In its rivalry with the United States, China has racked up a series of wins in recent weeks.

在與美國的競爭中，中國在最近幾週取得了一系列勝利。

The Trump administration has softened its criticism of China’s Communist Party in a strategy document. It has reopened a channel for high-end chip sales that Washington once treated as untouchable. And President Trump has held his tongue as a key U.S. ally in Asia faces Chinese intimidation for backing Taiwan.

川普政府在一份戰略文件中軟化了對中國共產黨的批評。它重新開放了曾被華盛頓視為禁區的高端晶片銷售管道。並且，當美國的一個亞洲關鍵盟友因支持台灣而面臨中國恐嚇時，川普總統保持了沉默。

For Beijing, the shifts in Washington’s approach suggest that Mr. Trump has less of an appetite for confronting China over ideology, technology and diplomacy. Some commentators in China have hailed these developments as irrefutable signs of American decline and Chinese ascendancy.

對於北京來說，華盛頓的這些立場轉變表明，川普不再那麼熱衷於在意識型態、技術和外交方面與中國對抗。中國一些評論員稱這些進展無可辯駁地體現了美國的衰落和中國的崛起。

Mr. Trump’s decision on Monday to allow some advanced chips to be sold to China, the prominent Chinese technology executive Zhou Hongyi said on social media, showed how China’s unstoppable technological rise had “pushed the United States against a wall.”

中國知名科技高管周鴻禕在社群媒體上表示，川普週一允許向中國出售一些先進晶片的決定表明，中國不可阻擋的技術崛起已將「美國逼到牆角」。

The Global Times, a Communist Party newspaper, pointed to the White House’s new national security strategy, which focuses more on the Western Hemisphere than China, as “evidence of the U.S. acknowledging its relative decline in power.” Washington has realized “it cannot afford the costs of prolonged confrontation” with China, the nationalist blog Jiuwanli similarly concluded.

共產黨報紙《環球時報》指出，新的白宮國家安全戰略將更多重點放在西半球而非中國，是「美國承認其相對實力下降的證據」。民族主義部落格「九萬里」也得出類似結論：在對華問題上，華盛頓已經意識到「難以承受長期全面對抗產生的巨大代價」。

And Mr. Trump has remained publicly silent as China has mounted a pressure campaign against Japan, a U.S. ally, over that country’s support for Taiwan. Beijing has summoned Japanese diplomats, canceled flights, curbed tourism and stepped up military flights near Japanese airspace, including with Russia, to highlight its displeasure.

而當中國針對美國的盟友日本、就其支持台灣的言論發起施壓行動時，川普在公開場合一直保持沉默。北京召見了日本外交官、取消航班、限制旅遊，並增加了靠近日本領空的軍事飛行，包括與俄羅斯的聯合行動，以表達其不滿。

This is Mr. Trump’s more transactional diplomacy in action, according to Chinese analysts. In this less hawkish, more pragmatic approach, China is seen not as a threat to U.S. supremacy that must be contained, but as a major nation to be negotiated with.

根據中國分析人士的說法，這是川普更注重交易的外交在起作用。在這種不那麼鷹派、更加務實的思維下，中國不再被視為必須遏制的美國霸權威脅，而是一個必須與之談判的重要國家。

That shift was laid out plainly in Mr. Trump’s national security strategy, released last week. It recast the U.S.-China rivalry as chiefly an economic contest and not a struggle over security or political systems. The strategy’s stated priority: establishing a “mutually advantageous economic relationship with Beijing.”

這種轉變在上週發布的川普國家安全戰略中被明確闡述。它將中美競爭重新定義為主要是一場經濟競賽，而非安全或政治制度之爭。該戰略的既定優先事項是：建立「與北京互利的經濟關係」。

And unlike previous presidents, Mr. Trump showed no interest in the longstanding American project of promoting democracy in China. For the first time in more than 30 years, the national security strategy did not criticize China’s authoritarian rule or press Beijing to uphold human rights — sentiments echoed by presidents from George H.W. Bush to Joseph R. Biden Jr. and even to Mr. Trump himself in 2017, during his first term.

而且，與前幾任總統不同，川普對美國長期以來在中國推行民主的項目不感興趣。這是30多年來，國家安全戰略首次沒有批評中國的威權統治或敦促北京維護人權——這一立場曾被從老布希到小拜登的歷任總統所堅持，甚至川普本人在2017年首個任期時也曾表達過相同觀點。

The strategy showed that “China’s push to make the international system friendlier to autocracy is no longer on our list of priorities,” said Caroline Costello, assistant director at the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub, who analyzed previous national security strategies released since 1986, when Congress began requiring U.S. presidents to submit their foreign policy visions.

大西洋理事會全球中國中心助理主任卡羅琳·科斯特洛表示，該戰略表明「中國推動國際體系對威權更友好的做法已不再是我們的優先事項」，她分析了1986年國會開始要求美國總統提交外交政策願景後以來歷屆總統的國家安全戰略。

Xin Qiang, a U.S.-China expert at Fudan University in Shanghai, said that the strategy showed that the Trump administration had finally realized that “trying to change China by playing the ideological card is neither possible nor feasible.”

復旦大學中美問題專家信強表示，該戰略表明川普政府終於意識到，「試圖通過打意識型態牌來改變中國既不可能，也不可行。」

“At least since Trump took office in his second term, he hasn’t shown a strong ideological drive in his China policy. It’s what we call ‘profit-driven,’” he said, adding that this was good for China.

「至少川普在他第二個任期上任以來，他的對華政策沒有表現出強烈的意識型態驅動。這就是我們所說的『利益驅動』，」他說，並補充說這對中國是好事。

Mr. Trump’s transactional bent may help explain why his administration reversed export controls on critical artificial intelligence technology that can help China economically and militarily. It granted Nvidia, the American chip maker, permission to begin selling its second-most-powerful semiconductor to China. The U.S. government would receive 25 percent of all the revenues from the sales, Mr. Trump said in a social media post, a trade that critics said prioritizes short-term economic gain over long-term American security interests.

川普的交易傾向可能有助於解釋為什麼他的政府撤銷了可能對中國經濟和軍事發展有幫助的關鍵人工智慧技術的出口管制。它批准美國晶片製造商英偉達開始向中國出售其性能排名第二的半導體。川普在社群媒體帖子中表示，美國政府將從所有銷售收入中得到25%的提成，批評人士稱這種交易將短期經濟收益置於美國長期安全利益之上。

The latest moves by the Trump administration, in some ways, extend the conciliatory posture Mr. Trump struck at his summit with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in October. That meeting resulted in the United States walking back tariffs after China flexed its leverage by withholding exports of rare earths, critical minerals needed for almost all modern manufacturing, and soybean purchases.

在某些方面，川普政府的最新舉措延續了他去年10月與中國領導人習近平會晤時所採取的和解姿態。那次會晤的結果是，在中國通過限制出口稀土——幾乎所有現代製造業所需的關鍵礦物——以及大豆採購來發揮影響力之後，美國撤回了關稅。

The two leaders spoke again last month, after which Mr. Trump said he had accepted an invitation from Mr. Xi to visit Beijing in April.

兩位領導人於上個月再次通話，此後川普表示，他已接受了習近平的訪華邀請，訪問定於明年4月。

David Sacks, a fellow in Asia studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Mr. Trump was clearly thinking about that Beijing meeting when the White House released its national security strategy. “I think he likely wants to have maximum negotiating space in that meeting, and perhaps more pointed language on China he might view as constraining that space,” he said.

美國對外關係委員會亞洲研究員戴維·薩克斯表示，白宮發布國家安全戰略時，川普顯然已經把北京會晤納入考量。他說：「我認為他可能希望在那次會晤中擁有最大的談判空間，而他可能認為更具針對性的對華措辭會限制這種空間。」

For Beijing, the shift from containment to competition amounts to a strategic victory. It validates China’s argument that countries should not interfere in the matters of other states or impinge on their development, and that there is no such thing as universal human rights that all countries should protect.

對於北京來說，從遏制到競爭的轉變相當於一次戰略勝利。它證實了中國的論點，即國家不應干涉他國內政或阻礙其發展，並且不存在所有國家都應保護的普世人權。

It also gives Mr. Xi more room to be aggressive in the region. China has repeatedly criticized Japan’s prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, for saying that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan could incite a military response from Tokyo. China escalated its campaign on Japan on Tuesday, by sending Chinese fighter jets and bombers alongside two nuclear-capable Russian bombers near Japanese islands.

這也給了習近平在該地區採取更激進行動的空間。中國一再批評日本首相高市早苗，因為她表示中國若對台灣發起攻擊，可能引發東京的軍事反應。週二，中國加大了對日本的行動力度，派遣戰鬥機和轟炸機，與兩架具備核打擊能力的俄羅斯轟炸機一同靠近日本島嶼。

When Japan’s defense minister complained that the show of force by China on Tuesday had been a threat to his country’s national security, a spokesman for China’s Defense Ministry shrugged off the criticism, describing the exercises as a “demonstration of the determination and capability” of his country and Russia to deal with regional security challenges. (On Wednesday, Japan and the United States conducted a joint military exercise over the Sea of Japan to demonstrate the strength of their countries’ alliance, Japan said.)

當日本防衛大臣抱怨週二的武力展示對其國家安全構成威脅時，中國國防部發言人對此不屑一顧，稱這些演習是「展示」中國和俄羅斯應對地區安全挑戰的「決心與能力」。（日本表示，日本和美國週三在日本海舉行了聯合軍事演習，以展示兩國聯盟的力量。）

Chinese analysts say Mr. Trump’s more pragmatic approach to China should herald a more stable and predictable chapter in the relationship. In response to Mr. Trump’s national security strategy, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said this week that Beijing also wanted “mutually beneficial economic relations” and hoped the United States would continue working with China to “shrink the list of issues” between the two countries.

中國分析人士表示，川普對中國採取的更務實方法預示著兩國關係將進入一個更穩定和可預測的階段。本週，中國外交部對川普的國家安全戰略回應稱，北京也希望建立「互利的經濟關係」，並希望美國繼續與中國合作，「壓縮問題清單。」

But others point out that any let up in U.S. pressure on China is only temporary. Meng Weizhan, a social sciences researcher at Fudan University, wrote in an article for the Qianhai Institute for International Affairs in Shenzhen that the Trump administration was still targeting China, just less overtly.

但也有人指出，美國對中國的任何緩解壓力的舉措都只是暫時的。復旦大學社會科學高等研究院的社會科學研究員孟維瞻博士在為深圳前海國際事務研究院撰寫的一篇文章中寫道，川普政府仍在針對中國，只是不那麼公開。

“It’s possible that over the next three years, Trump’s policy toward China will not be excessively aggressive or hard-line,” Dr. Meng wrote. “After he leaves office, you might even think his presidency ‘wasn’t all that bad’ for China.”

「或許未來三年川普在對華政策上不會表現得過於激烈強硬，」孟維瞻寫道。「甚至等他卸任後回頭看，你會覺得他當政時期對中國『並不算太壞』。」

But, according to Dr. Meng, Mr. Trump might even be taking inspiration from the dictum made famous by the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping: “Hide your strength and bide your time.” By focusing on regrouping and rebuilding America’s economic and technological edge, the United States will be able to better compete with China in the future.

但是，在他看來，川普甚至可能在借鑒中國領導人鄧小平著名的格言「韜光養晦」。通過專注於重組和重建美國的經濟和技術優勢，美國將能夠在未來更好地與中國競爭。

“The underlying essence of the United States’ strategy toward China has not changed: to maintain its own dominant position, and to prevent and contain China’s rise,” he wrote.

「美國對華戰略的底色是不變的，那就是維持自身優勢地位、防範和遏制中國崛起，」他寫道。