China-bashing was surely one reason why Mitt Romney was able to scrape a cliffhanger victory in Ohio last week and thus retain his frontrunner status. It is a line to which he will probably resort again and again. Just as deindustrialised Ohio will once more prove a pivotal swing state in the US election, so China will feature increasingly as a bone of contention in the build-up to November. “China steals our designs and our patents and our knowhow,” Mr Romney told Ohioans. “They have walked all over him [Barack Obama]. If I am president that is going to end.”
抨击中国肯定是米特•罗姆尼(Mitt Romney)上周在俄亥俄州取得险胜，从而得以继续保持“领先候选人”地位的原因之一。罗姆尼很可能会反复使用这种策略。正如“去工业化”的俄亥俄州将再次证明是美国大选中的关键“摇摆州”一样，中国也将随着11月美国大选的临近而成为争论的焦点。罗姆尼向俄亥俄州选民表示：“中国偷走我们的设计、我们的专利和我们的技术。他们不把他（奥巴马）当回事，如果我当选总统，将会结束这种情况。”
Conventional wisdom tells us that China-bashing always occurs in even-numbered years and recedes during odd ones – US elections always being even. With an electorate that prematurely believes China is already the largest economy in the world, American politicians reflect that anguish on the hustings. When it comes to governing, however, they quickly grasp that it makes little sense to provoke trade war with the country’s largest creditor. “This year will be no different,” goes the refrain both from US pundits and foreign observers. “Elections are America’s way of letting off steam.”
根据常识，抨击中国总是发生在偶数年，在奇数年则有所缓和——美国大选都在偶数年举行。由于美国选民过早地相信中国已经是全球最大的经济体，美国政客们不得不在选举活动中反映这种苦恼。然而，当开始治理国家时，他们很快就会明白，与美国最大的债权国挑起贸易战并不明智。美国的专家学者和外国观察人士经常挂在嘴上的是，“今年不会有任何不同”，“选举就是美国的发泄途径”。