Why is the US doing such a bad job countering China’s rise?

为什么美国在应对中国的崛起时如此力不从心？

以下是Quora网友的评论：

Tsing Hsiung Ye

Oh, that’s a lot of reasons.

For America:

原因有不少。

对美国而言：

1.no unified policies and strategies, every department has its own stance, and their stances may conflict each other. Like, the department of commerce wanted to continue high tariffs on Chinese products, but the department of treasury wanted China to buy American debt, this is paradoxcal, you can’t ask someone to buy your goods while pointing a gun at him.

1. 缺乏统一的政策和战略，每个部门都有各自的立场，不同立场之间可能相互冲突。比如，商务部想继续对中国产品征收高关税，但财政部想让中国购买美国国债，这就矛盾了，你不能一边用枪指着别人，一边又要求他购买你的产品。

2.no unified benefits on “countering China”, Wall Street companies do not wish to counter China, while some domestic companies wish to. Because WS companies are financial sectors, they invest and make profit, no matter from where, but domestic companies rely on domestic market and labors, if everything can be made in China, then they die.

2. 在“反华”立场上没有统一的利益，华尔街的企业不想反华，可某些美国企业希望反华。因为华尔街的企业属于金融行业，他们通过投资获利，他们不在乎钱从哪里来，但美国企业依赖国内市场和劳动力，如果一切都变成中国制造，他们就没有活路了。

3.no unified strategies, Trump prefers solve China first, while Biden prefers solve Russia first. Given America’s strength is limited, it can’t handle both, but wavering between the two only waste precious time. And China, Russia, Muslim world, the global south won’t give America this chance, when it tried to solve one, the rest will rise up.

4.de ocratic. America’s de ocratic system allows people in 1, 2 and 3 can’t reach to an agreement.

3. 缺乏统一的战略，特朗普希望先解决中国，而拜登想要先解决俄罗斯。鉴于美国的实力有限，无法同时解决这两个国家，但在两者之间摇摆不定只会浪费宝贵的时间。中国，俄罗斯，MSL世界，发展中国家都不会给美国这个机会，当它试图解决其中之一时，其他国家就会反抗。

4. 皿煮。美国的皿煮制度让上述第1、2和3点中的相关利益方无法达成一致。

5.no real representation of China, as many answers here pointed out, China’s image in Ameican media is twisted, which made Americans not able to make objective evaluation and correct decision. Sometimes the images are controversial, sometimes China is weak and easy to win, sometimes China is a threat…I don’t konw how come a country could be both weak and threatening at same time. However, if China is correctly and honestely reported, the politicians in WH and Capitol Hill will afraid losing power after American people found they’re fooled and manipulated, not just China, on everything.

5. 正如很多回答中指出的那样，中国在美国媒体中的形象是扭曲失真的，所以美国人无法做出客观的评价和正确的决定。有些时候，中国的形象是有争议的，有时中国很弱，很容易打败，有时中国又是一个威胁，我也不能理解一个国家怎么可能同时既柔弱又有威胁。但如果美国媒体客观真实地报道中国，等美国人民发现他们被政府愚弄和操纵后，白宫和国会山的政客们又会害怕失去对一切的权力，届时就不仅仅是中国问题了。

6.no correct mentaility. America’s an amatuer in international politics, it adopts a zero sum mentality, which cuts off alternative options, and behaves like a red-eyed bull. Like Vietnam war, it could let the souther Vietnman go and admit it’s lost the war, but it can’t step back, so the only option is to increase the stakes, until the final collapse. Zero sum is an ideal result, but the world is complicated.

6. 缺乏正确的心态。美国在国际政治中就是个外行，采用零和博弈的思路，放弃其他选择，就像一只红眼公牛一样疯魔。比如越南战争，美国本可以放弃南越，承认自己输掉了战争，但它没有退路，所以只能孤注一掷，追加赌注，直到最终惨败。零和是一个理想的结果，但这个世界非常复杂。

For China:

而对于中国：

1.it’s big enough, so trade war can’t defeat China’s industry.

2.it’s advanced enough, so technology war can’t stop China’s development.

3.it’s strong enough, so a real war can’t defeat China and bring it kneeling in front of you.

1.它足够大，所以贸易战无法打垮中国的制造业。

2.它足够先进，所以技术战争无法阻止中国的发展。

3.它足够强大，所以真正的战争无法打败中国，让它跪地求饶。

For countering philosophy:

对待敌人的理念：

1.the correct comepetion is: you run fast, then I run faster. But America’s strategy is: you run fast, then I cripple you. Such a denial philosophy only makes the other side knowing there’s no chance to compromise.

2.for a third party observer, America’s philosophy is somewaht suicidal, when it is countering China is wishes its allies to pay the cost, or, its allies were unfortunately influenced, there’s no compensation. In long run, America wins the game but loses hearts.

3.pursuing defenite advantage than others will make a third party felt chilly: am I the next? How to avoid this fate? Can I unite all potential targets to avoid being taken as a target? Like I said, wins the game but loses the hearts.

1. 正确的竞争方式应该是：如果你跑得快，那么我就要跑得更快。但美国的策略是：如果你跑得快，那我就废了你的腿。这种做法只会把对方逼入绝路，背水一战。

2. 对于第三方观察者来说，美国的理念在某种程度上就是自杀行为。美国打压中国的时候，希望盟友替他出力，如果它的盟友不幸受到影响，那是绝对没有补偿的。从长远来看，美国即便赢下了竞争，却也输掉了人心。

3. 追求绝对优势只会让其他国家瑟瑟发抖：我会不会就是下一个？如何避免这种命运？我能和所有潜在目标联手，别被美国盯上吗？就像我说的，美国赢了游戏却输了人心。

Generally, present America is like the final days of Ming Dynasty of China, the empire treasury was almost empty but big heads possessed gold mountains, there’s outside threats (Manchu, Mongolians and Japanese), and ministers, lords, princes, all had differnt stances, they fought each other in the hall, the whole political machine is used as a weapon to attack the enemies in government, rather than enemies in field, the big heads controlled the information, they only report good news to the emperor, then emperor was blind and deaf, however, making final decision the right of the emperor, but a blind and deaf emperor only made wrong decisions. When farmers uprose to fight the unfair treatment, the big heads refused to fund the army, when Manchus and Japanese invaded, the corruptive army can’t fight. Finally, the emperor looked at the empty empire treasury, hang himself on a tree, when the emperor died, the empire collapsed, and Manchus conquered all China.

The history told us, for a big country, it collapses from inside, eyeing on an outsider is useless, or just put off its collapse. When an empire’s rotten from the root, “countering” an outside opponent only speeds up the bleeding.

总的来说，现在的美国就像中国明末时期，国库空虚但权势阶层拥有金矿，存在外部威胁(满人，蒙古人和日本人)，大臣、地主和王公，都有各自的立场，他们在朝堂上互相辗轧，政治体制都被用作攻击政敌的武器，而不是战场上的敌人。权臣把控消息渠道，对皇帝报喜不报忧，皇帝又瞎又聋，但做最后决定的权利在皇帝手中，只是一个又瞎又聋的皇帝只可能做出错误的决定。

当农民奋起反抗不公平的待遇时，权臣们拒绝为军队拨晌，满清入关时，腐败的明朝军队已失去战斗力。最终，明朝皇帝看着空荡荡的国库，绝望地上吊自杀了，皇帝一死，明朝政府立马倒台

历史告诉我们，大国都是从内部开始崩溃的，紧盯着外敌是没有用的，最多也只是推迟大国的崩溃。当一个帝国从根源上开始腐烂时，“打压”外敌只会加速帝国的衰败。

Liberal Catharine

Because your trolling sux and the only *strength* china has that the IS doesn't have is the population. We're ahead in technology. We're ahead pin Nobel prizes. Our GDP is higher, we don't feel the need to lie about or exaggerate our stats. You suck so much, you can't rip on us with facts, just lame self strokes

因为中国拥有一个美国不曾拥有的唯一“优势”，那就是人口。我们在科技方面处于领先。我们在诺贝尔奖数量上处于领先。我们的GDP更高，我们觉得没有必要造假或夸大统计数据。你们就很差劲了，你们无法用事实来抨击我们，所以只能蹩脚地自我安慰。

Zheming Ma

As a Chinese, some Americans give me the feeling that they are still living in the Cold War era, which is far away for us but the flow of time in the United States seems to be much slower.

作为一个中国人，有些美国人给我的感觉是他们仍然生活在冷战时代，这对我们来说已经是非常遥远的事了，但在美国，时间的流逝似乎要慢上许多。

Jiacheng Zhang

Because the US is doing such a good job countering the EU’s and Russia’s rise. One can’t counter everyone, right?

因为美国在对抗欧盟和俄罗斯的崛起方面颇有成效。但一个人无法对抗所有人，对吧？

Kelvin Zheng

Because the United States is dealing with a fictional "China".

I often give the example on QUORA that if a black bear were portrayed as a short, docile, herbivorous critter, it would kill anyone who believed that description and was about to go up the mountain.

因为美国面对的是一个虚构的“中国”。

我经常会在QUORA上举例说明，如果我们把黑熊描绘成一种矮小、温顺的食草动物，它会杀死任何轻信这个说法并准备上山的人。

Now, Americans are facing the "black bear lie" constructed by the media. In the American perception, China is backward and barbaric.  China’s military is vulnerable. China’s economy is facing collapse. All kinds of data about China are It’s fabricated.

现在，美国人就面临着媒体捏造的“黑熊谎言”。在美国人的印象中，中国是落后的、野蛮的。中国的军队不堪一击。中国经济即将崩溃。中国的所有数据都是捏造的。

Even though there are countless Vlogs about China on Youtube, they still believe that there is a "fictional" China in the world, not the China depicted in the Vlogs - because the Vlogs may be fake videos.

How can you defeat your opponent when you don't even know what he looks like? You're killed before you even get into the cave.

When you want to defeat your opponent, the first correct step is to "face the opponent squarely."

虽然Youtube上有数之不尽关于中国的视频，但他们仍然认为世界上有一个“虚构的”中国，跟视频中描绘的中国完全不同—因为视频也可能是假的。

你连对手长什么样都不知道，怎么可能打败他呢？你还没摸进黑熊的洞穴，就得被杀了。

如果你想打败对手，第一步应该是“正视对手”。

Chiu Yu

I have a different take. I think the US has outdone anyone’s wildest imagination in countering China’s rise. It could not have done better.

Without what the US has done so far, China’s rise would have been much less inhibited and much more spectacular than it is now. Just to give you a few simple examples. Huawei would have beaten Apple and dominated the world cell phone market with all certainty. The US and European auto markets would have seen a sizeable share of BYD and other Chinese EVs (according to Elon Musk), maybe half of the world’s commercial space launches would have been carried out by Chinese industries every year, and the Northeast Asian trade bloc would have formed a decade ago with the RMB well on its way to become a major reserve currency.

我有不同的看法。我认为美国在对抗中国崛起方面已经超出了人类最疯狂的想象，已经没有提升的空间了。

如果没有美国迄今所做的一切，中国的崛起不会像现在这样受到约束，也不会像现在这样引人注目。给大家举几个简单的例子吧，若没有美国，华为肯定会打败苹果，称霸全球手机市场的。比亚迪和其他中国电动汽车将会占据美国和欧洲汽车市场的极大份额(根据埃隆·马斯克的说法)，每年全球有一半的商业太空发射将由中国完成，东北亚贸易集团十年前就能建立，人民币也会成为主要的储备货币。

So the US didn’t really “fail”. It is just that there is a limit to what the US, or anyone for that matter, can do. That includes trying to reverse the course of progression of natural order in this world. Such efforts to counteract the force of history are often futile.

Maybe a historian can answer this better than I can.

因此，美国并没有真正“失败”，但美国或任何国家能做的都很有限，比如试图逆转世界自然秩序的进程，这种对抗历史力量的努力往往都是徒劳无功的。

也许历史学家能比我更好地回答这个问题。

Ernie Wisner

we are still honoring agreements to the ROC

China feels no need honor any past agreements and has spent nearly 80 years making war on the west and its surrounding countries.

我们仍然遵守与中华民国签订的协议

中国觉得没有必要遵守历史协议，花了近80年的时间对西方及其周边国家发动战争。

Kevin Liu

The US has already tried its best to curb China’s rise, but the reason it failed is that China’s rise is inevitable. No country in the world can stop China’s rise, at most, slow down China’s speed to becoming a superpower.

美国已经尽力遏制中国的崛起了，但美国失败的原因在于中国的崛起势不可挡。世界上没有哪个国家可以阻止中国的崛起，最多也只能减缓中国成为超级大国的速度。

L.K.

The best way to counter other’s rise is to develop faster than others, especially when the US was ahead of China on almost every area. But the hegemonic mindset has led the US to choose confrontation rather than make itself more competitive. Now, the US is both losing competitiveness and powerless to contain China.

对抗其他国家崛起的最佳方式是比其他国家发展得更快，尤其是在美国几乎在所有领域都领先中国的情况下。但美国的霸权思维让美国选择了对抗，放弃了增强自身竞争力。现在，美国既失去了竞争力，又遏制不了中国。