纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英鸣笛水炮与危险对峙中国如何在南海展开军事化行动

The Chinese military base on Mischief Reef, off the Philippine island of Palawan, loomed in front of our boat, obvious even in the predawn dark.

位于菲律宾巴拉望岛附近美济礁上的中国军事基地就在我们船头的前方，即使在黎明前的黑暗中也清晰可见。

Radar domes, used for military surveillance, floated like nimbus clouds. Lights pointed to a runway made for fighter jets, backed by warehouses perfect for surface-to-air missiles. More than 900 miles from the Chinese mainland, in an area of the South China Sea that an international tribunal has unequivocally determined does not belong to China, cellphones pinged with a message: “Welcome to China.”

军用雷达的雷达罩宛若漂浮的雨云。灯光指向一条为战机起降建造的跑道，远处是非常适合存放地对空导弹的仓库。在距离中国大陆约1500公里的地方，在一个国际仲裁庭已明确认定不属于中国的南海海域，手机响起一条信息：“欢迎来到中国。”

The world’s most brazen maritime militarization is gaining muscle in waters through which one-third of global ocean trade passes. Here, on underwater reefs that are known as the Dangerous Ground, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, or P.L.A., has fortified an archipelago of forward operating bases that have branded these waters as China’s despite having no international legal grounding. China’s coast guard, navy and a fleet of fishing trawlers harnessed into a militia are confronting other vessels, civilian and military alike.

世界上最肆无忌惮的海上军事化行动正在全球三分之一海洋贸易途径的水域愈演愈烈。在这里，中国人民解放军在被称为“危险地带”(Dangerous Ground)的暗礁上筑起了一连串的前沿作战基地，尽管不获国际法支持，这些基地的出现将这些水域变成了中国的领海。中国的海警、海军和一支由拖网渔船组成的民兵舰队正在与其他民用和军用船只对峙。

The mounting Chinese military presence in waters that were long dominated by the U.S. fleet is sharpening the possibility of a showdown between superpowers at a moment when relations between them have greatly worsened. And as Beijing challenges a Western-driven security order that stood for nearly eight decades, regional countries are increasingly questioning the strength of the American commitment to the Pacific.

在美中两个超级大国关系严重恶化之际，中国在长期由美国舰队主导的海域不断增强军事存在，加大了两国之间展开对决的可能性。随着北京向维持了近80年、由西方主导的安全秩序发起挑战，区域内国家越来越质疑美国对太平洋地区所做的承诺算不算数。

While the United States makes no territorial claims to the South China Sea, it maintains defense pacts with Asian partners, including the Philippines, that could compel American soldiers to these waters. Just as anxiety over nearby Taiwan has focused attention on the deteriorating relations between Washington and Beijing, the South China Sea provides yet another stage for a contest in which neither side wants to betray weakness. Complicating matters, Chinese diplomats and military officers are engaging less at a time when open communication could help defuse tensions.

虽然没有对南海提出领土要求，但美国与包括菲律宾在内的亚洲伙伴保持着防务协议，这些协议可能会让美国军队有义务开进这些水域。就像围绕邻近台湾的焦虑情绪使得人们的注意力集中在华盛顿和北京之间不断恶化的关系上一样，南海也为双方均不甘示弱的较量提供了另一个舞台。让事情变得复杂的是，在公开沟通有助于缓和紧张局势的时候，中国的外交官和军方却减少了接触。

China’s arming of the South China Sea has also forced Southeast Asian fishermen — from nations like the Philippines that Chinese diplomats have referred to as “small countries” — to abandon the fishing grounds they have depended on for generations. It is putting tremendous pressure on those governments.

中国在南海的武装行动还迫使东南亚渔民——来自菲律宾等被中国外交官称为“小国”的国家——放弃了他们世世代代代赖以生存的捕鱼区域。这给这些国家的政府造成了巨大压力。

“I told the Chinese, ‘Your leadership talks about shared prosperity, but what you are doing cannot make it more plain that you think we are just stupid people who can be fooled and bullied,’” said Clarita Carlos, who until January served as the national security adviser of the Philippines. “The interconnected oceans should be our common heritage, and we should be working with marine scientists from every nation to fight the real enemy: climate change.”

“我跟中国人说：‘你们的领导人口口声声说要共同繁荣，但你们的所作所为却再清楚不过地表明，我们在你们眼里只是可以被愚弄、被欺负的蠢家伙，’”担任菲律宾国家安全顾问直至今年1月的克拉丽塔·卡洛斯说。“相互连接的海洋应该是我们的共同遗产，我们应该与各国的海洋科学家合作，共同对抗真正的敌人：气候变化。”

“Instead,” she added, “the Chinese are building military bases on artificial islands and bringing guns to the sea.”

她补充道，“中国人却正在人工岛上建立军事基地，把枪炮带到海上。”

During a four-day sail through a collection of rocks, reefs and islets called the Spratlys that are within the Dangerous Ground, New York Times journalists saw the extent to which China’s projection of power has transformed this contested part of the Pacific Ocean. Not since the United States embarked on its own campaign of far-flung militarization more than a century ago, leading its armed forces toward a position of Pacific primacy, has the security landscape shifted so significantly.

在为期四天的航行中，时报记者穿越了“危险地带”内被称为南沙群岛的一系列礁石、暗礁和小岛，看到了中国的实力投射在多大程度上改变了太平洋这片充满争议的海域。自一个多世纪前美国开始自己的远洋军事化运动，带领其武装力量获得太平洋主导地位以来，这里的安全格局从未出现过如此大的变化。

It is hard to imagine how China’s armed presence in the South China Sea will be diminished absent a war. With its bases built and its military vessels deployed, Beijing is forcefully defending its assertions of “indisputable sovereignty.”

在不发生战争的情况下，很难想像中国在南海的军事存在会如何减少。随着基地的建立和军舰的部署，中国政府正在有力地捍卫其“无可争辩”的主权主张。

That posture was on display in May as The Times’s small, chartered boat passed within two nautical miles of Mischief Reef.

今年5月，当时报的租来的小船经过距离美济礁不到两海里的地方时，这种姿态得到了展示。

A P.L.A. Navy tugboat lingering in the vicinity had failed to stop us, perhaps because of the early-morning hour. But as we approached the Chinese military base, the tugboat, about 2.5 times the size of our vessel, churned water to reach us, turning on its floodlights and blasting its horn repeatedly. Over the radio, we were told that we had intruded into Chinese territorial waters.

或许是清晨的缘故，在附近徘徊的一艘解放军海军拖船没有阻拦我们。但是，当我们接近中国军事基地时，这艘比我们的船大出2.5倍的拖船乘风破浪疾驶而来，并打开了探照灯，反复鸣笛。通过无线电，我们被告知已侵入中国领海。

Our boat was Philippine-flagged, and an international tribunal convened by the Permanent Court of Arbitration ruled in 2016 that Mischief Reef was part of the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf of the Philippines. China has ignored that ruling. In a radio exchange, we said we were allowed to sail through these waters.

我们的船悬挂着菲律宾国旗，由常设仲裁法院召集的国际仲裁庭于2016年裁定，美济礁是菲律宾专属经济区和大陆架的一部分。中国无视该裁决。我们在无线电中说，国际法允许我们在这片水域航行。

The P.L.A. tugboat responded with more barrages of its horn, a sonic assault so piercing that we felt it in our bodies. Then, with its floodlights nearly blinding us, the P.L.A. tugboat rushed at our vessel, swiping within 20 meters of our much smaller boat. This was a clear breach of international maritime protocol, maritime experts said.

作为回应，解放军的拖船发出了更多的鸣笛，这种声音攻击刺耳到我们全身都能感觉到它。然后，在几乎让我们睁不开眼的探照灯下，解放军的拖船径直向我们冲来，从距离我们这艘小得多的船不到20米的地方高速经过。海事专家表示，这明显违反了国际海事协议。

As dawn broke, we could see both the fortifications on Mischief Reef and an array of Chinese vessels closing in from different directions: half a dozen maritime militia boats and a recently commissioned navy corvette designed to carry anti-ship missiles. The navy tugboat stayed near, too.

破晓后，我们能看到美济礁上的防御工事，也能看到从不同方向逼近我们的中国船只：六艘民兵船和一艘最近开始服役的可携带反舰导弹的海军小型护卫舰。海军的拖船也一直在附近。

On other occasions, Chinese coast guard and militia vessels have rammed, doused with water cannons and sunk civilian boats in the South China Sea. In 2019, for instance, 22 Filipino fishermen were left to float amid the wreckage of their boat for six hours after a Chinese militia vessel struck them.

以前还发生过中国海警和民兵船只在南中国冲撞其他国家的民用船只、向它们发射水炮，甚至将它们撞沉的事情。例如，2019年，22名菲律宾渔民在他们的渔船被一艘中国民兵船撞沉后，在渔船残骸中漂浮了六个小时才被救起。

Danger extends overhead. In May, a Chinese fighter jet sliced past the nose of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane flying through international air space over the South China Sea, echoing an incident last December when a Chinese fighter came within 20 feet of an American plane.

危险也扩大到天空。今年5月，一架中国战机从在南中国海上国际空域飞行的一架美国空军侦察机机头前掠过，同样的事情在去年12月也发生过，当时，一架中国战机从距离一架美国飞机只有六米的地方飞过。

Zhou Bo, a retired P.L.A. colonel who is now a senior fellow at the Center for International Security and Strategy at Tsinghua University in Beijing, said that claimant nations and the United States — which conducts regular air and sea patrols in the South China Sea — should accept Beijing’s contention that this is Chinese turf.

解放军退役大校周波现在北京的清华大学担任战略与安全研究中心高级研究员，他说，宣称对那些岛屿拥有主权的国家，以及在南中国海定期进行空中和海上巡逻的美国，应该接受北京认为该海域属于中国的观点。

“The U.S. should stop or decrease its operations there,” he said. “But since it is impossible, so the danger will grow. A stronger P.L.A. can only be more resolute in defending China’s sovereignty and national interests.”

“美国应该停止或减少在那里的行动，”他说。“但既然那是不可能的，所以危险会越来越大。更强大的解放军只能更坚定地捍卫中国的主权和国家利益。”

Mr. Zhou added that he thought the risk of a conflict between the United States and China was higher in the South China Sea than in the Taiwan Strait, another theater of geopolitical friction.

周波补充说，他认为美中在南中国海发生冲突的风险高于在台湾海峡，那是另一个存在地缘政治摩擦的地方。

Frictions in the South China Sea are greatest in places where Southeast Asian countries have defied the Chinese mandate that the waterway, scooped out on Chinese maps with a dashed line, belongs to Beijing. In waters close to Vietnam and Malaysia, Chinese vessels have disrupted attempts to explore and develop oil and natural gas fields. The Chinese coast guard has forcibly prevented its Indonesian counterpart from arresting Chinese fishermen operating well within Indonesian waters.

南中国海争执最严重的地方是东南亚国家不承认中国用九段线在地图上划定的属于中国的海域。在离越南和马来西亚近的海域，中国船只已中断了这些国家勘探与开发石油和天然气田的尝试。中国海警还强行阻止印尼海警抓捕在印尼海域作业的中国渔民。

Chinese forces frequently harass Philippine coast guard boats trying to access a tiny contingent of Philippine marines stationed on Second Thomas Shoal, which, like nearby Mischief Reef, also lies within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. (Control over such a zone gives a country the rights to all resources within it, although foreign flagged boats are allowed free passage through most of the waters.)

中国军队经常骚扰试图前往第二托马斯沙洲（Second Thomas Shoal，中国称仁爱礁——译注）的菲律宾海警船只，第二托马斯沙洲上驻扎着一个菲律宾海军陆战队小分队，与附近的美济礁一样，也位于菲律宾的专属经济区内。（控制专属经济区的国家对区内所有资源拥有权利，但悬挂外国国旗的船只可以自由地通过专属经济区的大部分水域。）

In February, a Chinese coast guard ship directed a military-grade laser at a Philippine coast guard boat trying to resupply the marines at Second Thomas, temporarily blinding some sailors, according to the Philippine side. The Chinese coast guard has also unleashed high-intensity water cannons at the resupply boats, as recently as last month. In both cases, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the Philippine vessels were violating Chinese territorial sovereignty, forcing the Chinese to intervene.

据菲律宾政府表示，今年2月，一艘中国海警船曾用军用级激光瞄准一艘试图为第二托马斯沙洲上的海军陆战队提供补给的菲律宾海警船，导致一些水手暂时失明。就在上个月，中国海警还曾向菲律宾补给船发射了高强度水炮。在这两起事件中，中国外交部都说菲律宾船只侵犯了中国领土主权，迫使中国进行干预。

As we left Mischief Reef, with Chinese vessels still shadowing us, we saw just how lopsided the contest is at Second Thomas. In 1997, the Philippines, outmanned and underfunded, beached a World War II era navy ship on the shoal, creating a makeshift base from which its soldiers could defend Philippine waters.

我们驶离美济礁时，中国船只仍在尾随我们，我们看到了争夺第二托马斯沙洲的双方力量差别有多大。1997年，人员和资金都比中国少得多的菲律宾将一艘“二战”时代的海军舰艇搁浅在第二托马斯沙洲上，建立了一个让其军人能保卫菲律宾水域的临时基地。

With the marooned navy ship in the distance, we watched as the same Philippine coast guard vessel that had been targeted by the military laser was flanked by a pair of Chinese coast guard ships more than double its length. The radio crackled with verbal jousting.

我们从远离搁浅的海军舰艇的地方看到了那艘曾被中国军用激光瞄准的菲律宾海警船只，其两侧各有一艘比其长一倍多的中国海警船。无线电里响起了双方争吵的声音。

“Since you have disregarded our warning,” a Chinese coast guardsman said, “we will take further necessary measures in accordance with the law, and any consequences entailed will be borne by you.”

“既然你们无视我们的警告，”一名中国海警说，“我们将依法采取进一步的必要措施，由此产生的任何后果由你们承担。”

“We will deliver food and other essentials to our people,” the Philippine side answered.

“我们要给我们的人民提供食物和其他必需品，”菲律宾方面回复道。

The Philippine boat barely made it through to resupply the marine base. Every week brings such a David and Goliath showdown, and the chance for a dangerous miscalculation.

菲律宾船勉强完成了为海洋基地提供补给的工作。每周都在上演着这种力量悬殊的较量，每周都有出现危险误判的可能。

“The Chinese are flouting the maritime rules of engagement and intentionally violating the good rules of conduct,” said Gregory B. Poling, the director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “They’re making foreign vessels veer, sometimes at the last moment. One day, a foreign vessel is not going to veer off. And then what?”

“中国人无视海上行为规则，故意违反好的行为规则，”战略与国际研究中心亚洲海事透明度倡议主管格雷戈里·波林说。“他们强迫外国船只转向，有时是在最后一刻。如果有一天一艘外国船只不转向的话，会发生什么呢？”

Despite its lack of territorial claims in the South China Sea, the American Seventh Fleet regularly cruises these waters to ensure freedom of navigation for all nations, according to the U.S. Navy. (Beijing contends that the presence of American military ships, particularly patrols near Chinese-controlled bases, inflames tensions.) And security pacts bind the American military to several Asian countries. The Philippines, which was once an American colony, is tied to the United States in a mutual defense treaty that Vice President Kamala Harris said last year would extend to “an armed attack on the Philippine armed forces, public vessels or aircraft in the South China Sea.”

尽管美国在南中国海没有主权主张，但美国海军表示，美国第七舰队在该海域进行定期巡航，以确保所有国家的航行自由。（中国政府声称，美国军舰的出现，尤其是美国军舰在中国控制的基地附近巡逻，加剧了紧张局势。）几个亚洲国家与美国有安全条约，美国军队受这些条约的约束。菲律宾曾是美国的殖民地，与美国有共同防御条约，按照美国副总统卡马拉·哈里斯去年的说法，该条约的覆盖范围包括“对在中国南海的菲律宾武装部队、平民船只或飞机的武装攻击”。

This month, U.S. and Philippine warships sailed together in the South China Sea, and the two navies plan a joint patrol later this year.

本月，美国和菲律宾的军舰在南中国海进行了共同航行，两国海军计划在今年晚些时候进行联合巡逻。

American support has not always been so full-throated. In 2012, Chinese vessels occupied Scarborough Shoal, off the coast of the Philippines’ most populous island, even after the United States thought it had brokered a deal for both the Philippines and China to withdraw from the reef to cool tensions. Despite the Chinese incursion, American forces did not defend the shoal. Chinese boats have essentially controlled Scarborough ever since.

美国的支持在人们眼里并不总是如此明确有力。2012年，中国船只占领了距离菲律宾人口最多的岛屿不远的斯卡伯勒浅滩（Scarborough Shoal，中国称黄岩岛——译注），尽管美国以为它已经促成了菲律宾和中国达成协议，让双方都从这处浅滩撤军，以缓和紧张局势。虽然中国突然发动入侵，但美国军队并没有保卫该浅滩。从那以后，中国船只基本上控制了斯卡伯勒浅滩。

Around the same time, China began constructing what it said were “typhoon shelters” for fishermen on several South China Sea reefs it controlled. Then Chinese dredgers began piling sand on the atolls. Airstrips and barracks appeared. In 2015, China’s leader, Xi Jinping, stood in the White House Rose Garden and said that “China does not intend to pursue militarization” of the Spratlys, despite satellite evidence that China was doing just that.

大约在同一时间，中国开始在它控制的几个南中国海岛礁上为渔民建所谓的“避风塘”。后来，中国的挖泥船开始在环礁上堆沙。飞机跑道和军营开始出现。2015年，中国领导人习近平在白宫玫瑰园提到斯普拉特利群岛（Spratly Islands，中国称南沙群岛）时曾说，“中国无意搞军事化”，尽管卫星拍摄的证据表明中国正在那样做。

“The U.S. response was pretty much limited to statements that they opposed it, but not much more,” said M. Taylor Fravel, the director of the security studies program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an author of books on China’s defense strategy and territorial disputes, noting that the development of the P.L.A.’s South China Sea military bases was done in three phases from 2014-2016. “It’s reasonable to speculate that a much harder response to the first wave would have prevented the next two waves.”

“美国的回应基本上只限于发表反对中国做法的声明，但也仅此而已，”麻省理工学院的安全研究项目主任傅泰林(M. Taylor Fravel) 说道，他写过有关中国的国防战略和领土争端的书籍，他指出，解放军在南中国海建军事基地是在2014至2016年间分三个阶段进行的。“有理由推断，如果对第一阶段的行为有更严厉应对的话，会阻止下两个阶段的行为发生。”

The 2016 tribunal ruling that dismissed China’s “historical claims” over most of the South China Sea came just as the Philippines was ushering in a new president, Rodrigo Duterte, who made close ties with China a signature of his six years in power. Mr. Duterte ignored the tribunal ruling, even though it favored his country. Since President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. took office last year, his administration has spoken out against the Chinese presence in the South China Sea. Mr. Marcos has also granted the United States access to a handful of military bases on Philippine soil and is allowing for the building of others.

2016年，国际仲裁庭作出了驳回中国对南中国海大部分海域的“历史性主张”的裁决，当时，菲律宾新总统罗德里戈·杜特地刚上任，他在六年执政期间一直把与中国的密切关系作为重点。尽管裁决对他的国家有利，但杜特地没有理睬仲裁庭的裁决。自从菲律宾总统小费迪南德·马科斯去年上任以来，他的政府已公开反对中国在南中国海的存在。马科斯还批准了美国使用菲律宾领土上的几个军事基地，并允许建造其他基地。

After we left Second Thomas Shoal, we sailed toward the Philippine island of Palawan, home to nearly a million people. Green hills rose on the horizon as we neared Sabina Shoal, a rich fishing ground for centuries. In recent years, the Chinese have placed buoys here. The Philippine coast guard has removed them.

离开第二托马斯沙洲后，我们驶向拥有近百万人口的菲律宾巴拉望岛。接近萨比纳浅滩时，我们可以看到远处地平线上的绿色山丘。萨比纳浅滩几个世纪以来一直是富饶的渔场，近年来，中国人在这里放置了浮标。而菲律宾海警则将浮标拿走。

Right on Sabina Shoal, where delicate coral once thrived, we saw boats arranged in a defensive formation. Ropes tied some of the vessels together. Chinese flags flew. Men bantered over the radio in a southern Chinese dialect. No fishing nets were in evidence.

萨比纳浅滩曾是脆弱的珊瑚繁衍生息的地方，我们在那里看到了形成防御队形的船只。绳索将一些船只绑在一起。船上悬挂着中国国旗。用无线电通话的男子们开玩笑用的是中国南方方言。没有看到渔网。

China has said that such trawlers are commercial fishing vessels, and a Chinese appetite for seafood has created the world’s largest fishing fleet. But these South China Sea boats, experts say, rarely fish. Instead, they act as a maritime militia, swarming contested waters and unoccupied reefs for days or even months. They have steel hulls and advanced satellites, and some have rammed smaller Southeast Asian fishing boats. If a storm descends, they shelter at Chinese naval bases, like those built on Mischief, Fiery Cross and Subi reefs, satellite imagery shows.

中国表示，这些船只是商业渔船，中国对海鲜的需求催生出世界最大的渔船队。但专家表示，这些在南中国海航行的船只很少捕鱼。相反，它们的作用是海上民兵，连续数天甚至数月聚集在有争议的水域和无人居住的珊瑚礁附近。它们的船体是钢制的，配备了先进的卫星设备，一些船还撞击过比它们小的东南亚渔船。卫星图像显示，风暴袭来时，它们就会在中国海军的基地，比如建在美济礁、永暑礁和渚碧礁上的基地避风。

We could see empty Chinese instant noodle packets floating in the water. We heard the Philippine coast guard over the radio, urging the Chinese boats to leave Sabina. There was no response. The Philippine entreaties faded.

我们在水面上能看到漂浮的中国方便面包装袋。我们听到菲律宾海警用无线电要求中国船只离开萨比纳浅滩。中国人没有反应。菲律宾恳求的声音逐渐消失。