Chinese summitry

On safari

Nov 2nd 2006 | BEIJING

From The Economist print edition

Practising for the Olympics

为奥运进行演练

THE hoardings along every main street of central Beijing look like an effort to promote a new safari park: billboards are plastered with giant photographs of elephants, giraffes, lions and zebras. Images of half-naked, exotically painted tribesmen adorn the capital. It is part of China's lavish welcome for the leaders of most of the African continent, who have been gathering in Beijing this week for the biggest diplomatic jamboree in the country's history. Stereotyping has not, apparently, been a worry for the hosts.

北京中心的主要街道被打扮成野生动物园的方式来欢迎到来的客人：大象，长颈鹿，狮子，斑马，裸露上身的土著部落，这些特有的异国风情巨幅图片正装点着首都。这是中国给予大多数非洲大陆领导人最隆重的欢迎，因为这周将在北京举行历史上最大的外交庆祝活动。相比以前那些刻板欢迎这显然已经变得灵活多样了

The scale of the first China-Africa summit, attended by more than 40 heads of state and government, far exceeds any diplomatic event ever held in Beijing. The gathering, from November 3rd to 5th, is being presented by China as a demonstration of its rapidly expanding ties with Africa (driven mostly by its demand for African oil and other natural resources), as well as of its organisational abilities ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August 2008. Earlier in the same week, China hosted a summit of ten leaders from the Association of South-East Asian Nations in the southern city of Nanning as well as talks with North Korean and American officials (see article). For a country still finding its feet as a global diplomatic player, these events have been an exceptional workout.

第一次中非首脑会议，将有40多个国家首脑参加，是北京历史上所举办规模最大外交活动。从11月3日到5日，这次盛会将见证中非之间不断深化的合作（主要是为了非洲石油和其他自然资源），也是为2008年8月年北京奥运会组织能力的演练。在同一周早些时候，中国在南方城市南宁举行了东盟十国首脑会议，同时进行了北韩和美国官员的沟通对话。对于一个希望在全球外交领域上扮演重要角色的国家，这些事件确实是很好的锻炼。

An article this week in Beijing Daily, the main propaganda organ of the city government, suggested the extent of the cultural gap between China and many other parts of the world, despite its rapidly growing economic and diplomatic engagement. As for our African friends, it said, some people still think of them as coming from underdeveloped countries, and “lack knowledge of Africa's ancient history, magnificent culture and recent development”. During the summit, no matter what colour or how few clothes African visitors might wear, citizens should not surround them or photograph them without their permission, said the newspaper.

这周政府的主要的宣传机构北京日报，说尽管经济和外交不断快速深入发展，中国和非洲仍有很多文化差异。对于我们的非洲朋友,一些人仍认为他们来自落后国家并“缺少对亚洲古代历史，灿烂文化和近期高速发展的了解”。报纸指出，在峰会期间，无论非洲来访者的肤色和穿着，市民在没有允许情况下都不能围绕来访者和对他们拍照。

The city authorities have been almost as crude in their efforts to ensure the smooth flow of the capital's normally gridlocked traffic during the event. For the first time in advance of a big event, the government has published regular updates of how traffic will be managed. But it has also resorted to some heavy-handed techniques: banning out-of-town vehicles from urban Beijing and removing beggars from busy areas and around summit venues. In September officials denied a report in a state-owned newspaper in the capital that 1m migrant labourers in Beijing would be expelled from the city before the 2008 Olympics and that the mentally ill would be confined to hospitals. But the denial has done little to allay suspicions that such tactics will be used.

在峰会期间，北京当局用近乎粗鲁的手段来保证经常堵塞的首都交通运行通畅。为第一次举行如此盛大会议，政府出台了峰会期间交通管制法。但是还是要借助强迫手段：禁止外来车辆进京，不许乞丐出现在商业街和峰会地点。在9月，官员否认了某国营报纸报道说2008年前100万民工被迫离京并且精神病患者将被强制住院。但是官方出面辟谣并没有减轻公众对此的怀疑。

China has been more considerate, however, of the sensitivities of the visiting African leaders. The official media have avoided dwelling on the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, whose president, Omar al-Bashir, is among Beijing's guests. The official news agency, Xinhua, published an interview with Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe making no mention of the human-rights abuses that have made him a pariah in other parts of the world. He would probably do the same for China.

对于访问中非洲领导人的敏感问题，中国有更加周全的考虑。对来访的北京客人，苏丹总统奥马尔-巴沙尔，官方媒体回避了有关的人道主义批评。官方新闻机构，新华社发表了一篇对津巴布韦Robert Mugabe采访的文章，并没有提到他践踏人权的问题，而这类问题加入在西方国家肯定会被穷追猛打。对于中国，他可能会同样也会保持沉默。

翻译好了,说实话,对于经济学人最近关于中国和非洲的文章,实在不喜欢.个人甚至建议The Economist 改名为politiciST好了.

不过这也符合经济学人一惯的风格~~~~~~~~~

不过为了让大家从另外一些角度了解到中国的对外经济,多读些这类文章也是一件好事.