YAN ZHUANG2025年11月3日周六，中国最高领导人习近平在韩国庆州向韩国总统李在明赠送了两部手机。 South Korea's Presidential OfficeIt’s an open secret that countries spy on each other. That’s probably why world leaders almost never talk about espionage in public.各国相互进行间谍活动是一个公开的秘密。也正因为如此，世界各国领导人几乎从不在公开场合谈论间谍问题。But over the weekend, it was the punchline of a joke between China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea.但在刚刚过去的周末，中国最高领导人习近平和韩国总统李在明却拿它开起了玩笑。The joke revolved around two cellphones Mr. Xi gave Mr. Lee — one for him, one for his wife — during their meeting in the South Korean city of Gyeongju on Saturday. The phones were manufactured by the Chinese company Xiaomi, with Korean-made displays, a spokesman for Mr. Xi said as the two leaders inspected them with news cameras rolling.玩笑的核心是习近平在周六于韩国庆州与李在明会晤时送给他的两部手机——一部给他，一部给他的妻子。当两位领导人在记者的镜头前查看这一礼物时，习近平的一位发言人介绍称，这两部手机由中国公司小米制造，使用了韩国生产的显示屏。Mr. Lee picked up one of the phones, still in its box, and admired it. Then he asked how good the security was.李在明拿起其中一部未拆封的手机仔细端详，然后问了一句：这手机的安全性怎么样？Mr. Xi laughed. “You can check if there’s a backdoor,” he said, referring to preinstalled software that allows a third party to monitor a cellphone. That prompted Mr. Lee to laugh and clap his hands in apparent delight.习近平笑了，说：“你可以看看有没有后门。”他指的是允许第三方监控手机的预装软件。李在明听后大笑，还拍起了巴掌，显得很开心。The exchange was notable in part because Mr. Xi is rarely seen speaking off the cuff in public. It also deviated from a “sort of old-fashioned gentlemen’s agreement” in which world leaders typically pretend that covert activities aren’t happening, said John Delury, a historian of China based in Seoul.这段互动引人注目，一方面是因为习近平在公开场合中极少即兴发言。常驻首尔、研究中国历史的学者鲁乐汉(John Delury)指出，这也偏离了“那种老派绅士间的默契”——即各国领导人通常会假装间谍活动不存在。“What’s interesting here is they’re doing it in public, but they’re not acknowledging ‘I spy on you, you spy on me,’” said Mr. Delury, the author of a book about a C.I.A. campaign in China in the 1950s. “They’re more ironically and playfully referencing the secret world of espionage and surveillance and laughing it off.”“有趣的是，他们是在公开场合这样做的，但又没有直接承认‘我在监视你，你也在监视我’，”鲁乐汉说。他著有一本关于美国中情局在20世纪50年代对华行动的书。“他们只是以一种讽刺而轻松的方式提及这个隐秘的间谍与监控世界，然后一笑置之。”For years, the United States and its allies have been warning that Chinese technology could be used for espionage. The United States, Australia and Britain have all banned Huawei, a Chinese technology firm, from their 5G mobile communication networks. They argue that the company is inseparable from China’s ruling Communist Party.多年来，美国及其盟友一直警告称，中国的科技产品可能被用于间谍活动。美国、澳大利亚和英国都禁止中国科技公司华为参与本国的5G移动通信网络建设，理由是该公司与中国共产党政府关系密切。The first Trump administration placed Xiaomi on a blacklist and warned American companies that doing business with the maker of smartphones and electric cars could get them barred from future Pentagon contracts.特朗普第一任期时曾将小米列入黑名单，并警告美国企业，若与这家生产智能手机和电动汽车的公司开展业务，未来可能被禁止参与五角大楼合同。Xiaomi successfully sued the U.S. government to be removed from the blacklist, arguing that it did not have any links to the Chinese military.小米后来起诉美国政府，成功将自己从黑名单中移除，称公司与中国军方没有关联。When Mr. Lee met Mr. Xi on Saturday, on the sidelines of an international economic summit, he seemed to be acknowledging concerns about Chinese products and China’s surveillance capabilities, Mr. Delury said.鲁乐汉表示，当李在明于周六在国际经济峰会期间与习近平会面时，他似乎是在承认外界对中国产品和中国监控能力的担忧。“But by joking about it, by using irony, ultimately he’s dismissing a lot of those concerns and saying, ‘Thank you for the phone and it’s great that Korean and Chinese companies are building it together,’” he said.“但通过开玩笑、用反讽的方式，他实际上是在化解这些担忧。他的意思是：‘谢谢你送我的手机，很高兴中国和韩国的企业能合作生产它，’”鲁乐汉说。The jovial interaction reflected efforts by the two leaders to strengthen their countries’ relationship through economic collaboration. That is a challenge for South Korea, a key U.S. ally, in part because the rivalry between Washington and Beijing is growing. During a meeting last week in Gyeongju, Mr. Lee awarded President Trump South Korea’s highest decoration and a replica of an ancient gold crown.这场轻松愉快的互动体现出两位领导人希望通过经济合作来加强双边关系的努力。对于美国的主要盟友韩国而言，这是一项颇具挑战的任务，部分原因是华盛顿和北京之间的竞争日益加剧。上周在庆州的一次会议上，李在明向特朗普总统颁发了韩国最高勋章，并赠送了一顶古代金冠的复制品。Mr. Lee has also faced a domestic backlash from a conservative opposition party that accuses him of aligning too closely with China. His predecessor, Yoon Suk Yeol, raised concerns about Chinese meddling in South Korea’s elections. China has rejected the accusations.李明博在国内也面临着来自保守派反对党的强烈反对，该党指责他与中国走得太近。他的前任尹锡悦曾对中国干预韩国选举表示担忧，中国政府否认了这些指控。Governments usually acknowledge spying on allies only when they’re forced to. In 2013, after Edward Snowden revealed that the United States had been monitoring the phone of Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany for over a decade, President Barack Obama promised Ms. Merkel that it would not happen again.各国政府通常只有在迫不得已时才会承认对盟友进行间谍活动。2013年，在爱德华·斯诺登揭露美国监控德国总理默克尔的手机长达十多年后，当时的美国总统奥巴马向默克尔承诺这类事件不会重演。Mobile phones are not a common diplomatic gift because of the security concerns they bring, said Patrick F. Walsh, a professor of intelligence and security studies at Charles Sturt University in Australia,澳大利亚查尔斯特大学情报与安全研究教授帕特里克·F·沃尔什表示，由于安全隐患，手机并非常见的外交礼物。Will Mr. Lee use the Xiaomi phones? Probably not, he said.至于李在明是否会真的使用小米手机？“大概不会，”沃尔什说。“I can’t imagine him saying ‘We’ve got this phone, I’ll talk to the Japanese prime minister or Washington on it,’” Mr. Walsh said. “He might gift it to a granddaughter or something.”“我无法想象他会说‘我就用这部手机跟日本首相或华盛顿通话吧’，”沃尔什说。“他可能会把它送给孙女之类的。”Yan Zhuang是时报驻首尔记者，报道突发新闻。翻译：纽约时报中文网点击查看本文英文版。