美國(guó)把中國(guó)防火長(zhǎng)城 首次列為貿(mào)易壁壘

HONG KONG — China’s notorious online controlshave long been criticized as censorship by humanrights groups, businesses, Chinese Internet usersand others.

香港——中國(guó)對(duì)網(wǎng)絡(luò)的控制眾所周知。人權(quán)團(tuán)體、企業(yè)、中國(guó)網(wǎng)民等方面早就在對(duì)這種審查進(jìn)行譴責(zé)。

Now they have earned a new label from the Americangovernment: trade barrier.

現(xiàn)在，美國(guó)政府又給這種控制添加了新的標(biāo)簽：貿(mào)易壁壘。

United States trade officials have for the first time added China’s system of Internet filters andblocks — broadly known as the Great Firewall — to an annual list of trade impediments. Theentry says that over the last decade, the limits have “posed a significant burden to foreignsuppliers, hurting both Internet sites themselves, and users who often depend on them forbusiness.”

美國(guó)貿(mào)易官員首次將中國(guó)的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)過(guò)濾和攔截系統(tǒng)——也就是大家所說(shuō)的“防火長(zhǎng)城”——列入一個(gè)貿(mào)易障礙年度清單。相關(guān)條目寫著，在過(guò)去10年，這種限制“給外國(guó)供應(yīng)商帶來(lái)了巨大負(fù)擔(dān)，遭受損失的既有網(wǎng)站本身，也包括往往需要使用這些網(wǎng)站開展業(yè)務(wù)的用戶”。

The report from the Office of the United States Trade Representative said that over the lastyear, the “outright blocking of websites appears to have worsened,” noting that eight of the top25 most popular global sites are blocked in China.

美國(guó)貿(mào)易代表辦公室(Office of the United States Trade Representative)發(fā)布的這份報(bào)告稱，在過(guò)去一年里，“網(wǎng)站被徹底屏蔽的現(xiàn)象似乎有所惡化”，全球25個(gè)人氣最高的網(wǎng)站中，有八個(gè)在中國(guó)遭到屏蔽。

“Much of the blocking appears arbitrary; for example, a major home improvement site in theUnited States, which would appear wholly innocuous, is typical of sites likely swept up by theGreat Firewall,” the report said.

“很多屏蔽案例顯得相當(dāng)隨意，例如，一家知名的美國(guó)家裝網(wǎng)站，看上去完全沒有惡意，卻是可能遭防火長(zhǎng)城封鎖的典型對(duì)象，”文中稱。

China blocks some of the biggest corporate names on the Internet, including services offeredby Google, Facebook and Twitter. That can hobble the ability of foreign companies to dobusiness in China, whether through blocked websites or workplaces that cannot reach Gmail,Google’s email service. China also blocks a growing number of foreign news outlets, includingthe website of The New York Times.

中國(guó)屏蔽了一些互聯(lián)網(wǎng)巨頭的服務(wù)，比如谷歌(Google)、Facebook和Twitter。這可能會(huì)削弱外國(guó)公司在中國(guó)開展業(yè)務(wù)的能力，無(wú)論是通過(guò)屏蔽網(wǎng)站本身，還是讓人在工作場(chǎng)所無(wú)法訪問(wèn)谷歌的電子郵件服務(wù)Gmail。中國(guó)還屏蔽了越來(lái)越多的境外新聞媒體，其中就包括《紐約時(shí)報(bào)》的網(wǎng)站。

Officials at China’s commerce and foreign affairs ministries, as well as at its top Internetregulatory agency, did not respond to requests for comment.

中國(guó)的商務(wù)部、外交部及最高級(jí)別互聯(lián)網(wǎng)監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)的官員，均未對(duì)置評(píng)請(qǐng)求做出回應(yīng)。

In recent years, China and the United States have clashed over trade in the technologyindustry. Last year, the Obama administration responded to lobbying from Americancompanies against a number of Chinese laws that the companies said were devised to pushthem out of China. Beijing toned down language in an antiterrorism law, and it scrapped aregulation restricting what foreign hardware could be sold to Chinese banks.

近年來(lái)，中國(guó)和美國(guó)在科技業(yè)貿(mào)易領(lǐng)域發(fā)生過(guò)沖突。去年，奧巴馬政府對(duì)一些美國(guó)企業(yè)的游說(shuō)做出了回應(yīng)。這些公司對(duì)中國(guó)的若干法律不滿，稱它們的目的是把自己從中國(guó)趕走。之后，北京放軟了一部反恐法的語(yǔ)氣，廢除了一項(xiàng)限制外國(guó)硬件銷往中國(guó)的銀行的監(jiān)管規(guī)定。

Still, any effort by the United States to persuade China to reduce its Internet censorshipwould most likely be a nonstarter. The Chinese government considers the close control ofonline discourse a matter of national security, largely out of concerns about the Internet’spower to aid the organization of protests and the spread of dissent. As a result, Beijing hasshown little flexibility on issues of censorship in the past, and it tends to block any Internetmedia it feels it does not have complete control over.

不過(guò)，美國(guó)說(shuō)服中國(guó)減少互聯(lián)網(wǎng)審查的努力全都可能無(wú)功而返。中國(guó)政府認(rèn)為，對(duì)網(wǎng)上交流的嚴(yán)密控制事關(guān)國(guó)家安全，主要是因?yàn)榛ヂ?lián)網(wǎng)可以幫助人們組織抗議活動(dòng)、散播異見，令他們擔(dān)憂。其結(jié)果就是，北京一直在審查問(wèn)題上沒有顯示出什么彈性，往往會(huì)屏蔽它覺得無(wú)法完全控制的任何網(wǎng)絡(luò)媒體。

Scott Kennedy, who holds the Freeman Chair in China Studies at the Center for Strategic andInternational Studies, said the move by the United States trade office illustrated the gulfbetween the attitude represented by China’s heavy regulation of the Internet and the one putforward by the United States through trade agreements like the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

國(guó)際戰(zhàn)略研究中心(Center for Strategic and International Studies)費(fèi)和中國(guó)研究項(xiàng)目(Freeman Chairin China Studies)學(xué)者甘思德(Scott Kennedy)說(shuō)，美國(guó)貿(mào)易代表辦公室這個(gè)舉動(dòng)顯示了兩種態(tài)度之間的鴻溝：一方面是中國(guó)嚴(yán)控互聯(lián)網(wǎng)所體現(xiàn)的態(tài)度，另一方面則是美國(guó)通過(guò)跨太平洋伙伴關(guān)系協(xié)定(Trans PacificPartnership)這樣的貿(mào)易協(xié)議表現(xiàn)出來(lái)的態(tài)度。

“China is far less willing to separate commercial and national security concerns,” he wrotein an email. “This difference in approach is unlikely to disappear anytime soon, no matter howmuch the U.S. highlights the issue.”

“比起美國(guó)，中國(guó)極不愿意把商業(yè)和國(guó)家安全問(wèn)題分割開來(lái)，”他在電子郵件中寫道。“無(wú)論美國(guó)對(duì)這一議題怎么強(qiáng)調(diào)，這種處理手法的不同都不可能在短時(shí)間內(nèi)消失。”

China cites the threat of online espionage, pointing to disclosures by Edward J. Snowden, theformer National Security Agency contractor, that showed American intelligence efforts to useAmerican hardware abroad to gather information.

中國(guó)把網(wǎng)絡(luò)間諜威脅作為一個(gè)理由，指出美國(guó)國(guó)家安全局前承包商雇員愛德華·J·斯諾登(Edward J.Snowden)曝光的文件顯示，美國(guó)情報(bào)界試圖利用境外的美國(guó)硬件來(lái)搜集信息。

Online filters in China create an Internet largely walled off from the rest of the world, violatingthe fundamental idea of the web as an open channel of communication among peopleacross the globe. Detractors say that the practice is anticompetitive, prohibits freedom ofexpression and ultimately damages Chinese economic growth by limiting access to information.Supporters of China’s policies say that the rules have allowed the country to foster a thrivingset of domestic Internet companies.

中國(guó)的網(wǎng)絡(luò)過(guò)濾機(jī)制營(yíng)造出了一個(gè)與世界嚴(yán)重隔離的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，違反了“網(wǎng)絡(luò)是溝通世界各地人們的開放渠道”這個(gè)基本理念。批評(píng)者稱，這種做法是反競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的，限制了言論自由，而且阻礙了人們對(duì)信息的獲取，最終會(huì)損害中國(guó)的經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)。支持中國(guó)這種政策的人則認(rèn)為，它讓中國(guó)有機(jī)會(huì)培養(yǎng)了一批繁榮的本土互聯(lián)網(wǎng)企業(yè)。

The United States trade office added China’s Internet censorship policies to its annual NationalTrade Estimate Report, released on March 31. The insertion was reported on April 1 by InsideU.S. Trade, a trade publication.

美國(guó)貿(mào)易代表辦公室把中國(guó)的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)審查政策添加到其年度《貿(mào)易評(píng)估報(bào)告》(National Trade EstimateReport)中。全文于3月31日發(fā)布。行業(yè)刊物《美國(guó)貿(mào)易內(nèi)情》(U.S. Trade)在4月1日?qǐng)?bào)道了這個(gè)添加。

American trade officials have scrutinized the Great Firewall in the past. In 2011, the UnitedStates trade office said that China’s filters were a commercial barrier that hurt Americansmall businesses. The statement was among the formal questions submitted through theWorld Trade Organization to China about what laws and regulations dictated the availability ofcommercial websites in the country.

美國(guó)貿(mào)易官員過(guò)去就對(duì)“防火長(zhǎng)城”進(jìn)行過(guò)審視。2011年，美國(guó)貿(mào)易辦公室稱，中國(guó)的這些過(guò)濾機(jī)制屬于商業(yè)壁壘，損害了美國(guó)小企業(yè)利益。美國(guó)當(dāng)時(shí)通過(guò)世界貿(mào)易組織(WTO)提交給中國(guó)一些正式問(wèn)題，涉及什么樣的法規(guī)決定了商業(yè)網(wǎng)站在中國(guó)的可用性，而這一論斷是其中之一。

Some of the largest American Internet companies and foreign trade groups have long lobbiedthe United States to treat censorship as a trade matter. For instance, in 2008, Google’sdeputy general counsel testified before a Senate subcommittee that the United Statesgovernment should make the matter a central issue in trade talks.

美國(guó)一些互聯(lián)網(wǎng)巨頭和大型外貿(mào)團(tuán)體長(zhǎng)期開展游說(shuō)活動(dòng)，想讓美國(guó)把中國(guó)的審查當(dāng)作貿(mào)易問(wèn)題來(lái)對(duì)待。例如在2008年，谷歌的副總法律顧問(wèn)出席參議院一個(gè)小組委員會(huì)的聽證會(huì)，宣稱美國(guó)政府應(yīng)該將此事納入貿(mào)易談判的核心議題。