作者達尼洛•圖爾克（Danilo Türk）系斯洛文尼亞前總統，中國人民大學重陽金融研究院外籍高級研究員，本文中文版刊於9月19日《環球時報》，原標題為《以政治理性遏阻冷戰氣息》；英文版刊於10月11日CGTN。
最近兩年，美國和澳大利亞等國一些大學叫停孔子學院的消息引發不少關注，其中釋放的對中國的負面態度值得注意。畢竟，多年以來，孔子學院為相關國家提供了學習漢語的機會，也為促進我們這個時代需要的廣泛的文化交流發揮了有益作用。
隨著經濟合作擴大，中國和西方國家的文化合作變得更加重要。代表世界主要文明的國家之間開展合作，不能只有利潤驅動下的貿易和投資，還必須有文化上的合作。語言障礙是一個阻礙因素，相關國家在各方面的合作和共同發展中必須儘量克服這個因素。
文化合作既要擴大文化交流，又要加深文化理解。中國對西方文化和世界語言教學表現出濃厚興趣，學習西方語言在這方面起著重要作用。與此同時，西方對中國的迷戀從未停止。中國作為一個有著悠久歷史和各種偉大藝術成就的文明將繼續受到尊崇。但文化不能侷限於它最崇高的方面，不能只從高等藝術加以理解，它還必須包含各種各樣的文化表達，其中許多都需要語言知識。
在這方面，大多數西方國家都有很多工作要做。孔子學院在此過程中發揮了有益作用，比如斯洛文尼亞首都盧布爾雅那的孔子學院就在語言課程中發揮著不可替代的作用，它覆蓋了從學前教育到後面更加複雜的漢語學習，還使一些頂尖學生能到中國繼續學習。另外，它還組織一系列引人注目的文化活動，有助於商界和教育界的各種交流。
如今，很少有人懷疑與中國開展文化合作的必要性，而孔子學院恰恰在這方面發揮著重要作用。當然，文化合作往往不能徹底脫離雙邊合作的一些政治氣氛。但成熟的決策者明白，承認中國與西方國家在政治制度層面存在顯著差異，與堅持一箇中國原則、尊重《聯合國憲章》等與中國合作的基本原則，兩者可以並行不悖。這就要求必要的相互理解和尊重，尤其重要的是承認語言和文化知識高於政治分歧。事實上，對語言和文化的理解有助於解釋政治領域存在的差異。對語言和文化的理解能夠而且必須使政治領導人瞭解何為明智的政治決策。當然，語言和文化的作用是雙向的——從國際夥伴到中國，從中國到國際夥伴。
雖然這一切眾所周知，但在政治熱情高漲時卻很容易被忽視。在西方，我們看到一種日益加劇的趨勢，即煽動對中國的恐懼和對中國在科學、技術和文化合作等各領域的活動產生懷疑。美國把煽動對中國的懷疑作為在貿易談判中施壓的手段。但這種策略引發的意外後果可能會很嚴重。人們很容易陷入一個將對方視為敵人、而非競爭對手和合作夥伴的陷阱。這不是一個純粹的假想危險。在西方，民族主義情緒已經助長了帶有負面後果的政治決策。“美國優先”口號看似無辜，僅限於美國政治光譜的一部分，但已產生一系列負面影響，也影響到美國眾多國際夥伴和國際合作的廣泛領域。散佈恐懼和煽動對中國的懷疑對相關各國都會造成危害，而且這種危害可能需要很長時間才能消除。
有沒有辦法避免掉入這個陷阱？答案是肯定的，但需要巨大努力，將政治理性納入國際討論的中心。這不是一項容易的任務。國際關係不是純粹的邏輯或理性，它可能被情感和激情、狹隘的民族主義甚至完全的非理性綁架。在當前這個關頭，這些對國際穩定都是重大威脅。
一股冷戰的氣息正在世界蔓延。現在仍有時間去阻止它變成主導性氛圍。更認真的思考和多邊參與是必要的，也希望是可行的。8月在法國舉行的七國集團峰會再次表明多邊參與的至關重要，以及一些最具影響力的國際討論的弱點。9月下旬的聯合國大會將提供另一個機會，現在的國際社會亟需理性。我們需要採取一致行動，不能浪費任何機會。
以下是英文版：
A scent of the Cold War
By Danilo Türk,former President of the Republic of Slovenia from 2007 to 2012, and a non-resident senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies,Renmin University of China(RDCY).
Recent news about the proposed closure of a number of Confucius Institutes in the U.S. and Australia carries an unpleasant scent of a negative political attitude towards China. This change of attitude deserves attention and concern.
For years now the Confucius institutes have played a very useful role of providing opportunities for learning Chinese, for cultural exchanges and general communication with China, much needed in our time.
Cultural cooperation between China and Western countries has been constantly gaining importance as the economic cooperation expanded.Cooperation among countries representing the main civilizations of the world cannot be reduced to trade and investment driven by profit.
It has to be informed by culture, the cooperating sides have to know each other better and linguistic barrier, in the case of China a serious factor in development of cooperation, has to be reduced.
Cultural cooperation, together with the promotion of cultural understanding is obviously a broad area of international relations. It reaches millions of people around the world. It includes the highest art.
Just in the first week of September, I enjoyed listening to two concerts of Chinese artists of world renown: The concert of the Shenzhen Symphony Orchestra in Ljubljana, Slovenia, playing works of Qianyi Zhang, Johannes Brahms, and Dmitri Shostakovich and a Eurovision-recorded concert of Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in La Scala, Milan featuring a brilliant Chinese pianist Yuja Wang, who performed together with several top artists from Europe and Latin America.
Cultural cooperation knows no borders. This is not a cliché, it is a fact of life and should be among the leading realizations of our time.
Significantly, cultural cooperation means both widening of cultural exchanges and deepening of cultural understanding.China has demonstrated a keen interest in western cultures and for teaching and learning of languages of the world. Learning western languages plays an important role in this context.
At the same time, western fascination with China never stopped. China continues to be respected as a great civilization with a rich history and a variety of great artistic achievements.
However, culture cannot be fenced in and understood only in its most sublime aspect – the high arts. It must include a wide variety of cultural expressions, many of which require the knowledge of language.
In this aspect, most of the Western countries have much work to do and Confucius Institutes serve a very useful purpose.In Slovenia, for example, the Confucius Institute in Ljubljana, the capital, has established an irreplaceable role in the linguistic programs, starting at pre-school level and including the most sophisticated learning, which enables the top students of Chinese language and culture to continue their studies in China.
In addition, it has organized a series of highly visible cultural events and helped a variety of contacts in business and in education.
Today, nobody can doubt the necessity of cultural cooperation with China and the important role that Confucius Institutes are playing in this regard. It should also be understood that cultural cooperation cannot be completely separated from the political climate of cooperation in general.
However, mature decision makers understand that political systems in China and in the West differ, in some respect significantly.The basic principles of cooperation with China, such as the one-China principle and the respect for the Charter of the UN have to be upheld in practice.
This calls for careful conduct of work, the necessary mutual understanding and respect and, above all, the recognition that linguistic and cultural knowledge is above the political differences.
In fact, it is the understanding of language and culture that helps interpreting the differences that exist in the political sphere. The understanding of language and culture can and must inform political leaders about the requirements of sensible and wise political decisions.
Naturally, this role of language and culture has to work both ways - from international partners toward China and from China towards its international partners.
While all this is well known, it can easily be neglected in the heat of political passions. In the West we see a growing tendency of inciting fear of China and suspicion about China's activities in all fields, including in the fields of scientific, technological, and cultural cooperation.
The ongoing trade war, started by the U.S. in 2018, makes incitement of suspicion towards China instrumental as a means of pressure in trade negotiations. However, the unintended consequences of this tactic can be seriously harmful. It is all too easy to fall into a trap of seeing the other side as an enemy rather than as a competitor and a partner.
This is not a purely hypothetical danger. In the West, the nationalist sentiments have already fueled political decisions with adverse consequences. The slogan "America first," seemingly innocent and limited to only one part of the political spectrum in the United States, has already produced a series of negative consequences affecting a large number of international partners of the U.S. and large areas of international cooperation.
Fear mongering and incitement of suspicion against China can produce harm that will take a long time to remove.Confucius Institutes can become an easy target and an immediate victim.
Is there a way out or away from the danger of sliding into this trap? Clearly there is, but it will require a serious effort to bring political rationality into the center of international discourse.
This is not an easy task. International relations are not pure logic or rationality. They can be hijacked by emotions and passion, by narrow-minded nationalism and sheer irrationality. This seems to be a major threat to international stability at the current juncture.
A scent of Cold War is spreading around the world. There is still time to prevent its domination. Much more serious reflection and multilateral engagement will be necessary and, hopefully, available.
The recent summit of the G7 in Biarritz, France has once again demonstrated both the vital importance of multilateral engagement and the weaknesses of the discourse among some of the most influential international players.
A concerted action is called for. No opportunity should be missed.
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