奧巴馬訪(fǎng)華兩手空空？

It took Barack Obama 30 minutes yesterday to whizz through the Forbidden City in Beijing following what was characterised as a candid three-hour discussion between the US president and Hu Jintao, his Chinese counterpart. At the end of his chilly tour Mr Obama exited through the Gate of Continuous Harmony.

美國(guó)總統(tǒng)巴拉克·奧巴馬(Barack Obama)昨日與中國(guó)國(guó)家主席胡錦濤舉行了3個(gè)小時(shí)的會(huì)談，會(huì)談氣氛被形容為是坦誠(chéng)的。隨后，奧巴馬只用了30分鐘，就飛速游覽完了北京故宮。奧巴馬在寒風(fēng)中結(jié)束了故宮之行，從順貞門(mén)離開(kāi)。

He will doubtless be treated to the customary barrage of disharmony by conservative critics back home about having soft-pedalled in public on the human rights criticisms that normally arise during a US presidential visit.

無(wú)疑，他會(huì)遭遇到美國(guó)國(guó)內(nèi)保守派批評(píng)人士慣常的猛烈抨擊，罪名是他在公開(kāi)場(chǎng)合低調(diào)處理人權(quán)問(wèn)題上的批評(píng)，美國(guó)總統(tǒng)訪(fǎng)華期間，通常都會(huì)批評(píng)中國(guó)的人權(quán)紀(jì)錄。

But US officials insist that, in private, Mr Obama had “pulled no punches”. Jeff Bader, the president's senior Asia adviser, said Mr Obama gave Mr Hu the most frank talk on human rights he had heard in his 30 years of dealing with US-China relations.

但美國(guó)官員堅(jiān)稱(chēng)，奧巴馬在非公開(kāi)會(huì)談中“毫無(wú)保留”。白宮東亞事務(wù)辦公室主任杰夫·貝德(Jeff Bader)表示，奧巴馬在人權(quán)問(wèn)題上對(duì)胡錦濤所說(shuō)的話(huà)，是他從事美中關(guān)系工作30年來(lái)，所聽(tīng)到的最坦率之言。

At their joint appearance in the Great Hall of the People following their meeting, both leaders gave the impression that there had been sharp disagreements on a wide range of issues – in addition to Tibet, which Mr Obama finally raised, having hitherto gingerly sidestepped the troubled province.

會(huì)談結(jié)束后，兩位領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人在人民大會(huì)堂一起露面，雙方給人的印象都是，會(huì)談期間在一系列問(wèn)題上曾出現(xiàn)明顯的分歧，包括奧巴馬此前小心回避的西藏問(wèn)題。

Reading from separate statements, Mr Hu emphasised the need to “oppose and reject protectionism in all its manifestations”, which was code for having brushed off US complaints about China's large trade surpluses. Mr Obama referred to the need to move beyond the dollar-renminbi peg, which the Americans see as a form of Chinese mercantilism – again, signalling there had been little progress.

兩位領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人都照章宣讀各自的聲明。胡錦濤強(qiáng)調(diào)，有必要“反對(duì)和抵制各種形式的保護(hù)主義”，此言意在拒絕美國(guó)對(duì)中國(guó)巨額貿(mào)易盈余的抱怨。奧巴馬則提到，有必要超越人民幣盯住美元的匯率政策，美方將這種政策視為中國(guó)重商主義的一種表現(xiàn)。這些信號(hào)都暗示，雙方在相關(guān)問(wèn)題上沒(méi)有取得多大進(jìn)展。

“I underlined to President Obama that, given our differences in national conditions, it is only normal that our two sides may disagree on some issues,” said Mr Hu, his hands firmly grasping the lectern. “What is important is to respect and accommodate each other's core interests and major concerns.”

“我向奧巴馬總統(tǒng)強(qiáng)調(diào)，中美兩國(guó)國(guó)情不同，雙方存在一些分歧是正常的，”胡錦濤表示，他的手緊緊抓住講壇。“關(guān)鍵是要尊重和照顧對(duì)方的核心利益和重大關(guān)切。”

It may take months, even years, to judge whether Mr Obama's approach of friendly strategic engagement with China will bear fruit in the form of more substantive Chinese assistance in helping America tackle what one US official called the “global headline issues”, such as climate change, nuclear weapons proliferation and economic imbalances.

可能需要幾個(gè)月、甚至幾年的時(shí)間，才能判斷奧巴馬與中國(guó)開(kāi)展友好戰(zhàn)略接觸的政策能否奏效：即中國(guó)在幫助美國(guó)對(duì)付美方官員所稱(chēng)的“全球重大問(wèn)題”（如氣候變化、核武擴(kuò)散、經(jīng)濟(jì)失衡）上，提供更多實(shí)質(zhì)性的協(xié)助。

Both countries eschew the term “G2”, for fear of offending other players. But in practice yesterday's long joint statement, which covered everything from clean energy to space technology, marked the attempted launch of a G2 global steering committee between the world's largest democracy and largest autocracy.

美中兩國(guó)都回避“G2集團(tuán)”一詞，以免其它國(guó)家不快。但實(shí)際上，昨日的長(zhǎng)篇聯(lián)合聲明涵蓋從清潔能源到空間技術(shù)的多個(gè)領(lǐng)域，這標(biāo)志著全球最大的民主國(guó)家與最大的威權(quán)國(guó)家試圖發(fā)起一個(gè)“G2全球指導(dǎo)委員會(huì)”。

“There are really only two countries in the world that can solve certain issues,” said Jon Huntsman, the US ambassador to China and former Republican governor of Utah, whose fluent command of Chinese has already gone down well with his hosts. “So the meetings really have been aimed at co-ordinating like never before on the key global issues . . . There wasn't a single issue that was left out.”

“世界上其實(shí)只有兩個(gè)國(guó)家能夠解決某些問(wèn)題，”美國(guó)駐華大使、猶他州前共和黨籍州長(zhǎng)洪博培(Jon Huntsman)表示。“因此，這些會(huì)談確實(shí)是旨在開(kāi)展空前的協(xié)作，應(yīng)對(duì)各項(xiàng)關(guān)鍵的全球問(wèn)題……沒(méi)有一個(gè)問(wèn)題被排除在外。”精通中文的洪博培，已經(jīng)與東道主建立了良好關(guān)系。

Much like the long statements that the US and Soviet Union produced during their rare bouts of detente, however, a great deal of continuing disharmony could be read between the lines. In addition to the lack of progress on China's dollar link, the two sides evidently failed to reach common ground on the bulk of Mr Obama's agenda.

不過(guò)，就像美國(guó)與蘇聯(lián)在罕見(jiàn)的雙方緩和時(shí)期出爐的長(zhǎng)篇聲明一樣，從中美聯(lián)合聲明的字里行間，可以看出雙方繼續(xù)存在的不和。除了在中國(guó)人民幣盯住美元匯率的問(wèn)題上缺乏進(jìn)展外，雙方顯然未能就奧巴馬的大部分議程內(nèi)容達(dá)成共識(shí)。

These included Afghanistan, which Beijing sees as a pointless war and which Mr Obama is about to intensify with a new surge of troops, and Iran, where the US leader promised “consequences” should Tehran fail to comply with international demands but on which Mr Hu was largely silent.

其中包括阿富汗問(wèn)題，在北京方面看來(lái)，阿富汗戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)是沒(méi)有意義的，而奧巴馬將要宣布向阿富汗增兵，使這場(chǎng)戰(zhàn)爭(zhēng)進(jìn)一步升級(jí)。還有伊朗核計(jì)劃問(wèn)題，美國(guó)總統(tǒng)許諾稱(chēng)，如果德黑蘭方面不服從國(guó)際要求，會(huì)有“后果”，但胡錦濤在這個(gè)問(wèn)題上基本上保持緘默。

“China wants to see more dialogue on the Iran issue,” said Jin Canrong, of Renmin University. “We need more time to see if this approach is going to work.”

“中國(guó)希望在伊朗問(wèn)題上看到更多對(duì)話(huà)，”中國(guó)人民大學(xué)的金燦榮表示。“我們需要更多時(shí)間，看看這種方式能否奏效。”

Both sides put a brave face on climate change. But announcements of a series of new clean energy initiatives, from carbon capture research to a project on electric cars, could not paper over the fact that both leaders had sharply downgraded prospects of a big deal on climate change in Copenhagen next month.

雙方都力圖在氣候變化問(wèn)題上做出積極表態(tài)。但是，宣布一系列清潔能源方面的舉措，從碳捕獲研究到電動(dòng)汽車(chē)項(xiàng)目，并不能掩蓋一個(gè)事實(shí)，即美中兩國(guó)領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人已大幅降低了下月哥本哈根氣候變化會(huì)議上達(dá)成重大協(xié)定的可能性。

In concluding remarks, Mr Obama said: “The US welcomes China's efforts in playing a greater role on the world stage – a role in which a growing economy is joined by growing responsibilities.” It remains to be seen whether Beijing genuinely agrees with the second half of that statement.

奧巴馬在致辭結(jié)尾表示：“美國(guó)歡迎中國(guó)努力在世界舞臺(tái)上扮演更重要的角色，在這個(gè)角色中，責(zé)任的增加伴隨著經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)。”目前尚不清楚，北京方面是否真的同意這句話(huà)的后半部分。