※王炳忠朗读致美国务卿蓬佩奥公开信视频链接
The Real Threat to the US is the loss of self-confidence
──An Open Letter to Mr. Secretary Mike Pompeo
致美国务卿蓬佩奥公开信：真正威胁美国的是自信匮乏
To
Mr. Mike Pompeo
Secretary of State
United State of America
Dear Mr. Secretary Mike Pompeo,
尊敬的国务卿蓬佩奥先生：
My name is Wang Ping-Chung, the spokesperson for the New Party, Taiwan’s political party. During the ongoing pandemic of the Covid-19, the enemy of all human beings, including the American people and Chinese people, is definitely the corona virus. However, as Secretary of State of the United States, you seem to consider China instead of the virus to be your enemy. It lets you do little in pandemic prevention but much in blaming the WHO and China. You have even made great efforts to politicalize the issue of public health in order to attack China, which reflects the United States’ prevailing concept of so-called China’s threat. Nevertheless, the real threat to the US is not China but the loss of self-confidence indeed.
我是台湾新党发言人王炳忠。值此新冠肺炎疫情蔓延之际，对包括美国人民和中国人民在内的全人类而言，我们的敌人无疑是新冠病毒。但是，您身为美国国务卿，却似乎认为敌人是中国而非病毒，从而在防疫工作上少有作为，一门心思都用在责怪世卫组织及中国。你甚至用尽心力将公共卫生的问题政治化，就为了打击中国。这其实正反映了美国长期存在的“中国威胁论”思维。事实上，真正威胁美国的并不是中国，而是美国对自己信心的匮乏。
As President Franklin Roosevelt once said, “Only thing we have to fear is the fear itself.” The threat you have to fear today is not other peoples but yourselves. Even though you have done your best to shift blames on the WHO and China, the fact is already clear of the US domestic misdiagnosed cases, which had been seen as H1N1 but in fact corona virus since last autumn. It is also your fault in underestimating the severity of the epidemic while China sacrificed itself to let the world have more preparation time. Accordingly, the Covid-19 has killed more than fifty thousand people in America. As China’s population is four times larger than the US, it is quite shocking that America’s death toll due to the Covid-19 has been above China’s.
正如罗斯福总统所言：“我们唯一要恐惧的就是恐惧本身。”今天你们真正该恐惧的，不是其他国家，而是你们自己。纵使你们挖空心思要将责任推给世卫组织及中国，但真相已非常明确，那就是早在去年秋天，美国就有新冠病毒被误诊为流感的病例。甚至当中国牺牲自我，帮助世界有更多准备的时间，你们却低估了疫情的严重性，种下了错误。如今，新冠肺炎已夺走超过五万名美国人的生命。人口不过是中国四分之一的美国，死于新冠肺炎的人数竟已超过中国，着实是骇人听闻。
I feel so sorry for the suffering of your people, yet it is never too late to mend. However, not only did you palm off the responsibility on others, but you also undermined international solidarity against the pandemic. Moreover, you even try to deny the status of the WHO as the coordinator for universal combat against diseases, which in some way means challenging the global institutions under the governance of the United Nations. It is so unbelievable that the United States, viewing itself as the world leader above half a century, is tending to destroy the world order recognized by the international society. The very reason I can think of is the loss of America’s self-confidence. It is the threat to both the US and the whole world.
我为贵国人民的遭遇感到遗憾。事实上，现在亡羊补牢，犹未晚也。然而，你却只忙着将责任甩锅给别人，甘为全球抗疫战斗中的害群之马。你甚至想否定世卫组织作为全球抗疫协调者的地位，在某种程度上等同挑战联合国下的国际体制。超过半世纪以来总将自己视为世界老大的美国，如今竟然要破坏国际社会公认的秩序，这真令人难以置信。我唯一能想到的理由，就是美国已丧失了昔日的自信，这不仅对美国是一大危害，同时也威胁到全世界。
For Liberalists in the United States, China has been believed either an opponent or a violator to international institutions. As far as it’s concerned, there had been debates whether to keep containing China economically and militarily or engaging it institutionally. Both were resulted from America’s confidence in its leadership. Consequently, the confidence gradually changed into arrogance, luring the United States into aggressions upon other countries as the global superpower without permission from the UN Security Council. It made America exhausted at last. Therefore, the United States has become an isolationist, and even a betrayer to the global institutions they established before. On the contrary, China seems more like a protector of the world order.
对美国的自由主义者而言，中国长久以来被视为是国际体制的反对者或破坏者。在这种思维下，从而产生美国对中国政策的争论，探讨是否应继续以经济及军事手段遏制中国，或者改以引导的方式使中国融入国际体制。事实上，以上两种想法都源自对美国领导能力的信心。这种信心逐渐变成一种傲慢，驱使美国在缺乏联合国安理会同意下，依然发动对其他国家的侵略。这些对外侵略最终拖垮了美国，使美国元气大伤。如今，美国变成了孤立主义者，甚至背弃过去自己建立的国际体制。反之，中国还更像是国际体制的捍卫者。
On the other hand, for Realists, the predominant thinkers in international politics, China has been seen as the primary rival to America. As they estimate there will be threat if any other regional hegemony occurs, the nation’s fear becomes beyond what its capability can hold. To some extent, this is the real crisis to your people. In fact, different from western nations developing themselves by oppressing and exploiting others, the Chinese people have risen out of poverty at the cost of blood, sweat, and tears of our own. I would like to remind you of Franklin Roosevelt’s self-evident words that nothing to fear but fear itself. The only threat you should conquer is the threat in your mind.
另一方面，对国际政治中的主要流派，也就是现实主义者来说，中国一直被当作美国的首要对手。根据他们的理论，一旦有任何其他区域强权出现，便会对美国产生威胁。这种对威胁的恐惧，实际上已非美国国力可以负荷。这种恐惧其实才是美国真正的危机。事实上，不同于西方国家靠侵略他人成就自己，中国崛起靠的是自己的汗水和血泪。容我再次引用罗斯福总统不辩自明的话：“除了恐惧本身，我们无须恐惧。”你真正须要战胜的威胁，其实就是你的心魔。
As Henry Kissinger has argued, relations between China and the United States need not – and should not – become a zero-sum game. He also suggested that China and America build a Pacific community with each other. Thinking in the same way, Chinese President Xi also claimed that the vast Pacific Ocean has enough space for the two large countries of China and the United States. Furthermore, I believe the world is large enough to embrace different political and social systems. As western liberalism in recent years has met difficulties in over-consumption and government failure, we should be more open-minded to the superiority of Chinese governance in some fields, especially the high efficiency in defeating the epidemic. The United States should also be more self-confident to have China rising under the global governance of international institutions, sharing with mutual benefits instead of destroying each other. Without doubt, only by doing so can the United States overcome the real threat and bring the world peace and prosperity, the real universal values for all mankind.
正如基辛格所言，中美关系不应该也不必要变成零和博弈。他并倡议中美两国应该缔造太平洋共同体。中国国家主席习近平也从同样的思路出发，呼吁太平洋之大应同时包容中美两个大国。我想，世界之大也同样能包容不同的政治及社会制度。近年来，西方自由主义遭遇了不少难题，诸如过度消费、政府失能……等。我们实在应该用更开放的态度，学习中国在一些领域中的治理优势，尤其是在此次抗疫中展现的能力。美国也应更自信地接纳中国，接受中国在全球治理的国际体制下崛起，和中国共享利益，而非相互毁灭。无疑地，唯有藉由如此，美国才能战胜其真正的威胁，也才能为世界带来和平与繁荣──那才是人类真正的普世价值。
Sincerely yours,
Wang Ping-Chung
Spokesperson for the New Party
新党发言人 王炳忠
