By Xiong Xing
熊兴
The one-China policy has always been the political foundation for developing China-US relations. Still, the Biden administration hasn't yet made an official statement about its attitude toward this policy since it took office.
在中美关系中，“一个中国”一直是中美两国关系发展的政治基础。拜登新政府上台后一直未对依然支持“一个中国”政策进行正式表态。
Until February 3, local time, when asked if the Biden administration supports the one-China policy at a regular briefing, US State Department spokesman Ned Price said "Yes...our policy has not changed…"
直到当地时间2月3日，当有记者在记者会上问到美国是否仍支持“一个中国”政策时，国务院发言人普莱斯特别说，他需要“在这里非常小心谨慎地使用措辞，是的，我们的政策没有改变……拜登政府支持‘一个中国’政策”。
Both Beijing and Washington are on the "wait-and-see" mode regarding bilateral ties. Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and director of the Office of the Foreign Affairs Commission of the CPC Central Committee, expounded on China's position in a recent statement. He underscored China's concern over the Taiwan question, which involves China's core interests, and called for both China and the United States to restore the relationship to a constructive and predictable track of development.
目前，中美两国关系正处在战略观望期。不久前，中央政治局委员、中央外事工作委员会办公室主任杨洁篪在一次对外讲话中已阐释了中方的观点，并强调了中方在台湾问题这一核心利益上的关切，同时也是呼吁中美两国关系能够重新回到建设性和可预期的轨道上，不再像特朗普时期充满对抗和冲突。
Nevertheless, the Biden administration has kept toeing the red line since taking office, and the cross-Strait situation seems to be heating up again, with the US Navy's aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt sailing into the South China Sea via Bashi Channel.
但拜登政府上台后，在一些动作上继续踩“红线”，台海局势似乎又有升温之势，美国海军“罗斯福”号航母还经由巴士海峡进入南海区域。
The recent moves by the US indicate an apparent two-sidedness. On the one hand, it seems to be releasing goodwill signals to rebuild mutual trust with China and continue to work together in areas of common interests such as climate change. On the other hand, it has resumed the "strategic ambiguity" approach toward Taiwan to have it both ways and curb China's development by playing the so-called "Taiwan card".
美国近期的这一系列举动体现出其明显的两面性。一方面，美方似乎在释放善意信号，希望与中国重建互信，继续在气候变化等具有共同利益的领域推动与中国的合作。但另一方面，美方的对台战略也重新回到过去的“战略模糊”，试图继续游走于两岸之间，以所谓“台湾牌”来遏制中国发展。
During Trump's term, America's China strategy and policy changed drastically, which led to confrontation and conflicts in diplomatic, economic and trade, sci-tech, and many other fields, and intensified frictions and contradictions became the normal state of bilateral relation. In particular, the Trump administration signed several acts related to Taiwan, kept promoting arms sales to Taiwan, and even dispatched government officials to visit Taiwan, seriously trespassing the red line of China-US ties.
特朗普政府时期，美国的对华战略和政策出现明显变化，冲突性和矛盾性增强，摩擦、起伏和冲突越来越成为中美关系的常态，在外交、经贸、科技等众多领域都出现了对抗和冲突，对中美关系造成了持续的损伤。尤其是在对台政策上，特朗普政府先后签署多项涉台法案，不断推动对台军售，在职官员访台等举动，严重踩到中美关系的红线。
An overview of the views and statements on foreign policy by Biden himself and the key members of his team such as Blinken, Sullivan, and Campbell shows that the new administration's main objective on the diplomatic front is to repair the damages done by unilateralism, protectionism and isolationism forced by the Trump administration. Upholding pragmatism, the new administration will attach importance to multilateralism, work with allies, return to the international stage and rebuild America’s "global leadership".
而拜登政府上台后，综合拜登本人及其核心团队成员布林肯、苏利文、坎贝尔等人在外交政策上的观点和表态，可以预期，未来拜登政府在外交上的主要目标是修复过去由特朗普时期单边主义、保护主义、孤立主义带来的损伤，以实用主义为原则，重视多边主义，注重与盟友的合作，重返国际舞台，重建美国的“全球领导力”。
As to its China policy, the future China-US relationship won't be as bumpy as that during Trump's term, but the US won't slacken its containment of China either, giving rise to a situation where contact and containment, competition and cooperation will coexist in parallel. In his first foreign policy speech delivered on February 4, Biden said China is America's "most serious competitor" and his country "are ready to work with Beijing when it’s in America's interest to do so".
在对华政策上，未来的中美关系纵然不会像特朗普时期那样矛盾纷争不断，但美国的对华遏制战略亦不会削弱，将呈现出“接触—遏制”、“竞争—合作”并存的状态。在2月4日发表的首份外交政策演讲中，在对华方面，拜登既认为中国是美国最重要的竞争对手，同时也表示美国准备“在符合美国利益的情况下与中国合作”。
It is foreseeable that the Biden administration will resume the “strategic ambiguity” approach to the relation across the Taiwan Strait. As far as national interests are concerned, pursuing maximal national interests is the core of America’s China policy, and its long-term goal is to keep the states of "no unification, no independence and no use of force" in Taiwan question. That way it can get to stay unscathed between the two sides and keep China at bay to the greatest extent possible.
拜登政府上台后，在两岸关系上，预期其将重新回到“模糊战略”。从美国国家利益考虑，追求自身的国家利益最大化始终是其政策的核心诉求，其在两岸政策中的长期目标是维持两岸之间“不统不独不武”的分离状态，使美国的力量游离于两岸之间，并以此实现最大程度上牵制中国的效果。
(The author Xiong Xing is a senior researcher at the Center for Taiwan & East Asian Studies, Central China Normal University.)
(作者是华中师范大学台湾与东亚研究中心研究员)
Editor's note: This article is originally published on china.com.cn, and is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information, ideas or opinions appearing in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.
