【中文标题】中国——谨慎应对 【原文标题】China - handle with care 【登载媒体】每日电讯 【来源地址】http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ ... ndle-with-care.html1 g5 `' n' p9 s( s" W( a3 f( @' j1 【翻译方式】人工 【声明】本翻译供Anti-CNN使用,未经AC或译者许可,不得转载。 【原文库链接】http://bbs.m4.cn/thread-215343-1-1.html 【译文】
China - handle with care
中国——谨慎应对
The emotional condemnation that followed the execution of Akmal Shaikh is exactly the wrong way to deal with the world's next superpower, says Malcolm Moore in Shanghai.
在阿克毛被处决后情绪化的予以谴责,这在应对下一个世界超级大国上是完全错误的方式,Malcolm Moore在上海说。
By Malcolm Moore
Published: 6:36AM GMT 04 Jan 2010
The reaction to Akmal Shaikh’s execution by the British government has been a fiasco that must have made diplomats in Beijing and Shanghai wince. From a British perspective, the outrage over Mr Shaikh’s execution may have seemed justified. China must improve its human-rights record if it wants to be a responsible player on the world stage. Executing a 53-year-old man of questionable sanity and burying him in an unmarked grave in a remote and icy cemetery in Urumqi appears unjust in our eyes. Bluntly ignoring Gordon Brown’s entreaties makes China seem cold and defiant.
英国政府对处决阿克毛的反应是一次彻底的失败,肯定另北京和上海的外交官有所畏避。对英国人来说,针对处决阿克毛的愤怒可能看似合理。如果想成为世界舞台上负责任的一员,中国必须改进其人权纪录。处决一名精神有问题的53岁男子,将他葬在乌鲁木齐偏远而冰冷的公墓,没有墓碑,在我们眼里这看起来是错误的。直接忽视布朗的请求让中国看起来冷酷且目中无人。
But from a Chinese point of view, there was little to be done. A personality disorder or paranoia do not qualify as mental illness in the eyes of the court. And Britons in China must be subject to Chinese law.
但是以中国人的观点,没什么可做的。人格紊乱或者妄想症在法庭看来并不是精神病。而且在中国的英国人必须受中国法律约束。
The fact that Mr Shaikh was the first European to be executed in China for half a century shows that, until now, China has often allowed foreigners to remain outside the law as it sought to curry favour with more powerful nations. But no longer.
沙伊克先生是半个世纪以来首位在中国被处决的欧洲人,这一事实显示,迄今为止,因为试图讨好更强大的国家,中国经常对外国人法外开恩。但是以后不会了。
“Today, when the British drug dealer violated the law on our land, we can openly and rightfully punish him without any mercy. We don’t need to follow the orders of others any more,” remarked one commenter on a Chinese web forum.
“今天,当英国毒贩子在我们的土地上触犯了法律,我们能够正大光明的惩罚他,毫不留情。我们不需要再听从别人的指令行事,”一位评论员在中国网络论坛上说。
It may be 170 years since Britain subjected China to colonial humiliation during the Opium wars, but the memory of red-faced foreigners banging their fists on tables and telling the Chinese what to do is still keenly felt. Despite its apparent strength, the country remains incredibly sensitive to the way it is treated by foreign governments.
英国在鸦片战争中让中国遭受殖民屈辱已经是170年前了,但是红脸外国人用拳头敲击桌子,告诉中国做什么的记忆对中国人来说仍然历历在目。尽管这个国家的强大显而易见,她仍然对外国政府对待她的方式难以置信的敏感。
As it takes the rotating presidency of the United Nations Security Council this month, it is easy to forget that the country was a global pariah just two decades ago. After the massacre at Tiananmen Square, foreign governments cut off diplomatic ties with Beijing, imposed sanctions and snuffed out the early flickerings of the attempt to rejoin the world after decades of Maoist isolation.
这个月中国接任联合国安理会轮值主席时,这很容易让人忘记仅仅20年前这个国家还是全球的弃儿。天安门大屠杀后,外国政府斩断了与北京的外交关系,制裁中国,掐灭了几十年毛主义隔绝后尝试重新融入世界的火花。
Under Deng Xiaoping’s leadership, China had been opening up. The country’s unspoken support for the US had spurred the collapse of the Soviet Union. “China and the US had been sharing both geopolitical and military secrets,” recalls Gao Zhikai, Deng’s former translator. “Because of that co-operation, China was following a US line.” The US had even been selling China weapons, both Sikorsky helicopters and guidance systems for jet aircraft.
在邓小平领导下,中国开放了。中国对美国的默默支持加快了苏联的崩溃。“中美有共同的地缘政治和军事秘密,”邓小平的前翻译高志凯回忆说,“因为这种合作,中国和美国站在一边。”美国甚至一直向中国出售武器,包括Sikorsky直升机和用于喷气式飞机的引导系统。
The events of 1989, however, turned China into a new target for the US as it searched for an ideological enemy in the post Cold War era, even if, in practice, Chinese communism was a world away from Soviet Marxism.
然而,当美国在后冷战时代寻找意识形态上的敌人时,1989年的事件使中国成为美国的新目标,即使中国的共产主义事实上与苏联的马克思主义相去甚远。
“Until the September 11 attacks in 2001, it was a very sensitive, difficult and uncertain time for China,” said Mr Gao. “There was no eagerness to rebuild a relationship or treat China as a partner, and there were no summit meetings until Jiang Zemin met Bill Clinton in Seattle in 1993.” After 2001, of course, the US found a new ideological enemy in Islamic terrorism, and China was a willing partner in the fight.
“2001年911袭击之前的日子对中国来说充满困难和不确定,”高先生说,“没有国家渴望和中国恢复关系或是将中国视作伙伴,也没有首脑会议,直到1993年江泽民在西雅图和比尔·克林顿会面。”当然2001年之后,美国发现了穆斯林恐怖主义这一新的意识形态敌人,而中国乐于在战斗中充当美国的伙伴。
The Chinese public, for its part, hardened against the West after the Chinese embassy in Belgrade was bombed by Nato planes in 1999. A skilful propaganda campaign convinced the population that the West was up to its old tricks and seeking to contain the rise of a potential new superpower.
而对中国公众而言,1999年位于贝尔格莱德的大使馆被北约飞机轰炸后,他们对西方转向强硬。技巧娴熟的宣传使群众相信西方在玩弄老把戏,试图遏制潜在的新超级大国的崛起。
The Chinese leadership genuinely believes this. Hu Jintao, the Chinese president, has warned that the US has strengthened its relationships with Vietnam, India and Taiwan in order to “put pressure points on us from the east, south and west”. More Chinese outrage followed at the protests against the Olympic torch in Paris. The sabotage was seen as a deliberate attempt to ruin China’s big moment, the Beijing Olympics.
中国领导层真心相信这点。中国国家主席胡锦涛警告说,美国为了“从东面、南面和西面向我们施加压力”而加强了与越南、印度以及台湾的关系。巴黎抗议奥林匹克火炬后随之而来的是更多中国人的愤怒。破环活动被视为蓄意要毁掉中国的重大时刻,北京奥运会。
Regular bouts of hectoring from the US and the UK over human-rights abuses, the irresponsibility of China’s position at Copenhagen, or the execution of Akmal Shaikh have merely confirmed the suspicion that the West believes it can boss China around.
在损害人权、中国在哥本哈根的不负责任或者对阿克毛的处决等问题上,美国和英国时不时的鼓噪,只是证实了西方相信他能对中国发号施令这一嫌疑。
China is now well placed to be the world’s next superpower. Its admission to the World Trade Organisation in 2000 launched a decade of frantic trading that has seen its gross domestic product rise from below that of Spain and Italy to overtake Japan’s, making it the world’s second-largest economy. By 2027, according to Goldman Sachs, it will overtake the US and become the largest.
现在中国确定会是下一个世界超级大国。2000年加入世贸组织引发了十年疯狂的贸易,其国内生产总值从低于西班牙和意大利上升到超过日本,成为世界第二大经济体。据高盛预计,到2027年,她将超过美国成为最大经济体。
More than 250 million people have been lifted out of poverty in just three decades and a sprawling middle class has emerged. China is the world’s largest car market, and rich Chinese bought £6 billion of luxury goods this year, a 12 per cent rise as the rest of the world slumped. One of last year’s biggest catchphrases was: “Money is not a problem,” mocking the country’s vulgar nouveau riche for flaunting their wealth.
在中国仅仅30年就有超过2亿5千万人脱贫,还出现了一个迅速壮大的中产阶级。中国是世界上最大的汽车市场,今年世界市场萎缩,富裕的中国人却购买了60亿英镑的奢侈品,增加了12%。去年最大的广告用语是“不差钱”,嘲弄这个国家粗俗的暴发户的炫富行为。
The financial crisis revealed that the US is in hock to the Chinese government to the tune of $1.7 trillion dollars. The new global order was cast in clear relief when Barack Obama visited Beijing in November to ask if China, as one of America’s largest trading partners, would revalue its currency to make the terms of trade more equitable. He got nothing in response.
金融危机显示美国欠中国政府的钱达1万7千亿之多。当奥巴马11月访问北京,询问中国——美国最大的贸易伙伴之一——是否会重新评估其利率使贸易更平衡时,新的全球秩序已经很明显了。他什么也没有得到。
While the West has been crippled by the financial crisis, China has hardly been touched. Its banks were already nationalised, and were quickly ordered to lend money. The resulting wave of cash boosted confidence in the economy and helped to generate growth of around nine per cent in 2009. By contrast, living standards in the UK retreated to pre-2005 levels.
当西方因金融危机而挣扎时,中国却几乎没有受到影响。她的银行早已国有化,很快被命令把钱借出。随之而来的现金流提升了经济信心,使2009年产生了大约9%的增长。相比之下,英国的生活水准降低到了2005年之前的水平。
China has grown so rapidly that its leaders have been pushed to the front of the world stage without much experience of international diplomacy. “Within the four corners of its country, China is a world in itself,” said Mr Gao. “It has a history of being introverted. Just look at the position of the foreign minister. He is not a member of the [ruling] politburo. There are two or three dozen officials more senior than him,” he added. Among the top leaders, only Li Keqiang and Li Yuanchao can speak English.
中国的增长如此之快,以致于在没有多少国际外交经验的情况下,其领导人就被推到了世界舞台的前面。“在其国内,中国自己就是一个世界”,高先生说,“她有闭关自守的历史。看看外交部长的地位。他不是占统治地位的政治局成员。有二三十个比他职位更高的官员”,他补充道。在最高领导人中,只有李克强和李源潮会讲英语。
For the past 30 years, Chinese leaders have been following Deng Xiaoping’s strategy of tao guang yang hui, a cautiousness that is best translated as the opposite of chutzpah. They have not sought the limelight, listening more than speaking and to trying to be humble.
过去三十年,中国领导人遵循邓小平韬光养晦的策略,韬光养晦意味着谨慎,可以翻译成放肆的反义词。他们不寻求关注,听得比说得多,尽量谦逊。
Now they have been thrust into the spotlight, China’s leaders are going about the job in a workmanlike fashion. Unlike their predecessors, the current generation does not make grand geopolitical gestures. When they travel abroad, it is strictly business.
现在他们被置身于聚光灯下,中国领导人正以娴熟的手法处理事务。与他们的前任不同,现在这代领导人不制造强大的地缘政治姿态。当他们在国外旅行时,这纯粹是公事。
Africa, South America and the developing world have discovered that China is a dependable, predictable and responsible partner, as long as its “hot buttons” of Tibet, Taiwan and human rights are not pushed. China is unlikely ever to cement a “Group of Two” arrangement with the US, as some have speculated. There will be no G2 because China fears alienating its smaller partners.
尽管有西藏、台湾和人权等有争议的问题还没有解决,但是非洲、南美和发展中世界发现中国是一个可靠的、可预测的并且负责任的伙伴。中国不可能像有些人预测的那样和美国达成G2。不会有G2,因为中国害怕会使其小伙伴们疏远。
The lack of understanding on both sides is immense. This year, for example, only seven Chinese novels were published in English in the US, a sign of how little appetite there is to learn about China and its culture. As a result, patronising stereotypes still hold sway.
双方严重缺乏对彼此的了解。比如今年只有7本中国小说在美国用英文出版,这标志着对了解中国和中国文化的兴趣之小。结果自高自大的想法仍然大行其道。
In turn, few Chinese, know anything about Britain beyond its colonial history and its industrial revolution. To seize the opportunity of becoming a trusted partner of China, Britain must not be seen as a bullying or ignorant power. What is needed is a genuine understanding of how Beijing works, a desire to do business, and a tone that emphasises that, while we may not agree with all its policies, we still respect the country.
而说到中国,绝大多数中国人对英国的了解仅限于殖民历史和工业革命。要抓住机会成为中国可信赖的伙伴,英国人必须不被看成欺负人的或是无知的强权。英国需要的是理解北京如何运作,愿意做生意并强调这样一种论调:尽管我们可能不同意她的所有政策,我们仍然尊重这个国家。 |