As American and Chinese officials meet this week in Washington to defuse trade tensions, both sides are trying to find common ground. It won’t be easy.

为缓解贸易紧张局势，中美官员上周在华盛顿会晤，双方试图找到共同基础，但这并不容易。

The Trump administration has pressed hard for China to make major changes to its trade practices and limit the state’s role in the economy — an agenda that comes in conflict with Beijing’s desire to protect its industries and build new ones.

特朗普政府强硬要求中国贸易行为做出重大改变，并限制国家在经济中的作用——这与中国保护自己的产业以及建设新产业的愿望相冲突。

It all traces back to the style and speed of China’s growth. Over the past 40 years, Western countries have struggled to find the right recipe of incentives and agreements to get China to play fair.

这一切都可以追溯到中国发展的风格和速度。过去40年中，西方国家一直在努力寻找适当的激励措施和协议来让中国公平竞争。

Trading partners often complain that China flouts the rules to get ahead. And none have voiced those concerns more virulently than President Trump, who has said it was a mistake to let China into the World Trade Organization in the first place.

贸易伙伴经常抱怨中国藐视规则以获得成功。其中，特朗普以最强烈的方式表达了忧虑，他声称，当初让中国加入世界贸易组织(World Trade Organization)就是错的。

The president stoked fears of a trade war earlier this year, when he announced tariffs first on washing machines and solar panels, and then steel and aluminum. And the Trump administration hit China again in April, blocking exports of microchips and software to the Chinese telecommunications company ZTE, before seeming to rethink the aggressive move in a tweet saying that he and the Chinese leader are “working together.”

今年早些时候，总统先是宣布了对洗衣机和太阳能电池板征收关税，然后是钢铝关税，从而引发了人们对贸易战的恐惧。特朗普政府于4月份再次对中国发起攻击，阻止美国对中国电信企业中兴通讯出口微芯片和软件，之后他似乎重新考虑了这一强硬举动，在一条推文中声称他和中国领导人正在“共同努力”。

So how did a poor, developing country that still has a gross domestic product per capita of less than $10,000 come to rival, and even challenge, the existing economic order?

那么，一个人均国内生产总值依然不到一万美元的贫穷发展中国家，是如何与现有经济秩序相抗衡，甚至挑战该秩序的呢?