第三篇 Passage 3

（Woodruff, the anchor of the Cable News Network of the U.S., had an interview with Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji during his visit to the U.S. The following is excerpted from the interview.）

伍： 前几天，您对议员们说，克林顿总统缺乏勇气，并建议他在一些政治问题上应做出让步。请问，总统真的给您留下这样的印象吗？您认为他在政治方面缺乏勇气吗？

ZHU: I don’t think we should look at this as a matter of courage. Rather, it’s a judgment of opportunity. And this reflects his assessment of the domestic political situation in the U.S. And I believe that he should make up his mind and come to some conclusion, based on the views of Congress and on popular opinion in the United States. And I do believe he will make the right decision.

Well, based on my trip to the United States------so far I’ve already been to five cities, including New York, and tomorrow we will go to Boston------I’ve had an opportunity to come into contact with a good array of people in the United States, including members of Congress and people from the business community and people from the financial community and members of the press. And I found that all the Americans we’ve met have been very friendly to China.

And I think that this bodes well for a continuing progressive development in Sino-U.S. relations. And I feel that all the people we’ve met certainly would be supportive of China’s accession to the WTO.

And at two o’clock this afternoon, President Clinton called me on the telephone and I told him about the sense that I had. And he told me that he had the same sense.

So I don’t think it will take a very long time for us to achieve an agreement.

伍：克林顿总统已经谈过两国保持接触的重要性、您认为这很重要吗？

ZHU: Well, what you call “engagement” we call a “friendly, cooperative relationship” between China and the United States. And I believe that a cooperative, friendly relationship between China and the United States is------has been, the consistent policy of your political parties, both the Republicans and the Democrats.

The policy in the United States has been a bipartisan one, ever since President Nixon first opened up the door of U.S.-China relations. After all, he was a Republican, but then it was during the administration of President Carter, who was a Democrat, that the countries achieved normal diplomatic relations. And subsequently, Presidents Reagan and Bush, who were Republicans, continued to promote and foster the relationship. And then the Democratic President Clinton and our President Jiang togather, announced that we were going to try to develop a constructive strategic partnership.

And so I think this chain of events shows that this policy has been a bipartisan one. And now I feel that we are entering into a new phase which is entirely consistent with the interests, not only of our two countries, but also with that of the world at large. And on the Chinese side, if you look back to Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou Enlai, and Mr. Deng Xiaoping, and now President Jiang Zemin, three successive generations of our leaders have also been supportive of this policy.

So I think that what you call “engagement” is the right way to go. And the so-called “containment” or even some people now call “soft containment” is not the right way.

伍： 最后，请问朱总理，您将给世界人民带来什么样的消息帮助他们了解他们目前对中国还不解的事情？您想让包括美国，欧洲和非洲人民在内的全世界人民了解中国的哪些方面？

ZHU: Well, I think that in the current anti-China sentiment in the United States, the people whose voices are loudest, the ones who lack the understanding of China the most and often they are the ones who’ve never been to China. So, I think the best way to promote and facilitate better relations between China and the United States is to have more exchanges of visitors, to have people visit each other more often, and to have people communicate with each other better.

And during this current visit to the United States, I’ve had an opportunity to meet people from different walks of life in the U.S., including many ordinary American citizens. And I find that they all express feelings of friendship towards China. And on some issues, including issues raised by people in Congress like human rights and Tibet, after they hear my explanations of our views on these subjects they have expressed understanding of why we feel like what we do.

So I feel that if we are able to better promote mutual understanding between our two people, the relationship between us will for sure improve.