Trump in Translation
I just recently returned to the United States for a few weeks after a year of helping to establish the Guangzhou, China based international trade consulting company Atlasell. It has been an incredible year for me personally; full of adventure, growth, and self-discovery. And as I’m sure many will agree, 2016 has been fairly incredible politically as well, in that credibility has been decidedly absent on most fronts.
My flight home happened to be on the day of the inauguration and so naturally the hottest topic with just about everyone I talked to was our illustrious new president, and especially his stance toward China. I was asked numerous times what the Chinese think about him, were saying about him in the news etc. and so I decided to start this blog. I plan on killing a whole flock of birds with one stone here*, practicing my Chinese and translation skills, providing other students of Chinese with digestible practice material, showing my friends, family, and possibly others what the Chinese are saying about President Trump, reading more Chinese news myself, and establishing a regular writing practice.
As often as time allows, I will translate Chinese news articles about Trump and/or Sino-American relations from the Xinhua News Agency, and the People’s Daily, the official news agency of the PRC, and the largest newspaper group, respectively. I’ve chosen these sources, and chosen to translate them instead of just posting links to the english versions of the sites for the following reasons; I want to show what the Chinese government is saying about Trump, as opposed to what private news organizations are saying, and I want to show what the Chinese government is saying about Trump to the Chinese people.
I will provide a link to the article in Chinese in the title, and a paragraph by paragraph translation of the text. So without further ado, here is installment number one in the series, your feedback is appreciated:
Foreign Minister Wang Yi discusses Sino-American relations
人民网2月8日电 据外交部网站消息，当地时间7日，外交部长王毅在堪培拉与澳大利亚外长毕晓普举行第四轮中澳外交与战略对话后共同会见记者。澳大利亚记者就美方有关人士对华强硬表态询问对中美关系产生的影响。
People’s Daily February 8th,
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, local time February 7th, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Australian Foreign Minister Bishop held the fourth round of Sino-Australian diplomatic and strategic dialogue in Canberra after meeting with reporters. Australian journalists asked about the impact America’s hard-line stance toward China would have on Sino-American relations.
王毅应询表示，中美建交已近40年。这期间美方一些人也有过不少对华强硬的表态，但我们看到的事实是，中美关系依然克服了各种困难，不断向前发展。
Wang Yi said that diplomatic relations between China and the United States have been established for nearly 40 years. During this period, there have been many people in the United States who have taken a hard-line stance against China, but ultimately Sino-US relations have overcome these difficulties and continued to move forward.
当前，中美两国之间的利益交融已密不可分，形成了你中有我、我中有你的局面。去年中美双边贸易额超过5000亿美元，美国几乎每个州都与中国有生意往来，每个大学都与中国有交流合作。
Currently, Chinese and American interests are inseparable, forming a mutually dependent relationship. Last year, bilateral trade between China and the United States exceeded 500 billion US dollars. Almost every state in the United States has business dealings with China. Every university has exchanges and cooperation with China.
去年两国人员往来高达400多万人次。这就是中美关系的现状。任何明智的政治家都会意识到，如果中美发生冲突，将是两败俱伤，对双方都不可承受。
Last year, over 4 million people travelled between the two countries. This is the status quo of Sino-US relations; any wise politician will realize that a Sino-US conflict will be a lose-lose situation which neither side can afford.
王毅表示，对于美国对华政策，我们更加重视的是美国新政府成立后的正式政策宣示。我要告诉各位的是，特朗普先生当选总统后，习近平主席与他有过一次重要的通话，那次通话基调十分积极。
Wang Yi said that “in regards to US policy toward China, we are more concerned with the policies that will be officially stated after the establishment of the new administration. I would like to tell you that after President Trump was elected President, President Xi Jinping had an important call with him, and the tone of that call was very positive.”
习主席强调中美关系可以发展得更好。特朗普对此表示百分百赞同，并表示美中关系是世界上最重要的双边关系。
President Xi stressed that Sino-US relations could become even better. Trump expressed full agreement and said that the US-China relationship is the most important bilateral relationship in the world.
王毅说，美国新的执政团队对中国可能需要一个了解和熟悉的过程。我相信，随着时间的推移，只要双方恪守迄今作出的有关承诺，维护好两国关系的政治基础，中美关系就能较快渡过磨合期，走上更好的发展道路。
Wang Yi said, the new American leadership may need to undergo a process of understanding and familiarizing themselves with China. I believe that in time, as long as both sides abide by the commitments made so far and safeguard the political basis of relations between the two countries, Sino-US relations can relatively quickly get past the “breaking-in” period, and move on to a path of more positive development.
这是两国人民的共同期待，也完全符合中美两国的共同和长远利益。
This is the shared hope of the people of both countries and fully conforms to the shared and long-term interests of China and the United States.
*Figuratively speaking of course, I don’t condone slaughtering birds with rocks.
