美國把中國防火長城 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——中國對網(wǎng)絡的控制眾所周知。人權團體、企業(yè)、中國網(wǎng)民等方面早就在對這種審查進行譴責。

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

現(xiàn)在，美國政府又給這種控制添加了新的標簽：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.”

美國貿(mào)易官員首次將中國的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)過濾和攔截系統(tǒng)——也就是大家所說的“防火長城”——列入一個貿(mào)易障礙年度清單。相關條目寫著，在過去10年，這種限制“給外國供應商帶來了巨大負擔，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.

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

“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隨意，例如，一家知名的美國家裝網(wǎng)站，看上去完全沒有惡意，卻是可能遭防火長城封鎖的典型對象，”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.

中國屏蔽了一些互聯(lián)網(wǎng)巨頭的服務，比如谷歌(Google)、Facebook和Twitter。這可能會削弱外國公司在中國開展業(yè)務的能力，無論是通過屏蔽網(wǎng)站本身，還是讓人在工作場所無法訪問谷歌的電子郵件服務Gmail。中國還屏蔽了越來越多的境外新聞媒體，其中就包括《紐約時報》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.

中國的商務部、外交部及最高級別互聯(lián)網(wǎng)監(jiān)管機構的官員，均未對置評請求做出回應。

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，中國和美國在科技業(yè)貿(mào)易領域發(fā)生過沖突。去年，奧巴馬政府對一些美國企業(yè)的游說做出了回應。這些公司對中國的若干法律不滿，稱它們的目的是把自己從中國趕走。之后，北京放軟了一部反恐法的語氣，廢除了一項限制外國硬件銷往中國的銀行的監(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，美國說服中國減少互聯(lián)網(wǎng)審查的努力全都可能無功而返。中國政府認為，對網(wǎng)上交流的嚴密控制事關國家安全，主要是因為互聯(lián)網(wǎng)可以幫助人們組織抗議活動、散播異見，令他們擔憂。其結果就是，北京一直在審查問題上沒有顯示出什么彈性，往往會屏蔽它覺得無法完全控制的任何網(wǎng)絡媒體。

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.

國際戰(zhàn)略研究中心(Center for Strategic and International Studies)費和中國研究項目(Freeman Chairin China Studies)學者甘思德(Scott Kennedy)說，美國貿(mào)易代表辦公室這個舉動顯示了兩種態(tài)度之間的鴻溝：一方面是中國嚴控互聯(lián)網(wǎng)所體現(xiàn)的態(tài)度，另一方面則是美國通過跨太平洋伙伴關系協(xié)定(Trans PacificPartnership)這樣的貿(mào)易協(xié)議表現(xiàn)出來的態(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，中國極不愿意把商業(yè)和國家安全問題分割開來，”他在電子郵件中寫道。“無論美國對這一議題怎么強調(diào)，這種處理手法的不同都不可能在短時間內(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.

中國把網(wǎng)絡間諜威脅作為一個理由，指出美國國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，美國情報界試圖利用境外的美國硬件來搜集信息。

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.

中國的網(wǎng)絡過濾機制營造出了一個與世界嚴重隔離的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)，違反了“網(wǎng)絡是溝通世界各地人們的開放渠道”這個基本理念。批評者稱，這種做法是反競爭的，限制了言論自由，而且阻礙了人們對信息的獲取，最終會損害中國的經(jīng)濟增長。支持中國這種政策的人則認為，它讓中國有機會培養(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.

美國貿(mào)易代表辦公室把中國的互聯(lián)網(wǎng)審查政策添加到其年度《貿(mào)易評估報告》(National Trade EstimateReport)中。全文于3月31日發(fā)布。行業(yè)刊物《美國貿(mào)易內(nèi)情》(U.S. Trade)在4月1日報道了這個添加。

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.

美國貿(mào)易官員過去就對“防火長城”進行過審視。2011年，美國貿(mào)易辦公室稱，中國的這些過濾機制屬于商業(yè)壁壘，損害了美國小企業(yè)利益。美國當時通過世界貿(mào)易組織(WTO)提交給中國一些正式問題，涉及什么樣的法規(guī)決定了商業(yè)網(wǎng)站在中國的可用性，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.

美國一些互聯(lián)網(wǎng)巨頭和大型外貿(mào)團體長期開展游說活動，想讓美國把中國的審查當作貿(mào)易問題來對待。例如在2008年，谷歌的副總法律顧問出席參議院一個小組委員會的聽證會，宣稱美國政府應該將此事納入貿(mào)易談判的核心議題。