美国国家公共电台 NPR--Biden-Xi phone call is expected to cover Taiwan, tariffs and other issues

Biden-Xi phone call is expected to cover Taiwan, tariffs¹ and other issues

Transcript²

President Biden and China's leader Xi Jinping are expected to talk on the phone soon. A strain in relations has intensified³ over reports that House Speaker Pelosi is planning a trip to Taiwan.

ASMA KHALID, HOST:

President Biden and China's president, Xi Jinping, spoke⁴ this morning by phone. The relationship has been tense between the world's two biggest economies, and it's only getting more tense, with reports that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might be planning a trip to Taiwan. Earlier this morning, we asked NPR's John Ruwitch in Beijing to tell us what this fifth conversation between Biden and Xi might cover.

JOHN RUWITCH, BYLINE⁵: Well, the Biden administration says this call's been planned for a while. It's part of what they dubbed⁶ relationship tending. John Kirby, the National Security Council coordinator⁷ for strategic communications, had this to say about the call yesterday during a briefing.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

JOHN KIRBY: The president wants to make sure that the lines of communication with President Xi remain open because they need to.

RUWITCH: Yeah, that's because it's a challenging time. Relations remain frayed⁸ across the board. China and the U.S. don't see eye to eye on how they can make things better in the relationship. The Chinese government insists that the U.S. is the cause of the breakdown⁹ in relations and it's up to the Biden administration to fix it. Beijing even issued a list of demands a few weeks ago, things it thinks the U.S. should do to that end.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Now, from the U.S. side, the buzzwords for policy toward China are, invest, align¹⁰ and compete, right? What does that mean? And does it leave room to improve the relationship?

RUWITCH: Well, invest is invest in America. Align is to align, you know, with allies in policy toward China. And compete is to compete with China on a broad range of issues. U.S. officials say there is room to work together on topics like climate change. And the Chinese acknowledge that there should be cooperation, but they really aren't happy with the U.S. approach. Scott Kennedy is with the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

SCOTT KENNEDY: The Chinese seem to be actually dragging their feet on trying to, you know, really make progress on areas where we could collaborate¹¹ because they're waiting for the U.S. to give that broad signal.

RUWITCH: You know, these are the two most powerful countries on Earth.

FADEL: Right.

RUWITCH: U.S. officials have said that Ukraine will be on that list of issues that they're going to be discussing. China is aligned¹² with Russia in the Ukraine issue. Taiwan, of course, is also going to come up. It's a perennial¹³ issue at the heart of the relationship, but it's been stirred up because of this - these reports that House Speaker Pelosi is planning a trip to Taiwan. That trip is not confirmed yet. But Beijing considers the island, of course, a part of China, even though it doesn't control it and has threatened, quote, "forceful measures" if there is a visit.

FADEL: What about tariffs? The Biden administration has been discussing this as a possible way to lower inflation at home. Is that something that could break the ice?

RUWITCH: Well, the White House has been considering rolling back some Trump-era tariffs on consumer products. It's unclear how much it would help with inflation. So there's still debate about that. China has always seen them as illegitimate. Here's Scott Kennedy again.

KENNEDY: I don't expect the two presidents really to make tariffs in the negotiation¹⁴ about whether to reach a deal or not a central part of their phone call. But I do think that they might talk about to what extent do we have an economic relationship, which ought to be more positive sum (ph) than it is right now.

FADEL: Right. So how does that happen? These are the world's two biggest economies, but they're at loggerheads.

RUWITCH: Yeah, there are strong headwinds, and both sides have been focusing lately on that sort of compete element of the relationship, taking steps to strengthen and insulate their economies. You know, just yesterday, the Senate passed a bill to help American semiconductor¹⁵ makers¹⁶ compete with China. The administration's also been trying to curtail¹⁷ China's access to global chip supply. That's just reinforced the notion in China that in order to survive, it needs to be self-sufficient, not just in chips but things like energy and food. You know, Biden and Xi Jinping might not make much concrete progress in these talks, but the fact they're having a discussion, you know, underscores the point that both seem to believe that talking is better than not talking.

FADEL: NPR's John Ruwitch in Beijing. Thank you, John.

RUWITCH: Thank you.

1 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 intensified   

v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Violence intensified during the night. 在夜间暴力活动加剧了。
• The drought has intensified. 旱情加剧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

8 frayed   

adj.磨损的v.（使布、绳等）磨损，磨破( fray的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• His shirt was frayed. 他的衬衫穿破了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The argument frayed their nerves. 争辩使他们不快。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

9 breakdown   

n.垮，衰竭；损坏，故障，倒塌

参考例句：

• She suffered a nervous breakdown.她患神经衰弱。
• The plane had a breakdown in the air,but it was fortunately removed by the ace pilot.飞机在空中发生了故障，但幸运的是被王牌驾驶员排除了。

10 align   

vt.使成一线，结盟，调节；vi.成一线，结盟

参考例句：

• Align the ruler and the middle of the paper.使尺子与纸张的中部成一条直线。
• There are signs that the prime minister is aligning himself with the liberals.有迹象表明首相正在与自由党人结盟。

11 collaborate   

vi.协作，合作；协调

参考例句：

• The work gets done more quickly when we collaborate.我们一旦合作，工作做起来就更快了。
• I would ask you to collaborate with us in this work.我们愿意请你们在这项工作中和我们合作。

12 aligned   

adj.对齐的，均衡的

参考例句：

• Make sure the shelf is aligned with the top of the cupboard.务必使搁架与橱柜顶端对齐。

13 perennial   

adj.终年的；长久的

参考例句：

• I wonder at her perennial youthfulness.我对她青春常驻感到惊讶。
• There's a perennial shortage of teachers with science qualifications.有理科教学资格的老师一直都很短缺。

14 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

15 semiconductor   

n.半导体

参考例句：

• In the beginning,engineers hoped to use semiconductor lasers.在开始时，工程师们希望能够利用半导体激光器。
• The main agent of the company brand semiconductor sales.本公司主要代理各品牌半导体销售。

16 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 curtail   

vt.截短，缩短；削减

参考例句：

• The government hopes to curtail public spending.政府希望缩减公共事业开支。
• The minister had to curtail his visit.部长不得不缩短访问日期。