How would the USA feel if China sends a few missile cruisers through the Panama Canal to the Gulf of Mexco? How would it feel if they sailed up to Washington D.C.? America does that every week to China.

如果中国也派几艘导弹巡洋舰通过巴拿马运河到墨西哥湾，美国会作何感想？如果中国巡洋舰开到华盛顿特区呢？美国可是每个星期都这样。

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Mark Bellamy

See, this is the problem with the PRC. You think you own things you don't. International waters are just that, international. So if you want to putt putt your little navy around the globe to prove you wear big boy pants go ahead, nobody is stop you. You don't own the international waters off the Chinese coast. It is a major ship area so of course US naval vessels will be present to protect free trade through those waters. If China wants to help control the pirates off somalia great, lend a hand. No one is STOPG you. You just want to complain.

看，这就是中国的问题所在。你只是以为你拥有了其实并不拥有的东西。所谓公海就是属于国际的海域。所以如果你们想派出自己的小海军环游世界来证明你们长大了，那就去吧，没人会阻止你们。

中国海岸附近的公海并不属于中国，而是一个重要的航运区，所以美国海军舰艇当然可以在这里出现，为途径这片海域的自由贸易保驾护航。

如果中国想出力控制索马里海盗，那很好啊，赶紧伸出援助之手呗。没人拦着你。你只是想要抱怨几句。

Vilmos Shepard

What Canal does the US send ships through near China? What capital city in China does the US sail to every week? The US sails by artificial islands that China has built in ocean that is not within their territorial waters, the US never sails near any major Chinese cities, or any Chinese cities at all.

美国军舰有行驶到中国附近的哪条运河吗？美国人每个礼拜都航行到中国的哪个城市了？美国只是在中国建造的人工岛附近航行，这些人工岛压根不在中国领海内，美国从未靠近过中国任何一座主要城市，或者说任何一座城市。

Louis Cohen

There is no reason that China can’t send military ships through the Panama Canal and even operate coastally off the USA - certainly in international waters and probably even passing through territorial waters on the way somewhere. Of course US vessels would follow them around at a safe distance, as the PLAN is entitled to do anywhere on the high seas or in coastal waters.

中国没有理由不能派军舰通过巴拿马运河，也没有理由不能在美国海岸附近行动——当然限于公海内，甚至可能在途中会穿过美国领海。美国军舰肯定会保持安全距离，全程跟随，因为中国海军有权在公海或沿海水域的任何地方这样做。

Here are some photos of PLAN (Peoples Liberation Army Navy) ships docked in our San Diego, CA backyard:

以下是中国人民解放军海军舰艇停靠在我们加州圣地亚哥后院的一些照片：

The Potomac River isn’t deep enough for warships.

US Navy vessels are not calling in Chinese ports (which is a shame; I wish relations were better with more interchanges)

Note in the album above that PLAN ships were docked 5 miles from the 2nd largest navy base in the world, Naval Base San Diego

波托马克河水位不够深，战舰无法通过。

美国海军舰艇并没有停靠中国港口(这其实是一种耻辱；我希望两国关系可以升温，交流更多)

我在上面的相册中发现，中国海军舰艇停靠在距离世界第二大海军基地圣地亚哥海军基地5英里的地方。

Joseph Boyle

USSR flew and sailed military craft to and from Cuba just off the US East Coast constantly. This was routine for decades.

Members of the public are free to freak out about anything of course.

苏联的军用飞机曾经常往返于美国东海岸附近的古巴。几十年来一直如此。

公众当然会对任何事情感到恐慌。

More specifically the USA has never done anything but protect PRC and others. This includes the 1950 opposition to attacks either way across Taiwan Strait, the 1969 nuclear umbrella protection against Soviet nuclear attack, and maintaining the peace for decades enabling PRC’s development.

更具体一些说，美国除了保护中国和其他国家，就没干过什么正经事。这其中就有1950年反对攻击台湾海峡，1969年的核保护伞保护苏联的核攻击，几十年来维持和平，让中国得以发展壮大。

The number of border disputes is small and should be settled by peaceful agreement. If PRC can agree to and perform that, then there are no problems. However, militaries might have a harder time justifying their budgets.

我们的边境争端不多，应该通过和平协议解决。如果中国同意并履行就没有问题。不过军方可能就很难证明他们的预算是合情合理的了。

Jerry Hooper

I’m all for it. It’s like a weigh in before a boxng match. China barely has a navy with a few cruisers capable of that but we can send 5–6 carrier task forces to the South China Sea with our partners Britain, Philippines, Australia, Japan and South Korea. How would China feel about that? What we do there now is keep international waters open for navigation. If China doesn’t like it then they need to stop trying to take seas that do not belong to them.

我举双手赞成。就像拳击比赛前要称重一样。中国海军只有几艘巡洋舰，但我们可以联手英国、菲律宾、澳大利亚、日本和韩国一起向南海派遣5-6艘航母舰队。看看中方对此会有何看法？我们现在出现在南中国海只是为了保障公海航道的畅通。如果中国不喜欢，那么他们就别占领不属于他们的海域。

Richard Bourne

How would the USA feel if China sends a few missile cruisers through the Panama Canal to the Gulf of Mexco?

Officially mute. Behind closed doors laughter. China sending warships to the Gulf of Mexco would be a huge waste of resources and would look bad internationally.

如果中国派几艘导弹巡洋舰通过巴拿马运河到达墨西哥湾，美国会作何感想？

表面上我们会保持沉默。然后关起门来狂笑。中国向墨西哥湾派遣军舰？这是一种巨大的资源浪费，在国际社会上也不太好看。

How would it feel if they sailed up to Washington D.C.?

Washington DC is 150 miles from the sea on the Potomac river, which links to a Chesapeake bay, which eventually flows to the sea. All warships must obey international law and cannot enter territorial waters without express permission of the host nation.

如果他们航行到华盛顿特区呢？

华盛顿特区位于距大海150英里的波托马克河上，这条河与切萨皮克湾相连，最终流入大海。所有军舰都必须遵守国际法，未经东道国明确许可不得进入领海。

If China decided to ignore those laws, their ships would be sunk before they entered the Chesapeake Bay.

如果中国无视这些法文，他们的船只在进入切萨皮克湾之前就会被美国击沉。

America does that every week to China.

No, America doesn’t. The US does not enter China’s territorial waters, which extend 12 miles off the cost of China, without permission. There have been times in the past when US naval vessels went to Hong Kong, when they were invited.

The US has not sent Warships into the Bohai Bay, near Beiing, in 50 years.

美国每周都是这么对待中国的。

不，美国并没有这么做。美国不会在未经允许的情况下进入中国领海，中国领海距离中国海岸线12英里。过去，美国海军舰艇曾数次受邀前往中国香港。

美国已经50年没有派遣军舰进入北京附近的渤海湾了。

Wes Frank

Related

Why can the US send warships to the South China Sea, while China cannot send warships to the Gulf of Mexco?

China can send as many warships as it cares to to the Gulf of Mexco. It is international waters. European warships have been visiting regularly since the 19th Century. As long as they’re not openly hostile, the American and Mexcan military look them over and go back to watching for oil spills and smugglers.

为什么美国可以派军舰去南中国海，而中国不能派军舰去墨西哥湾？

中国可以尽管向墨西哥湾派出多少军舰都没问题，墨西哥湾是公海。自19世纪以来，欧洲军舰一直定期访问中国。只要他们没有公然敌意，美国和墨西哥军方会仔细检查，然后继续监视石油泄漏和走私船只。

“Russian trawlers,” also known as Soviet spy ships, used to hang out in the gulf during the Cold War. They liked to keep track of comings and goings of American naval vessels and the American sailors would wave to them. No big deal. The world is a safer place if ships of major powers keep an eye on each other.

If you want to sail a frigate through the Gulf of Mexco, try not to get in the way of the fishing boats, shrimpers, and oil rigs. Those people get nervous when a warship passes by.

“俄罗斯拖网渔船”，也被称为苏联间谍船，在冷战期间经常会在海湾闲逛。他们喜欢监视美国海军舰艇的行动轨迹，美国水兵还会向他们招手。这没什么大不了的。大国之间的船只相互监视，世界会更加安全。

如果你想驾驶护卫舰穿过墨西哥湾，尽量不要挡住渔船、捕虾船和石油钻井平台的道儿。军舰经过时，那些人会很紧张。

If you like, get clearance to stop off in Pensacola and take the tour of the navy base and the naval air station. They love to show off to tourists.

如果你愿意，可以在彭萨科拉停留，参观海军基地和海军航空站。他们喜欢向游客炫耀。

Peter Kaye

Yea, they would go berserk, they would scream NATIONAL SECURITY has been violated, it would drive them absolutely nuts. The thing is it’s ok for them to do it, but no one else is allowed to do the same, HYPOCRISY PERSONIFIED, of course the Chinese would never do that, no reason to, but if the US pushes for a war with China? All bets are off.

是的，他们会发疯，会尖叫美国的国家安全被严重侵犯了，这绝对会让他们发疯。问题是，他们自己这样做没问题，而其他国家这样做就绝对不行，真是伪善呢，当然中国人永远不会这样做的，他们没理由这样做，但如果是美国挑事和中国开战？那只能自求多福了。

Andrew Hyman

Thank you for your question.

Lacking a naval base in the Western Hemisphere, it would appear highly unlikely that China would send missile cruisers through the Panama Canal to the Gulf of Mexco or near Washington DC. However, should this happen, the US would respond militarily through its Southern and Northern Commands, and diplomatically at the highest levels of statecraft.

If you have any further questions feel free to contact me.

谢谢你提出了这个问题。

中国在西半球没有海军基地，中国派遣导弹巡洋舰通过巴拿马运河前往墨西哥湾或华盛顿特区附近的可能性很小。但如果真的发生这种情况，美国会通过南方和北方司令部作出军事回应，并采用最出色的外交手段作出回应。

如果您还有任何问题，请随时与我联系。

Richard DeLotto

We would be shocked, because the PRC utterly lacks a navy capable of operating more than a thousand or so miles from home waters. They reportedly are light on replenishment capability.

I think they have 6 missile cruisers in commission in 2023.

我们会感到震惊，因为中国并没有一支能够在距离本土海域一千多英里以外地区作战的海军。他们缺乏后勤补给能力。

我认为到2023年，他们能拥有6艘在役的导弹巡洋舰。

They would be followed to the canal and as soon as they departed. I daresay their passage would be a major “photo-op” for intelligence. They would be utterly within target range the entire time.

Ummm… we have fought wars to protect Freedom of the Seas and the right of free passage.. Perhaps you should read some AMERICAN history? They might even be invited to make a port call— the USN and Soviets exchanged them in the late 1980s, IIRC.

他们只要一动身出发，就会被一路跟踪到运河。我敢说，他们通过巴拉马运河的过程会是情报部门一次重大的媒体拍照会。他们会一直被我们锁定在目标范围内。

嗯，我们一直都是为了保护海洋自由和通航自由的权利而努力的。也许你们应该读一读美国历史？他们甚至可能会被邀请停靠在美国港口——美国海军和苏联海军在20世纪80年代末就曾相互邀请过。

Jed

China is fully entitled to sail its warships wherever the likes in international waters. They can sail off the eastern, western, and southern US coastlines, including off Washington DC, if they want to, and once they develop the ability to do so. The US would not object, nor care, as long as they followed international law. They became accustomed to the Soviets, and then the Russians, sending military and intelligence-gathering ships and aircraft to patrol just off their 12 nm territorial limit on a routine basis. So the Chinese aren't going to bother them.

只要在公海范围内，中国完全有权力把军舰开到中国喜欢的任何地方。如果他们愿意，他们也可以在美国东部、西部和南部的海岸线上航行，包括华盛顿特区，前提是他们真的具备这种能力。只要他们遵守国际法，美国不会反对，也不会在意。美国早已习惯苏联人的做法，苏联解体后又轮到俄罗斯人派遣军事和情报收集船只和飞机，在美国领土外12海里附近进行例行巡逻。所以中国人这么做只会让美国无动于衷。

The china just need to understand that their butthurt doesn't negate international law. Nobody in the US cares if it hurts the feelings of some members, and they aren't going to stop or change what they're doing. The US will continue to navigate through international waters and fly through international airspace whenever and wherever they please, regardless of the 's tiresome temper tantrums over it.

中国只需要明白一点，他们的怒火不会让国际法因此失效。美国不会在乎中国人的感情有没有受到伤害，他们不会停止或改变他们正在做的事情。美国会继续在公海任意航行，在国际空域任意飞行，不会顾忌中国人的想法。