By Fang Xiaozhi
方晓志
On January 22, former US Central Command leader Lloyd Austin was confirmed as the US's new defense secretary, the nation's first African chief of the Pentagon.
1月22日上午，前中央司令部司令劳埃德•奥斯汀被正式确认担任美国国防部部长，成为美国首位非裔国防部长。
Previously Austin said in public that if he were to take office as defense secretary, he would make sure China would not obtain military superiority over the US.
在此之前，奥斯汀公开表示，如果自己顺利担任美国国防部长一职，那么他将确保中国不会获得超越美国的军事优势。
The Trump administration followed a tough China policy during its four-year term, seeking absolute military superiority by massively increasing the defense budget, enlarging military forces, developing new weapons and equipment, and creating new combat theories and thoughts.
回顾特朗普政府执政四年期间,在对华战略方面一直秉持强硬态度。其通过大幅增加国防预算，大力扩充军事力量，研发新型武器装备，创新作战理论思想等途径，谋求军事上的绝对优势。
The US also put forth the “Third Offset Strategy” in the attempt to comprehensively offset China’s comparative advantages and consequently cement America’s dominant position for the next 25 years.
此外，美国还专门提出了“第三次抵消战略”，企图全面抵消中国的相对优势，从而确保美国今后25年的主导地位奠定基础。
Austin's public pledge to contain China’s military advantages is a continuation and application of the "Third Offset Strategy". With the continuous enhancement of China's military strength and the losing of China-US strategic balance, the new defense secretary strives to maintain America’s absolute domination by precisely hedging China's relative advantages that the country is obtaining in certain areas. Meanwhile, he also endeavors to add more chips for the Biden administration in its future game with China, which reflects America’s extreme diffidence in its security and great anxiety over rising China’s possible challenge to its global dominance.
此次奥斯汀公开提出要遏制中国军事优势，实际上也是对“第三次抵消战略”的延续与运用，意图在中国军事力量不断提升和中美战略结构不断失衡的背景下，通过对中国在部分领域正在获得的相对优势实施精准对冲，努力维持美国的绝对优势地位，同时也为拜登政府未来对华博弈增添更多的筹码，其背后折射的实际上是美国对其自身安全的极度不自信以及对中国未来崛起可能挑战其全球霸主地位的高度担心。
Although Biden differs widely from Trump in the governing philosophy, they both have determined that China is America’s arch adversary. The Biden administration will take precautions and seek the strategic initiative in the future competition with China.
拜登上台后，尽管与特朗普在执政理念上大有不同，但在认为中国是美国最主要竞争对手的判断上是基本一致的，因此未来拜登政府仍将会未雨绸缪，着眼于追求未来中美竞争的战略主动权。
However, unlike Trump's hysteria, the Biden administration will adopt more rational and diversified approaches, believing that the US should actively undertake its responsibilities as a major power and take an active part in international politics and social life. The country may also switch its external strategy from "unilateralism" to "multilateral cooperation".
但在具体方式上，拜登政府相对于特朗普的“歇斯底里”，将会更加理性和多元，主张美国应积极承担大国责任并积极参与到国际政治和国际社会生活中，其对外战略也可能将会由原来的“单边主义”向“多边合作”深入转变。
Biden has already appointed several members of his national security team, in which the key figures like Secretary of State Antony Blinken, national security advisor Jake Sullivan and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are on the same page regarding US policies, namely giving full play to rules and their allies in diplomatic and military policies while using caution in the deployment of military means.
从拜登目前确定的国家安全团队人选看，核心人物如国务卿安东尼•布林肯、国家安全顾问杰克•沙利文、国防部长劳埃德•奥斯汀等人的政策观点都较为一致，都主张在外交和军事政策上重视发挥规则、盟友的作用，而主张慎用军事手段。
Austin has been underlining the importance of the so-called "strategic patience". He said in an interview of 2018 that allies, alliance and regional partnerships are the legitimate source of support for systematic order and America's reputation and strength as a leader. This view poses a sharp contrast to the stance adopted by the liberal hawks and the Trump administration.
奥斯汀一直强调所谓“战略耐心”的重要性，在2018年接受采访时就公开表示：“同盟、联盟和地区伙伴关系是支撑体系秩序以及美国作为领导者的声誉和力量的正当性源泉”，这与自由鹰派和特朗普政府的立场形成了鲜明对比。
That Biden has appointed Austin as his defense secretary indicates that the incoming president is determined to strengthen regional alliance and partnerships more patiently.
此次拜登选择奥斯汀作为国防部长，也表明其决心以一种更有耐心的方式来加强地区联盟和伙伴关系。
Guided by this philosophy, leveraging on its allies' strengths to curb China while cautiously avoiding any direct military conflict with the country is likely to be the foothold of the Biden administration’s military policy toward Beijing.
在这种理念指导下，借助于盟友力量对中国进行遏制而谨慎避免与中国发生直接军事冲突，可能将是未来拜登政府对华军事政策的基本立足点。
(The author is a researcher at the Center for Asia-Pacific Development Studies, Nanjing University.)
（作者为南京大学亚太发展研究中心研究员）
