中国间谍气球到底在收集什么？

中国间谍气球到底在收集什么？_OK阅读网


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中国间谍气球到底在收集什么？
What Was the Chinese Spy Balloon Trying to Collect?

来源：纽约时报 2023-02-10 05:16

WASHINGTON — The U.S. government is combing over a variety of intelligence — debris, reconnaissance plane photos and old observations — to learn what the Chinese spy balloon was after as it made its way across the United States in early February, before being shot down by a Sidewinder missile fired by a stealth fighter jet last weekend.	华盛顿——美国政府正在梳理残骸、侦察机照片和以往观察结果等各种情报，探究中国间谍气球在2月初飞越美国上空的目的何在。该气球上周末已被一架隐形战斗机发射的响尾蛇飞弹击落。
The Chinese spy balloon was equipped with an antenna meant to pinpoint the locations of communications devices and was capable of intercepting calls made on those devices, according to declassified intelligence released by the State Department on Thursday.	根据国务院周四公布的解密情报，这个中国间谍气球上装有天线，用于精确定位通信设备，还能拦截这些设备上发出的通话。
The balloon, which traversed America for several days, transfixed the public and focused attention both in Washington and across the country on the intensifying rivalry between China and the United States.	这个气球在美国上空飞行数日，震惊了公众，令华盛顿和全国集中关注中美之间愈发激烈的斗争。
In the wake of the discovery of the balloon, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken canceled a planned trip to Beijing. China, perhaps in retaliation, rebuffed attempts by Lloyd J. Austin III, the defense secretary, to call his Chinese counterpart to discuss the spy balloon, further raising the temperature of an already tense relationship between the world’s two superpowers.	气球被发现后，国务卿布林肯取消了原定的北京之行。或许是出于报复，中国拒绝了国防部长劳埃德·奥斯汀三世试图与中方同级官员讨论间谍气球的通话请求，这进一步加剧了两个全球超级大国之间本已紧张的关系。
Here is what we know about the balloon.	以下是我们对气球事件的了解。
What was the spy balloon collecting?	这个间谍气球在收集什么？
This is the big question. Officials do not yet know what information the balloon was supposed to be stealing as it made its way across the country.	这正是问题所在。官员们尚不清楚气球在飞越美国的途中可能窃取什么信息。
The balloon had a signals intelligence array — fancy spy speak for an antenna that can locate communications devices and listen into them. But officials do not yet know if that array was meant to gather calls made on military radios or from ordinary mobile phones or something else altogether.	气球上有一个信号情报阵列——这一难以理解的间谍术语指的是可以定位并监听通信设备的天线。但官员尚不清楚该阵列是用来收集军用无线电还是普通手机上的通话，或是完全与此无关。
How many spy balloons have there been?	有多少这样的间谍气球？
Balloons are hard to pick up on radar. Many of the first Chinese spy balloons that were observed near U.S. military exercises or bases were not identified as surveillance tools. Instead, they were classified as unidentified aerial phenomena, modern-day Pentagon jargon for U.F.O.s.	气球很难被雷达发现。在美国军事演习或军事基地附近观察到的首批中国间谍气球中，许多并未被判定为监视工具。相反，它们被归类为不明空中现象，即如今五角大楼对不明飞行物的说法。
Over the past 18 months, the United States began learning more about the Chinese spy balloon program. As officials reviewed some previous cases of unidentified aerial phenomena, they determined that they were spy balloons. A review of the old data showed that at least three spy balloons entered U.S. airspace during the Trump administration. There was at least one additional visit during the Biden administration.	在过去18个月，美国对中国间谍气球计划开始有了更多了解。官员回顾了此前一些不明空中现象的案例，确定它们是间谍气球。审阅旧数据可以发现，至少有三个间谍气球在特朗普任内进入美国领空。拜登任内至少还出现过一次。
But all of those previous incidents were relatively short — not the dayslong transit of this month’s spy balloon.	但以往这些情况都相对短暂，不像本月间谍气球事件那样持续数日之久。
Was this part of a wider Chinese surveillance program?	这是否与更广泛的中国监视计划相关？
China has developed a spy balloon program as a complement to its fleet of reconnaissance satellites, American officials said, with a mission to collect information across the world.	美国官员表示，中国已经开展间谍气球计划，作为其侦察卫星群的补充，其任务是在全球各地收集信息。
Because the capabilities of the spy balloons are not yet perfectly understood, it is not certain if they gather different information than China’s satellites. Nevertheless, officials said, at the very least the balloons can linger longer over a site than a satellite. And while reconnaissance satellites are often focused on imagery, the balloons appear to be mostly about collecting communications.	由于尚未完全了解这些间谍气球的能力，因此无法确定它们收集到的信息是否比中国卫星更多。尽管如此，官员称气球在一个地点的停留时间至少比卫星更久。侦察卫星通常专注于影像，而气球似乎主要是用来收集通信。
Some officials say the spy balloon program has been focused in the Pacific region, collecting information on American bases and allied military operations.	一些官员表示，中国间谍气球计划将重点放在太平洋地区，收集了有关美军基地和盟国军事行动的信息。
And of course, the Chinese do not just use balloons to conduct surveillance at military bases. Some classified reports suggest they are also using advanced technologies to collect information about the U.S. military.	当然，中国监视军事基地的手段不只有气球。一些机密报告指出，中国还在使用先进技术收集美国军方的信息。
Is this a big deal or not?	这严重吗？
Yes.	是的。
To be clear, the balloon saga is not comparable to an earthquake in Turkey that killed more than 20,000. Nor is it comparable to the war in Ukraine that is set to enter into a second year.	先明确一点，气球事件无法与土耳其发生的造成2万多人死亡的地震，或即将进入第二年的乌克兰战争相提并论。
That said, the spy balloon incident will complicate the relationship between the two most powerful countries on Earth.	即使如此，间谍气球事件仍将使这两个地球上最强大的国家之间的关系变得复杂。
Some policymakers and lawmakers in Washington have been arguing for years that the U.S. public has not taken the challenge of China seriously enough — prioritizing the country’s cheap mobile phones and entertaining videos on its platform TikTok over concerns about an authoritarian state that bolsters its power through the intrusive surveillance of its people.	多年来，华盛顿的一些政策制定者和立法者一直在争论，美国公众没有足够认真地对待中国的挑战——他们更关注中国的廉价手机和其平台TikTok上的娱乐视频，而不是担心一个通过对其人民进行侵扰性监控来巩固权力的威权国家。
But the balloon ordeal was a big enough deal for the State Department to cancel Mr. Blinken’s planned trip — the first by a Biden cabinet secretary to Beijing — without rescheduling it. When he canceled the trip, Mr. Blinken said the entry of the balloon was a “clear violation of U.S. sovereignty and international law.”	但气球事件的严重性足以让国务院取消布林肯计划中的访问——这是拜登政府国务卿首次访华——而且没有做出重新安排。当他取消这次旅行时，布林肯说气球的进入是“对美国主权和国际法的明显侵犯”。
What is the plan for recovering debris?	计划如何回收残片？
Navy divers have been working to gather debris of the balloon since Sunday for America’s own intelligence-gathering purposes, Pentagon and F.B.I. officials said. The recovery effort is expected to take days.	五角大楼和FBI官员说，自周日以来，海军潜水员一直在努力收集气球残片，用于美国自己的情报收集目的。恢复工作预计需要几天时间。
The balloon itself was quickly retrieved, as well as some wiring that was floating on the ocean surface. But most of the electronics were in the balloon payload, carried underneath. The remains of that are scattered across the ocean floor, albeit in the relatively shallow waters off the South Carolina coast.	气球本体以及漂浮在海面上的一些电缆很快被回收。大部分电子设备都在气球有效载荷中，但放置在气球下方。这些残片散落在海底，但位于南卡罗来纳州海岸外相对较浅的水域。
The dive teams are handing over the recovered material to the F.B.I., which will take it to its lab in Quantico, Va. What state it will be in, and how much can be learned from it, remains an open question.	潜水队正在将回收的材料移交给FBI，FBI将把它带到弗吉尼亚州匡蒂科的实验室。材料的状态以及人们可以从中获得到多少信息仍然是悬而未决的问题。
What happens next?	接下来会发生什么？
The Biden administration has continued to declassify and share information it has learned about the spy balloon, bringing in allied and partner nations for briefings about China’s surveillance programs.	拜登政府将继续对从间谍气球获悉的信息进行解密和分享，邀请盟国和合作伙伴国家听取有关中国侦察计划的简报。
The diplomatic push is a sign that the Biden administration intends to use the incident to rally allies and convince them that China’s global ambitions could involve infringements of their sovereignty.	外交推动表明，拜登政府打算利用这一事件来团结盟友，让他们相信中国的全球野心可能会侵犯它们的主权。
Beijing was angry over the United States’ decision to shoot down the balloon, which the Chinese Foreign Ministry described as “excessive.” China has maintained that the balloon was a civilian device for meteorological purposes.	北京对美国击落气球的决定感到愤怒，中国外交部称其“过度”。中国坚称，该气球是用于气象目的的民用装置。
Points of friction between Beijing and the United States are becoming increasingly common. China fired a barrage of missiles in the wake of last year’s visit to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Representative Kevin McCarthy said before succeeding her this year that he would also like to visit the self-governing island, which China considers its territory.	北京和美国之间的摩擦点越来越普遍。众议院议长南希·佩洛西去年访台后，中国发射了一连串导弹。众议员凯文·麦卡锡在今年接替她之前表示，自己也想访问该自治岛屿。中国声称对台湾拥有主权。

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中国间谍气球到底在收集什么？What Was the Chinese Spy Balloon Trying to Collect?

中国间谍气球到底在收集什么？
What Was the Chinese Spy Balloon Trying to Collect?