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| WASHINGTON — A few days before President Biden’s Summit for Democracy, a virtual meeting of more than 100 countries that opened Thursday morning, the Chinese foreign ministry released a stinging report about the American democratic system. |
| 华盛顿——拜登总统举行的有超过100个国家参与的虚拟会议“民主峰会”于周四一早开幕，而就在那之前几天，中国外交部发布了一份批判美国民主制度的报告。 |
| The “gunshots and farce on Capitol Hill have completely revealed what is underneath the gorgeous appearance of the American-style democracy,” the Chinese report said, citing the Jan. 6 riot. In a country where “money decides everything,” the report charged, “an entrenched political paralysis” renders governing impossible. |
| “国会山的枪声与闹剧彻底揭开美式民主的华丽外衣，”这份中文报告在提及1月6日的暴乱时写道。报告中控诉称，在这个“金钱决定一切”的国家，“根深蒂固的政治瘫痪”让治理根本无法实现。 |
| A spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry struck a similarly contemptuous tone in late November. “The United States claims the right to decide who is worthy of being called a democracy and who is not,” said the spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, according to Tass, the state news agency. “It certainly looks cynical. I would say that it looks pathetic, given the state of democracy and human rights in the United States and in the West in general.” |
| 11月底，俄罗斯外交部的一位发言人也发出了类似的轻蔑嘲讽。根据俄罗斯国家通讯社塔斯社报道，发言人玛丽亚·扎哈罗娃表示，“美国自行决定哪些国家应该被称为民主国家当然令人深感讽刺。考虑到美国和整个西方的民主和人权状况，我认为这是荒唐可笑的。” |
| During his presidential campaign, Mr. Biden vowed to shore up U.S. alliances, which he said had suffered badly during the Trump administration, and to unite democracies against the authoritarianism of rising powers such as Russia and China. “This is the defining challenge of our time,” the president said in opening remarks on Thursday. |
| 在竞选总统期间，拜登誓言要巩固美国同盟，称这些关系在特朗普政府执政期间遭受了严重打击；同时他也要团结各民主国家，对抗俄罗斯和中国等崛起大国的威权主义。“这是我们这个时代的决定性挑战，”总统在周四的开幕致辞中表示。 |
| A backlash from authoritarian governments that were not invited to a summit meeting meant to support democratic values is hardly surprising. |
| 未受邀参与这场旨在支持民主价值观的峰会的威权政府自然表示强烈反对。 |
| But even U.S. officials concede that American democracy is straining from political polarization, racial injustice and discord, voting rights restrictions and domestic extremism, among other issues. Some activists are urging Mr. Biden to devote more attention to problems at home before turning his focus abroad. |
| 但即便是美国官员也承认，美国民主正因政治极化、种族不公与矛盾、投票权利受限以及国内极端主义等问题而受到损害。有活动人士敦促拜登，在把注意力转向国外之前，应当先对国内问题给予更多关注。 |
| “You can’t try to export and defend democracy globally when you can’t protect it domestically,” said Cliff Albright, a co-founder and executive director of the Black Voters Matter Fund, a progressive nonprofit group in Atlanta. “You can’t be the global fireman when your house is on fire.” |
| “保护不了国内民主时，你就没法向全球输出和捍卫民主，”亚特兰大非营利进步组织“黑人选民也重要基金会”的联合创始人兼执行董事克利夫·奥布赖特表示。“自家着火时，你没法去做全世界的消防员。” |
| That tension will loom over the two-day virtual gathering of leaders from model democracies like Germany, Japan and Sweden to countries with mixed records such as Georgia, Nigeria and Pakistan. The meeting, held at the White House and which also includes journalists, civil society activists and business leaders, is meant to be a forum for democracies to exchange ideas and critiques, U.S. officials say. |
| 这场为期两天的虚拟会议将被这种紧张的氛围笼罩，与会领导人既有来自德国、日本和瑞典等模范民主国家的，也有来自格鲁吉亚、尼日利亚和巴基斯坦等民主实践情况好坏不一的国家的。美国官员表示，这场在白宫举行的大会还将有记者、民间社会活动人士和商界领袖的参与，将会成为民主国家交换意见和批评的论坛。 |
| “The U.S. is clearly going through a rough patch right now,” said Michael J. Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House, a nonpartisan group dedicated to human rights and democracy. The United States ranked 50th on Freedom House’s annual index of global freedom, he said. Last month, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, based in Stockholm, placed the United States on its list of “backsliding democracies.” |
| “美国现在显然正处于一段艰难时期，”致力于保护人权和民主的无党派组织“自由之家”的主席迈克尔·J·阿布拉莫瓦茨说道。他表示，在“自由之家”的年度全球自由指数中，美国排在第50位。上个月，斯德哥尔摩的国际民主及选举协助研究所将美国列为了“出现倒退的民主国家”之一。 |
| Domestic shortcomings should not deter the United States from promoting its core values where authoritarianism and populism have gained traction in recent years, Mr. Abramowitz said, “as long as it’s done with humility.” |
| 阿布拉莫瓦茨表示，在近年来威权主义和民粹主义抬头的形势下，国内问题不应该成为美国宣扬其核心价值观的阻力，“只要它在这么做的时候能保持谦逊。” |
| “Without United States engagement and leadership, the cause of democracy will not advance,” he said. “Who else will do it?” |
| “没有美国的参与和领导，民主事业就不能得到推进，”他说。“还有哪个国家能去做呢？” |
| In his opening remarks, Mr. Biden acknowledged the challenges the United States faces, but he said the world stood “at an inflection point” in the contest between democracy and autocracy. |
| 在开幕致辞中，拜登承认了美国面临的挑战，但他表示，世界正处于民主与专制较量的“拐点”。 |
| Saying that “democracy needs champions,” the president pledged to work with Congress to invest in democratic resiliency overseas. |
| 总统称“民主需要捍卫者”，并承诺将与国会合作，为海外民主的复苏提供支持。 |
| “The choices we make, in my view, at this moment are going to fundamentally determine the direction our world is going to take in the coming decade,” he said. |
| “在我看来，我们此刻的选择将从根本上决定我们的世界在未来十年的走向，”他说。 |
| Mr. Biden’s new initiative will invest about $424 million to support independent news media overseas, combat corruption, aid activists, advance technology and defend fair elections, according to the White House. The administration will also combat “digital authoritarianism” through greater export controls of technologies that can empower surveillance states. |
| 白宫表示，拜登的新倡议将进行约4.24亿美元的投资，用于支持海外独立新闻媒体、打击腐败、援助活动人士、推进科技进步和捍卫公平选举。拜登政府还将对能够提升国家监控能力的技术加强出口管控，以打击“数字威权主义”。 |
| The president also explicitly addressed the domestic problems. “Here in the United States,” he said, “we know as well as anyone that renewing our democracy and strengthening our democratic institutions requires constant effort.” |
| 总统还明确谈到了国内问题。“在美国，我们和大家一样都明白，修复我们的民主，加强我们的民主机构还需要不懈的努力，”他说。 |
| He added, “American democracy is an ongoing struggle to live up to our highest ideals and to heal our divisions; to recommit ourselves to the founding idea of our nation captured in our Declaration of Independence.” |
| 他还表示：“美国的民主是一场持续斗争，目的是为实现我们的最高理想，弥合我们的分歧，并重新致力于闪耀于我们的《独立宣言》之中的建国理念。” |
| Mr. Biden warned that autocratic governments “seek to advance their own power, export and expand their influence around the world, and justify their repressive policies and practices as a more efficient way to address today’s challenges.” They do so “by increasing the dissatisfaction of people all around the world with democratic governments that they feel are failing to deliver for their needs,” he said. |
| 拜登提醒大家，专制政府“寻求增强自身力量，在世界范围内输出和扩大影响力，并以更有效地应对当今挑战为借口，将其压迫政策和行径正当化”。他说，他们能够这样做，“靠的是煽动世界人民对民主政府的不满情绪，因为这些人民自身需求未能得到满足”。 |
| But others cautioned against moving the spotlight overseas while problems festered at home. The federal authorities have said that violent domestic extremists continue to be emboldened by false claims about the 2020 election. Former President Donald J. Trump is fighting in court to block the release of documents requested by a congressional committee investigating the mob attack on the Capitol. And Republicans have passed voting restrictions in 19 states this year. |
| 但也有人警告称，在国内问题恶化之际，不应将焦点转移到海外。联邦当局表示，有关2020年大选的虚假言论仍在继续助长国内暴力极端分子的气焰。前总统特朗普目前正在法庭上奋力阻止国会委员会公布国会大厦遭暴徒入侵事件的调查文件。共和党今年已经在19个州通过了限制投票的立法。 |
| While Mr. Biden has called defending the right to vote an urgent priority, many of his supporters complain that federal legislation to bolster voting rights, standardize basic election rules and outlaw gerrymandering has not advanced in Congress. |
| 虽然拜登表示捍卫投票权是当务之急，但他的许多支持者都抱怨称，加强投票权利、规范基本选举规则以及取缔选区地图操纵的联邦立法，在国会都没有取得进展。 |
| A White House fact sheet issued before the summit cited the passage of his bipartisan infrastructure plan as a prominent example of a functioning democracy. But Marc H. Morial, the president and chief executive of the National Urban League, said that more action was needed on domestic threats to democracy. He called the summit “a missed opportunity.” |
| 在峰会召开前发布的一份简报中，白宫将拜登两党基础设施计划的通过当作了民主良好运作的突出案例。但“全国城市联盟”主席兼首席执行官马克·H·莫里亚尔表示，要应对国内的民主威胁，政府还得拿出更多行动。他称这次峰会“错过了一个时机”。 |
| “You cannot separate what’s going on globally with what’s going on in the United States,” Mr. Morial said. |
| “我们不能把全世界正在发生的事与美国正在发生的事区分看待，”莫里亚尔说。 |
| The Biden administration could also use the summit to set out longer-term plans to work with other countries facing similar threats to democracy, said Rachel Kleinfeld, a senior fellow in the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank. For example, officials could strategize on ways to crack down on U.S. extremist groups increasingly making connections overseas, she said. |
| 华盛顿智库卡内基国际和平基金会的高级研究员蕾切尔·克莱因菲尔德表示，拜登政府也可以利用此次峰会，与其他面临相似民主威胁的国家制定长期合作的计划。她举例称，官员们可以制定策略，打击与海外势力联系愈发频繁的美国极端团体。 |
| “American democracy at home and global democracy abroad are in dire need of strategy, of improvement, because both are facing swift recession,” Ms. Kleinfeld said. “But a summit is not a strategy. In fact, a summit has been a distraction.” |
| “美国国内的民主和国外的全球民主都急需策略和改进，因为两者皆面临着迅速的衰退，”克莱因菲尔德说。“但一场峰会算不得策略规划。事实上，峰会一直在分散人们的注意力。” |
| Domestic issues are not the only potential source of awkwardness at the meeting, which will feature sessions with heads of state and more than a dozen events. |
| 在这场将包括国家元首交流等十多项环节的会议上，可能制造尴尬的并不仅有美国国内问题。 |
| The administration has also faced questions over its criteria for invitations but has not said how said how it defined democracy. Critics have questioned the inclusion of countries like the Philippines, which the State Department has condemned for extrajudicial killings, and Pakistan, which the United States accused of “forced disappearance by the government or its agents; torture; and cases of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment by the government.” |
| 并未说明如何定义民主的美国政府也面临着对其邀请标准的质疑。批评人士对菲律宾和巴基斯坦等国家的参与提出了疑问，美国曾谴责前者的法外处决行为，并指控后者的“政府或代理人存在强迫失踪、实施酷刑、以及残酷、不人道或侮辱性对待或惩罚的行为”。 |
| Freedom House found that Georgia was affected by the influence of oligarchs over its politics and news media, and that Nigeria, Africa’s largest democracy, had endemic corruption and permitted the harassment and arrests of journalists. |
| “自由之家”认为格鲁吉亚的民主因寡头影响政治和媒体受到损害；而非洲最大的民主国家尼日利亚腐败猖獗，还放任记者被骚扰和逮捕。 |
| “I would not have thrown a party in quite this way,” Ms. Kleinfeld said of the “broad tent” of invitees. |
| “我可不会以这样的方式办派对，”克莱因菲尔德在谈到受邀国家的“大杂烩”时表示。 |
| Hungary and Turkey, which are NATO members, were not invited; neither were several other countries that identify as democracies but have records of repression. Singapore was also left out, though Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Vice President Kamala Harris both traveled there this year to promote its relationship with the United States as an ally in the South China Sea. |
| 北约成员国匈牙利和土耳其未受邀请；其他一些被认为是民主政体但存在压迫记录的国家也没有受邀。新加坡也被排除在外，虽然国防部长劳埃德·J·奥斯汀三世和副总统哈里斯今年都曾访问该国，以促进其与美国的南海同盟关系。 |
| Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also were not invited. |
| 埃及、沙特阿拉伯和阿拉伯联合酋长国同样未受邀请。 |
| Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said this week that the invitations should not be treated as a “stamp of approval on their approach to democracy.” |
| 白宫新闻秘书珍·萨基本周表示，受邀不应被视为“对这些国家民主治理的认可”。 |
| “This is an opportunity, again, not to celebrate everything we’ve done on democracy, either for the United States or all these countries, and call it a day,” she said. “It’s an opportunity to continue to strive to do better.” |
| “需要强调的是，无论是对美国还是对所有这些国家，这个机会并非是让我们庆祝所取得的一切民主成就，然后就此收场，”她说。“这个机会，是要大家继续努力做得更好。” |
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