen ideological, systemic or even so-called civilizational fault lines. As a matter of fact, it could be a dangerous slippery slope to unmitigated disasters.

 

下面,我重点谈谈中新关系,以及应该如何在世界出现的变局中把握这一关系。

Let me now move on to our bilateral relations and how, as we see it, they should be conducted in light of the changes in the world.

 

众所周知,今年是中新建交50周年。50年前,中新两国领导人以极大的勇气和远见迈出了“破冰”步伐。从那时起,中新关系走过了漫长道路。当时即便是最富想象力的人,也会对后来世界和中新关系的发展感到惊讶。高层交往和由此加深的相互了解和信任,不断增强的经济纽带,深入人心的人文交流,以及双方在全球和地区层面的合作,让中新关系成为不同资源禀赋、社会经济制度和发展阶段的国家间关系的典范。

As you are aware, this year marks the 50th anniversary of our diplomatic relations. The Leaders of the two countries took the courageous and visionary step to break the ice 50 years ago in 1972. We have come a long way since then. And what has happened to both the wider world and our particular relationship must have gone beyond even the most ambitious expectations of anyone back then. The high-level bonds and the resultant deepening mutual understanding and trust, the bursting two-way economic ties, the deeply rooted people-to-people links and the cooperation at both global and regional levels can only be characterized as no less than exemplary among relations between countries of different endowments, social and economic systems, and stages of development.

 

多年来,这种不断发展的关系为两国特别是两国人民带来了越来越多的利益,也为全球和平、稳定与繁荣作出了贡献。2014年,中新将两国关系升级为全面战略伙伴关系。 

This evolving relationship has over the years brought increasing mutual benefits to both countries and above all, both peoples, while contributing, at the same time, to global peace, stability and prosperity, which culminated in the upgrade of the relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership announced in 2014.

 

我们有充分的理由对中新迄今为止取得的成果感到自豪,也有充分的理由相信我们的合作伙伴关系将在新的阶段进一步释放潜力,因为有诸多因素推动中新关系继续向前发展。我愿在此做简要阐述:

Just as we have ample reasons to be proud of the progress so far, we also have ample reasons to be confident of the further potentials to be unlocked going into the next phase for our partnership, given the drivers that continue to power its growth.

I shall illustrate briefly some of them here.

 

在领导人层面,阿德恩总理和习近平主席在去年11月通话时,就携手将两国关系提升到新高度达成广泛共识。这种高层会晤有助于保持双边关系的活力,并确保其朝着正确方向发展。随着防疫限制措施的逐步放松,我们期待恢复两国领导人和部长级官员的线下互访。

At the Leaders’ level, PM Ardern and President Xi Jinping reached broad agreement on working together to take the relationship to new heights during their virtual meeting last November. High-level meetings like this help to keep the relationship pumped and to ensure that its evolution is steered in the right direction. And we look forward to the resumption of leader and ministerial level in-person visits as COVID restrictions ease further.

 

在经济层面,今年年初区域全面经济伙伴关系协定(RCEP)生效以及4月初中新自贸协定升级议定书生效实施,为深化两国贸易合作提供了新机遇。此外,中国可能成为全面与进步跨太平洋伙伴关系协定(CPTPP)和数字经济伙伴关系协定(DEPA)成员,可持续农业和可再生能源方面的合作,以及在“一带一路”倡议下开辟新的贸易路线,都将为充满活力的中新经济联系增添新的增长点。目前,中国已是新西兰最大的出口市场和贸易顺差来源国。中新贸易合作步伐或快或慢,甚至有短暂曲折,但只要中国经济长期增长的趋势不变,我完全相信中新双向贸易和投资在未来还有很大的提升空间。

On the economic front, entry into force of RCEP at the start of the year and, in early April, of the Upgrade of our bilateral FTA opens up new opportunities for trade to grow further between us. On top of that, both potential membership for China of CPTPP and DEPA, cooperation on sustainable agri-business and renewable energy, and the proposed opening up of new trade routes under the Belt and Road Initiative will add new growth areas to the dynamic economic ties between us. China is already by far the biggest export market and by far the biggest source of trade surplus for NZ. There might be slower or faster patches or even blips in the in the trajectory for trade between us. As long as the Chinese economy keeps growing over the long run, which WILL, I believe, I am fully confident that two-way trade and investment have much further to go in the coming years and decades.

 

在人文交流层面,新西兰华人社区更深入地融入新西兰多元社会,这有助于确保越来越多的民间大使成为两国和两国人民更好理解与合作的桥梁,更不用说数以万计甚至更多的商界人士、留学生、游客和其他人士,他们急切地等待着双向旅行恢复,并在边境重开后重新建立联系。

People-to-people-wise, the deeper integration of the local Chinese community into the multicultural mosaic of the NZ society has helped to ensure a growing number of people’s ambassadors both ways as bridge-builders for better understanding and cooperation between the two peoples and countries. Let alone the tens of thousands or even more, of the business people, students, tourists and others waiting eagerly to travel both ways and to reconnect once borders reopen.

 

当然,也并非一切都是美好的。中新关系也面临着一些挑战,其中最重要的是处理彼此差异分歧的方式。鉴于两国历史文化和经济发展水平的差异,双方不可避免地存在一些分歧,这并不奇怪,也不是什么秘密。

All is not rosy, however. Indeed, the relationship has got its fair share of challenges, the foremost of which is the way we address the differences between us. It is no surprise, nor any secret that some of these differences are inevitable, given the divergence between us in historical and cultural backgrounds and levels of economic development.

 

但真正关键的是,中新双方是否能够建设性管控分歧,以免这些分歧被夸大,或者用阿德恩总理的话说,避免让分歧定义中新关系。我们如何妥处矛盾分歧,将决定我们这对重要双边关系的基线。

The real and crucial question here is whether we would be able to manage these differences constructively so that they would not be blown out of proportions or, in the words of PM Ardern, be allowed to define our relationship. How we answer this question will decide where the baseline for this all important relationship lies.

 

对中方而言,最好的办法是在相互尊重、相互理解和包容、互不干涉内政的基础上,通过对话协商处理分歧。只要遵守这些原则,保持开放视野和心态,中新之间就没有什么是不能谈的。这包括与人权相关的问题,以及我们如何避免误解、携手促进南太地区的和平、稳定和共同繁荣。

For us, the best way to handle this dimension of our relationship is through dialogue and consultations on the basis of mutual respect, mutual understanding and accommodation, and non-interference in each other’s internal affairs. Informed by these parameters and a willingness to keep our eyes and minds open, there is nothing we cannot talk about between NZ and China. That includes, for example, issues related to human rights and how we could avoid misunderstanding and join our hands in promoting peace, stability and common prosperity in the South Pacific region.

 

另一个挑战,回到我刚才提到的一个观点,是我们如何各自和共同应对我们周围的世界所发生的变化。

Another challenge, going back to a point I made earlier, is how we might respond, both respectively and together, to what goes on around us.

 

对中国来说,与新西兰发展强劲的关系从来都不是权宜之计,而是长期战略决策,这也符合中方独立自主的和平与发展的外交政策。全球和地区局势的任何事态都没有也不会改变中方对发展与新西兰伙伴关系的决心。相反,正如我们所看到的,鉴于全球格局的演变,中新在双边或全球、地区层面的合作变得更加重要和紧迫。这一点很好理解。

For China, developing a strong relationship with NZ has never been a choice of convenience. Rather, it has always been a long-term, strategic decision in line with our independent foreign policy of peace and common development. Nothing that has happened in the global and regional situation has changed our commitment to our partnership, and nothing will. On the contrary, as we see it, our working together, either bilaterally or at global and regional levels, have taken on even greater importance and urgency in view of the tectonic shifts in the global landscape.

The case for that is pretty straightforward.

 

首先,正如新中关系促进委员会近期发布的疫情暴发以来中新贸易报告充分证明,互补合作和互惠互利有助于两国经济实现更大的增长,增强经济的稳定性、韧性和可预见性。

For one, cooperation to complement and benefit each other make for greater growth, stability, resilience and predictability for both economies, as convincingly demonstrated in the recent Council-sponsored report on bilateral trade since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

第二,两国都希望维护公平有效的国际地区规则和架构,都希望保持市场的开放,都希望推动经济更紧密和深入融合。

Two, both NZ and China wish to see fair and functioning international and regional rules and architectures, and both are stakeholders in keeping markets open and promoting closer and deeper integration.

 

更为重要的是一点是,两国都希望我们共同的家园——亚太地区继续保持和平、稳定和繁荣,都不愿意看到亚太局势紧张和不稳定,不希望本地区生乱生战。

And last but not least, both NZ and China would like peace, stability and prosperity to continue in the Asia-Pacific region, our common home. Neither would like to see tensions and instability, let alone conflicts or wars in this neighborhood. 

 

最后,我想谈谈维护国家品牌的重要性。

A final observation is on the importance of national branding, as some of you may have already heard me talk about in some of our private conversations.

 

在国内政治和国家关系中,认知会影响观察事物的视角,并有助于形成定义实质内容的维度。有时,在外交政策和国内政治中,认知就是实质内容。这就是为什么以广泛的公众认知为基础的国家品牌,是影响国家间关系的一个核心变量。

In both domestic politics and international diplomacy, perception impacts on the lens through which the substance is to be seen, and helps to shape the parameters for the substance to be defined. And sometimes, in foreign policy as in domestic politics, perception is the substance. That is why national branding, informed by broad-based public perception is a central variant in the equation of relations between states.

 

在中国,人们普遍认为新西兰是一个绿色、清洁、开放、友好的国家。这种非常积极的国家品牌是中新关系中最有价值的资产之一,可以说是新西兰推广产品和服务最有效的营销工具。积极的双向公众舆论是中新关系大厦最强大的支柱。但我们必须记住,这项资产并非凭空而来,也不是理所应当的,而是通过双方多年来的辛勤付出慢慢建立起来的。因此,作为中新关系的利益攸关方和维护者,我们有责任悉心保护和明智地用好这一资产,不应任之付诸东流。

In China, there is widespread cognizance of NZ as a green, clean, open and friendly country. This very positive national branding is one of the most valuable assets of our relationship, and arguably the most potent marketing tool for all products and services from NZ. And a mutually positive public opinion is arguably the strongest of all pillars for the edifice of this important relationship. We have to keep in mind, though, that this asset of ours did not come out of nowhere or as a matter of course, but has been slowly built up with hard work over the years from both sides. Nor can it be taken for granted. It is thus incumbent upon us, as stakeholders in, and custodians of, the relationship, to protect it carefully, use it wisely, and make sure it will not be squandered. 

 

我们对中新建交50周年充满期待,这既是庆祝双方已取得成就的机会,这也是我们从迄今为止的成果丰硕的旅程中总结经验的机会。在此基础上,我们可以为两国关系未来50年及以后的发展规划方向,为两国人民带来更多实实在在的利益,为世界作出更大贡献,为全面战略伙伴关系注入更多实质内容。我们期待与新方密切合作,共同实现这些目标。

We are full of anticipation for the 50th anniversary as both an occasion to celebrate what we have achieved, and more importantly, as an opportunity to reflect on the lessons we could learn together from our common and very productive journey so far, and then on that basis, to chart the way forward for the relationship in the next 50 years and beyond,  with a view to bringing even more tangible benefits to our two peoples, making greater contribution to the world, giving, in that process, ever more substance to the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between us. We look forward to working closely together with the NZ side to realize these goals.

 

在上述背景下,我认为新中关系促进委员会等机构的重要性怎么强调都不为过。最后,让我感谢委员会及各位成员为中新关系所作的贡献。祝愿委员会今天的会议取得成功。

In this context, I do think the importance of the work of the institutions like the Council cannot be overstated. So let me conclude by thanking the Council and its members for the contribution you make to the relationship. And I wish the Council’s meeting today a success.

 

谢谢大家!

Thank you.