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| SEOUL — Maybe President Biden isn’t speaking off script after all. Maybe he just doesn’t think much of the script. |
| 首尔——也许拜登总统根本不是在脱稿讲话。也许他只是根本没有把发言稿当回事。 |
| Offhand remarks that vary from the official talking points have become a feature, not a bug, of the Biden presidency, as he demonstrated again on Monday when he dispensed with decades of “strategic ambiguity” and indicated that he would militarily defend Taiwan against attack by China. |
| 与官方谈话要点不同的随口之言已成为拜登总统任期的特色，而非缺陷。周一，拜登再次证明了这一点，他摒弃了数十年来的“战略模糊”，表示他将会在军事上保卫台湾不受中国大陆的攻击。 |
| Each time he says what he really thinks, there is the ritual cleanup brigade dispatched by the White House to pretend that he did not really say what he clearly articulated — or that even if he did, it did not really amount to a change in policy. But then Mr. Biden, unperturbed and unapologetic, goes out and does it all over again. |
| 每当他说出自己的真实想法时，白宫就会派出例行的善后小组，假装他没有真正说出他所明确表达的意思——或者即使他说了，也不真正意味着政策的改变。但是不久后，拜登若无其事、毫无歉意地走出去，把同样的事又做一遍。 |
| His remarks on Taiwan on Monday were just the latest instance of a president saying out loud what is on his mind even if it leaves his staff scrambling to spin it away afterward. In March, he called President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia a war criminal (just his opinion, not a legal conclusion, aides quickly explained). Then days later, he ad-libbed at the end of a speech that Mr. Putin “cannot remain in power” (just an observation, they said, not a call for regime change). |
| 他周一对台湾发表的言论只是最新的例子——一位总统大声说出自己的想法，尽管这会让幕僚们事后忙着把话圆回来。今年3月，他称俄罗斯总统普京是战犯（助手们很快解释说，这只是他的观点，不是法律结论）。几天后，他在演讲结束时即兴说，普京“不能继续掌权”（助手们说，这只是一种看法，不是呼吁政权更迭）。 |
| This was not even the first time since he became president that Mr. Biden has said he would come to the defense of Taiwan militarily, a commitment that other presidents traditionally kept vague so as to leave China guessing while not boxing in the United States. In fact, it was the third time Mr. Biden has said so, making the nothing-to-see-here White House demurrals that much harder to sell. |
| 这甚至不是拜登当选总统以来第一次表示将在军事上保卫台湾。其他总统通常都对这一承诺保持模糊，以便让中国去猜测，同时不至于围堵美国。事实上，这已经是拜登第三次这么说了，这让白宫的圆话之辞更难说服人了。 |
| “Biden has always been more open about his thinking than most politicians,” said David Axelrod, who saw that up close as President Barack Obama’s senior adviser while Mr. Biden was vice president. “Everyone’s strength is their weakness. His strength is authenticity. His weakness is he’s sometimes more willing than his staff would like to share his thoughts.” |
| “拜登总是比大多数政治人士更公开自己的想法，”戴维·阿克塞尔罗德说。作为奥巴马总统的高级顾问，他在拜登担任副总统期间近距离观察到了这一点。“每个人的优点也可以是他的缺点。他的优点是真诚。他的缺点是他有时候比自己的幕僚更愿意分享他的想法。” |
| None of this should come as much of a surprise to anyone who followed Mr. Biden’s nearly half-century career as a senator and vice president. For many years, under the definition of “gaffe” in the Washington political dictionary was a picture of Mr. Biden. “Gaffe machine,” in fact, was a common description, sometimes said with affection, sometimes with derision. |
| 对于那些了解拜登近半个世纪的参议员和副总统生涯的人来说，这些都不会让人感到意外。多年来，他在华盛顿政坛简直就是口误的代名词。事实上，“口误机器”是对他常见的描述，有时带着感情，有时带着嘲笑。 |
| But presidential freelancing carries more consequences than when a senator or even a vice president does it. A president’s words are scrutinized to a forensic degree by politicians, diplomats and intelligence agencies around the globe searching for meaning and endeavoring to predict future actions. Any variation from past comments or official policy statements is accorded great weight, whether it should be or not. |
| 但是，与参议员甚至副总统的行为相比，总统的自由发挥带来的后果更严重。世界各地的政治人物、外交官和情报机构会对总统的言论进行法医级别的仔细审查，寻找背后的涵义，并努力预测未来的行动。任何与过去的评论或官方政策声明不同的地方都会受到仔细掂量，不管它是否应该如此。 |
| Since reaching the White House, Mr. Biden has largely avoided some of the cringe-inducing comments that got him in trouble in the past, such as when he described Mr. Obama as the first Black candidate for president “who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” |
| 自从入主白宫以来，拜登基本上避免了一些让人难堪、过去曾经令他陷入麻烦的言论，比如他曾形容奥巴马是第一位“口才好、聪明、干净、长相不错”的黑人总统候选人。 |
| Instead, the ad hoc remarks that have stirred controversy seem to be more in the category of the columnist Michael Kinsley’s legendary definition of a gaffe. “A gaffe,” he famously wrote, “is when a politician tells the truth — some obvious truth he isn’t supposed to say.” |
| 相反，那些引起争议的特别言论似乎更符合专栏作家迈克尔·金斯利对口误的经典定义。“口误，”他那篇著名的文章写道，“是指一个政界人士说出了真相——一些显而易见但是他不应该说出口的真相。” |
| Mr. Biden’s latest comment on Taiwan came during a news conference with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan during a visit to Tokyo. Asked about Taiwan, Mr. Biden at first stuck close to the traditional formula, saying that American policy on Taiwan “has not changed at all” and that the United States supported the island against Chinese aggression. “We stand firmly with Japan and with other nations that — not to let that happen,” he said, keeping purposefully vague. |
| 拜登关于台湾的最新表态是在他访问东京期间与日本首相岸田文雄举行新闻发布会时作出的。当被问及台湾问题时，拜登首先遵守传统模式，称美国对台政策“根本没有改变”，美国支持台湾抵抗中国的侵略。“我们坚定地与日本和其他国家站在一起——不会让这种事情发生，”他说道，故意保持着含糊。 |
| His aides were satisfied with that. No trouble there. But then Nancy Cordes of CBS News followed up. She noted that Mr. Biden had ruled out direct American military involvement in the Ukraine war and asked if by contrast he was “willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that.” |
| 他的助手对此很满意。没有出问题。但哥伦比亚广播公司新闻的南希·科德斯随后跟进。她指出，拜登已经排除了美国直接军事介入乌克兰战争的可能性，并问道，相比之下，“如果真的到了那一步，你愿意军事介入保卫台湾吗”。 |
| “Yes,” Mr. Biden replied. “That’s the commitment we made.” |
| “是的，”拜登回答。“这是我们给过的承诺。” |
| That’s when administration officials around the room took notice. |
| 这时，房间里的政府官员竖起了耳朵。 |
| “The idea that it can be taken by force, just taken by force, is just not appropriate,” Mr. Biden added, referring to Taiwan. “It would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine. And so it’s a burden that is even stronger.” |
| “认为可以用武力夺取，用武力就能夺取的想法，是不合适的，”拜登还说。“那将扰乱整个地区，将是又一个类似于发生在乌克兰的行动。所以那将是一个更沉重的责任。” |
| By that point, Mr. Biden’s staff knew he had gone further than it would have liked and sprang into damage control, cranking out with practiced efficiency the obligatory clarifying statement declaring that “our policy has not changed” and that Mr. Biden had merely “reiterated” America’s commitment “to provide Taiwan with the military means to defend itself.” |
| 到这里，拜登的工作人员明白他已经走得太远，并迅速采取了止损措施，以娴熟的高效率发表了必要的澄清声明，宣称“我们的政策没有改变”，而拜登只是“重申”美国的承诺，“为台湾提供自卫的军事手段”。 |
| But Mr. Biden’s comment went beyond providing military means for Taiwan to defend itself and was widely seen as suggesting direct American military involvement. |
| 但拜登的言论超出了向台湾提供军事手段来自卫的范畴，被广泛认为是在暗示美国直接军事介入。 |
| Mr. Biden has ignored the strategic ambiguity of his predecessors with regard to China and Taiwan before. Last August, while reassuring allies that “we would respond” if there were an attack against a fellow NATO member, he added, “Same with Japan, same with South Korea, same with Taiwan.” |
| 拜登之前曾忽视他的前任们在中国和台湾问题上的战略模糊政策。去年8月，他向盟国保证，如果一个北约成员国遭到袭击，“我们会做出反应”，同时他补充道，“日本如此，韩国如此，台湾也如此。” |
| Taiwan, however, has never been granted the same U.S. security guarantees as Japan, South Korea or America’s NATO partners, so the comment was seen as significant. Two months later, Mr. Biden was asked during a CNN town hall if the United States would protect Taiwan from attack. “Yes, we have a commitment to do that,” he said. |
| 然而，台湾从未获得与日本、韩国或美国的北约伙伴相同的美国安全保证，因此该言论被视为意义重大。两个月后，拜登在CNN一个市政厅节目中被问及美国是否会保护台湾免受攻击。他说：“会，我们承诺了会那样做。” |
| Mr. Biden’s improvisation in Tokyo stirred a mix of reactions back in Washington, where some political leaders praised his candid support for an ally while others mocked him for indiscipline. |
| 拜登在东京的即兴发言在华盛顿引起了不同的反应，一些政治领导人称赞他对盟友的坦诚支持，而另一些人则讽刺他无视纪律。 |
| “President Biden’s statement that if push came to shove the U.S. would defend Taiwan against communist China was the right thing to say and the right thing to do,” Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, wrote on Twitter. |
| 南卡罗来纳州共和党参议员林赛·格雷厄姆在Twitter上写道：“拜登总统的声明称，一旦事态不妙，美国将保卫台湾免受共产主义中国的侵害，这是正确的说法，也是正确的做法。” |
| On the other hand, Tommy Hicks Jr., a Republican National Committee co-chairman and close ally of former President Donald J. Trump, saw incompetence not courage. “Another clean-up job from the Biden spin room,” he wrote. “He cannot go overseas without saying something that his team has to walk back minutes later. It’s reckless and embarrassing.” |
| 另一方面，共和党全国委员会联合主席、前总统特朗普的亲密盟友小汤米·希克斯认为这是无能而不是勇气。“拜登公关又要进行善后工作了，”他写道。“他只要一去海外就会说一些让他的团队不得不在几分钟内撤回的话。他这样做不计后果，而且很丢脸。” |
| Mr. Trump, of course, was far more prone than Mr. Biden to issue provocative, off-the-cuff and unvetted statements at odds with traditional American policy. At various points, he threatened war with North Korea, Venezuela and Iran; castigated American allies like Germany, Japan, Canada and South Korea; and defended adversaries like Mr. Putin. |
| 当然，特朗普比拜登更爱发表引发轩然大波、未经充分审查、与美国传统政策相悖的即兴声明。他曾多次威胁与朝鲜、委内瑞拉和伊朗开战；谴责德国、日本、加拿大和韩国等美国盟友；并为普京等对手辩护。 |
| But even some in Washington who believe Mr. Biden has gone a long way toward restoring a more conventional, responsible foreign policy were nonetheless troubled by the seeming disconnect between the president and his staff, with some blaming his aides for undercutting their boss rather than ratifying his comments. |
| 华盛顿的一些人认为拜登在恢复更传统、更负责任的外交政策方面已经迈出了一大步，但即便如此，他们仍然对总统与他的工作人员之间看似脱节的情况感到不安，一些人指责他的助手对于老板的表态不仅不予以支持，反而加以削弱。 |
| “Does anyone at the #WhiteHouse actually respect the words of @POTUS?” Representative Adam Kinzinger, an anti-Trump Republican from Illinois, wrote on Twitter. “Biden said we would defend #Taiwan, and the staff AGAIN walks back the Presidents own words! He needs to fire everyone who does this.” |
| “白宫(#WhiteHouse)有人真的尊重总统(@POTUS)的话吗？”来自伊利诺伊州的反特朗普共和党众议员亚当·金辛格在Twitter上写道。“拜登说我们会捍卫#Taiwan，而工作人员再次撤回了总统自己的话！他需要解雇所有这样做的人。” |
| That does not appear in the offing. To the extent that his aides issue clarifications after his comments, they presumably do so with his permission or at least acquiescence. But the practice has not served as a deterrent either and, for good or bad, does not seem likely to any time soon. |
| 但这样的事情似乎不会在近期发生。他的助手在他做出评论后发表澄清声明大概是获得了他的允许，至少是默许。但这种做法并未能起到劝阻的作用，而且，无论好坏，似乎在短时间都不大可能有效果。 |
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