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Anything is Possible When China and the United States Choose to Cooperate
中美选择合作，一切皆有可能
– Remarks by Vice Foreign Minister Le Yucheng at Vision China
——乐玉成副部长在中国日报社“新时代大讲堂”上的视频致辞28
January 2021
2021年1月28日
Ladies and Gentlemen, Friends,
女士们、先生们、朋友们：
Good to see you all here. I would like to thank China Daily for providing us with this important opportunity for discussion. As the new year has begun, and a new U.S. administration was just sworn in, it is particularly timely and meaningful for us to gather here to explore the future of China-U.S. relations.
大家好！感谢中国日报“新时代大讲堂”提供这个重要的交流平台。新的一年已经开启，美国新政府也刚刚就职，我们此时进行对话，探讨中美关系走向，可谓适逢其时，也十分有意义。
Last year was extremely challenging. The world was hit by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, and China-U.S. relations suffered the worst setback of the last forty years. Despite all these, as a Chinese proverb says, "Every new year brings new beginnings and possibilities." I sincerely hope that the new year of 2021 will bring a new start to the world and to China-U.S. relations.
刚刚过去的2020年是极不平凡的一年。突如其来的新冠病毒给人类带来了前所未有的冲击，中美关系也经历了建交40多年来最严峻的局面。中国人常说“一元复始，万象更新”，走进2021年，我由衷希望我们的世界“万象更新”，中美关系也要“辞旧迎新”。
This year marks the 50th anniversary of Dr. Kissinger's historic visit to China as well as the famous "ping-pong diplomacy". And as the story of "the tiny ball moved the big ball" goes, it took those great men before us extraordinary wisdom and courage to break the ice in China-U.S. relations. The challenges we face today call for the same vision and courage to break the ice again.
今年是基辛格博士秘密访华50周年，也是小球推动大球的“乒乓外交”50周年。当年两国的先辈推动中美关系破冰，展现非凡的智慧和勇气。如今推动中美关系再破冰，同样需要非凡的境界和胆识。
Today, I would like to pay tribute to the memory of Professor Ezra Vogel who passed away recently. Professor Vogel always approached the study of China, his lifelong passion, from a willingness to "respect, understand and communicate". Even in his final days, he urged the Trump administration to adopt a rational policy toward China. He co-authored the open letter "China is not an enemy" which was signed by more than one hundred distinguished scholars. It is visionaries like Professor Vogel and many others who give us confidence and hope even in the low point of our relations.
我常常怀念不久前离世的傅高义先生，他毕生以“尊重、理解、交流”的方式研究中国。他在生命的最后时刻还在积极呼吁特朗普政府采取理性对华政策，他参与起草的《中国不是敌人》的公开信得到了百名学者的联署签名。正是这样的有识之士，让我们在中美关系最困难时刻，也从未失去信心和希望。
President Joe Biden has visited China a total of four times, and has a better knowledge of China. He first visited China as a young Senator in 1979 and met with Mr. Deng Xiaoping. It was the same year the two countries normalized bilateral relations. I read his inauguration speech with great interest, and was especially impressed by his repeated appeal to the American people for unity over division. I believe we need exactly the same spirit for China-U.S. relations.
拜登总统先后曾四次访华，对中国并不陌生。1979年，作为年轻的联邦参议员首次访华，受到邓小平同志亲切接见，中美关系就是在那一年实现了正常化。我认真阅读了他的就职演说，对他反复呼吁美国人民“要团结不要分裂”印象深刻。我想这也正是处理中美关系所需要的精神和态度。
In my interview with NBC last year, I said the real enemy of the United States is COVID-19, not China. We are saddened by the loss of over 400,000 American lives to COVID-19, even more than the number of Americans lost in World War Two. I can not stop thinking about what could have been done differently. Had the Trump administration chosen science and cooperation over scapegoating and political games, how many lives could have been saved?
去年我在接受美国全国广播公司采访时曾提醒美方，美国的真正敌人是新冠病毒而不是中国。过去一年，新冠病毒已夺走40多万美国人的生命，比美在整个二战死亡人数还要多。我一直在想，如果特朗普政府选择科学和理性，选择与中国和世界合作抗疫，而不是一味甩锅推责，玩弄政治游戏，现在的局面会大不相同，教训不可谓不深刻。
The Trump administration's misguided China policy in the past four years has proven an utter failure in meeting the common challenge like COVID-19. We should learn an important lesson from such failure. China and the United States, as two major countries in the world, should treat each other as partners rather than adversaries, help rather than fight each other, and, as the Americans like to say, "lead with the power of example rather than the example of power".
过去四年特朗普政府错误的对华政策从反面告诉了我们：面对像新冠疫情这样的人类共同挑战，中美作为世界主要大国，要把彼此视为队友而非对手；要相互照亮，而不是相互较量；要互做榜样，而不是互比力量。
In his congratulatory message to then President-elect Joe Biden, President Xi Jinping stated that China and the United States should act "in the spirit of no conflict, no confrontation, mutual respect and win-win cooperation, so as to focus on cooperation, manage differences, move the relationship forward in a sound and steady manner and, together with other countries and the international community, advance the noble cause of world peace and development." President Xi's vision is clear. The direction and path forward is also clear. Please allow me to explain this vision by quoting four "R" words.
习近平主席在给拜登当选总统的贺电中指出：“希望双方秉持不冲突不对抗、相互尊重、合作共赢的精神，聚焦合作，管控分歧，推动中美关系健康稳定向前发展，同各国和国际社会携手推进世界和平与发展的崇高事业”。这是中方对中美关系的主张和期许，也为下阶段中美关系发展指明了方向。在此，我愿意用英语四个“R”来和大家分享我的思考。
The first R is "respect". Mutual respect is the foundation for successful people-to-people and state-to-state interactions. It is not a difficult starting point. China has stated repeatedly that it has no intention to challenge or replace the United States. We don't even think the relationship should be defined by "competition", because we keep challenging ourselves, not the United States. The only thing that China asks of the United States is to respect the development path we have chosen, respect our legitimate interests, and respect our pursuit for a better life, and to quit its obsession with changing or splitting China. The world would be better off if our two countries would respect and help each other succeed.
一是Respect（相互尊重）。这是人与人、国与国交往最起码的要求。中美两国从相互尊重做起应该并不难。我们反复声明无意挑战美国的地位，更无意去取代美国，这也是为什么我们不赞同仅仅用“竞争”来定义两国关系，因为我们致力于提升自己，与美无争。我们只是希望美国尊重我们所选择的路、尊重我们的正当合法利益、尊重我们对美好生活的追求，而不要老想着改变中国、分化中国。中美应该相互成就，造福世界。
The second R is "reversal". The last four years' journey of our relationship has seen too many "traps" of mistrust, "pitfalls" of division and "poison" of hatred. Enough is enough. We must act without further delay to reverse the wrong course. A lot of repair has to be done. I agree with American friends' suggestion that both sides take small steps first to create conditions for improving the relationship. But we have to act now to bring China-U.S. relations back on track.
二是Reversal（拨乱反正）。过去四年中美关系被埋了太多的“雷”、挖了太多的“坑”、投了太多的“毒”、煽动了太多的仇恨和分裂，当务之急是要采取措施拨乱反正，止跌止损。虽然需要修复的很多，但我同意美方一些人的建议，双方可以先迈出一小步，逐步积累共识和成果，为进一步改善关系创造条件。关键是要行动起来，尽快推动中美关系重回正轨。
The third R is "renewal". Yes, our two countries are different, but our shared interests and needs for cooperation far outweigh our differences. We believe COVID-19, economic recovery and climate change could be priority areas for cooperation for the near term. The Chinese people empathize with the American plight under COVID-19. We will continue to support the U.S. COVID response, increase experience-sharing on diagnostics and treatment, and work more closely with the United States on the research, production and distribution of vaccines. We will also enhance macroeconomic policy coordination with the United States to help global economic recovery. On climate change, an issue essential to the future of humanity, China is ready to renew cooperation with the United States. Our closer results-oriented cooperation on clean energy, low-carbon technologies, and environmental protection will go a long way toward protecting Mother Earth.
三是Renewal（重开合作）。众所周知，中美有分歧，更拥有广泛的共同利益和合作需求。疫情防控、经济复苏、气候变化可以成为下阶段中美合作的重点。我们对美国人民在疫情中遭受的苦难感同身受，愿继续支持美方抗击疫情，加强诊疗经验分享、疫苗研制分发等合作。中方愿同美方加强宏观经济政策协调，共同推动世界经济复苏。气候变化攸关人类未来，中方愿同美方再度携手，加大清洁能源、低碳技术、环境保护等领域务实合作，更好保护地球家园。
The fourth R is "responsibility". As the Chinese proverb goes, "A bigger boat is meant to carry more weight." Likewise, American people believe that "responsibilities gravitate to the person who can shoulder them." As two major countries in the world, China and the United States should shoulder important responsibilities for world peace and development. Our choice and action today will have far-reaching impact on the future of our world. Our two countries enjoyed successful cooperation in the past: jointly fighting terrorism in 2001, tackling the global financial crisis in 2008, combating Ebola in 2014, and collaborating on the Paris Agreement in 2016. History has taught us that working together, we could get great things done to the benefit of the two countries and the world. In other words, anything is possible when China and the United States choose to cooperate.
四是Responsibility（责任担当）。中国人讲，“舟大者任重”。美国人讲，“能者多责”。中美作为世界的两个主要大国，对世界和平与发展负有特殊重大责任。中美两国作出的每一个抉择、采取的每一项行动，都将对世界、对未来产生深远影响。中美在2001年携手反恐，2008年合力应对国际金融危机，2014年共同阻击埃博拉病毒，2016年推动达成气候变化《巴黎协定》。实践证明，中美合作可以办成很多有利于两国和世界的大事，只要中美下决心合作，一切皆有可能！
I want to conclude with a quote from Shakespeare: "It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves." China and the United States can work together to avoid the so-called Thucydides Trap. There is no predestined fate for the world. The future of China-U.S. relations, and the future of the world, depend on what vision we embrace and what choice we make.
最后，我想引用莎士比亚的一句名言结束我的致辞，“掌握我们命运的不是星座，而是我们自己”。同样，中美关系会不会掉入所谓的“修昔底德陷阱”，绝不是什么命中注定，而是取决于我们的视野和选择！
Thank you.
谢谢！
