关系互动、身份调整与外交决策——解析中美关系正常化进程(1972—1979)

Relational Interaction,Identity Adjustment and Diplomatic Decision Making: Analyzing the Normalization of Relations between China and the US from 1972 to 1979

中美关系从破冰、缓和到最终实现正常化历经了长达十年的曲折反复。尽管当时中美面临着共同的外部安全威胁,也有着共同的战略利益,但为什么两国经历了如此长的时间才最终实现正式建交?事实上,中美仅存在共同利益基础是不够的,要实现关系正常化需要两国改变对彼此的负面认知,而这一进程只有在外交层面的关系互动中才能实现。本文借鉴国际政治关系理论探讨中美关系互动,认为正常化是外交决策中一国自我身份朝两国共同的建交目标调整的动态过程,而关系互动是身份调整的动力。以中美关系缓和为标志,两国开启了为实现建交的关系互动,美国自我身份开始趋向共同的建交目标;在尼克松晚期、福特时期和卡特早期,中美关系互动出现反复,美国身份在自我调整中偏离了建交目标;但到了卡特后期,中美关系互动深化,美国自我身份快速地从偏离建交目标走向关系正常化。探讨关系互动也有利于新时代中美澄清对彼此的认识,改变思维定式,避免误判,为促进双边关系发展提供正向推动力。

It takes some ten years for China and the US to realize the normalization of relations,from initiation to rapprochement.Though faced with common external security threats and shared strategic interests,why does it take such a long time for the two countries to finally establish formal diplomatic relations?In fact,merely the common interests shared by China and the US are not enough.To realize the normalization of relations,the two countries have to change the negative recognition towards each other,and such a change could only be made in relational interaction at the diplomatic level.The article explores the China-US relational interactions from the perspective of the relational theory of world politics,proposing that normalization is a dynamic process through which the country adjusts its self-identity towards the collective identity featured with the shared goal for establishing diplomatic relations,while the relational interactions provide the driving force behind.Since the rapprochement between China and the US,the two countries have been on the way of bilateral relational interactions towards normalization,whereby the US self-identity started to evolve towards the shared goal of establishing diplomatic relations.In late Nixon s presidency,the whole Ford s presidency and Carter s early presidency,the bilateral relational interactions went through twists and turns,and the overall US self-identity adjustment gradually diverged from the shared goal.However,in the later period of Carter s presidency,the bilateral relational interactions deepened,and the US self-identity evolved quickly from divergence towards the normalization of relations.A discussion of the relational interactions is conducive to China and the US to have a better appreciation of each other,change their mindset,avoid misjudgment,and provide the positive driving force for bilateral ties in the new era.