U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton embarks Wednesday on a two-week Asian tour that will take her to Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, New Zealand, Australia and China. The trip is expected to bolster Washington's ties with Asian allies as it looks to balance Beijing's influence in the region.
美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿星期三开始为期两周的亚洲之行，她将前往越南、柬埔寨、马来西亚、巴布亚新几内亚、新西兰、澳大利亚和中国。克林顿此行预期将加强美国与其亚洲盟友之间的关系，并寻求平衡中国在该地区的影响。
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's first stop on the Asian tour is actually in the United States. She meets Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara in Hawaii on Wednesday for talks expected to tackle Tokyo's tense relations with China.
克林顿国务卿亚洲之行的第一站其实在美国境内。她星期三在夏威夷与日本外务大臣前原诚司举行会晤，讨论如何解决中日紧张关系的问题。
Ties between Asia's two largest economies frayed this year after a Chinese fishing boat collided with Japanese coast guard ships near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
一艘中国渔船今年在中国东海有争议的岛屿附近与日本海岸警卫队船只相撞，导致亚洲最大的两个经济体之间的关系受到严重损害。
Courting Japan
Japan's new government had been emphasizing closer ties with China, and distancing itself from the United States. Now, says Kerri Brown of Chatham House in London, the territorial dispute with China is giving Washington a new opportunity to woo Tokyo.
日本新一届政府此前一直强调与中国的密切联系，而疏远了美国。伦敦查塔姆研究所的克利·布朗说，现在日本与中国的领土争端让美国有了争取与东京政府加强关系的新契机。
"It really underlines the role that the United States has in supplying a security umbrella in the Pacific Region," said Brown. "In the Japanese, who are obviously very reliant on American military support. So it's really kind of a big moment for the United States to re-establish how important the relationship is between it and Japan."
布朗说：“它确实强调了美国在太平洋地区提供一个安全保护伞的作用。日本显然非常依赖美国的军事支持。所以现在确实是美国重新确立它与日本关系重要性的关键时刻。”
Collaborating with southeast Asian nations
Clinton waded into disputed Asian waters earlier this year when she announced that Washington could mediate conflicts between China and Southeast Asian countries claiming islands in the South China Sea. The subject is likely to come up again this week when Clinton joins the East Asia summit in Hanoi.
克林顿今年早些时候触及到亚洲具有争议水域的问题。她宣布美国能够就中国与东南亚国家之间的冲突进行斡旋。这些国家宣称拥有南中国海一些岛屿的主权。这一问题很可能在这个星期克林顿参加河内的东亚峰会时被再次提及。
Brown said the 10 countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, have distinct political and economic views on China, but they share a wariness about its territorial claims. He said Clinton is likely to capitalize on these concerns.
布朗说，东南亚国家联盟，也就是东盟的10个成员国对中国的政治和经济有各自的看法，但它们都对中国声称领土主权的问题持有戒心。布朗说，克林顿可能会利用他们在这方面的担忧。
"I think it's really kind of setting out a framework where, in fact, it's not just about China's interest, and China's going to have to start factoring in the fact that it's going to get a lot of opposition if it's just going to be unilaterally declaring its interests and think that the ASEAN countries are going to lie down," said Brown.
布朗说：“我认为这实际上主要是建立一个框架，而这并不只是关乎中国的利益，这样中国就会不得不开始考虑这样一个现实，就是如果它只是单方面地宣布其利益而认为东盟国家将忍气吞声的话，它将得到很多反对。”
Clinton's trip will be her sixth to Asia in 18 months, reflecting the Obama administration's effort to sharpen its focus on the region that had been overshadowed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
克林顿此行将是她18个月来第六次出访亚洲。这反映了奥巴马政府加强关注这一地区的努力。此前，伊拉克和阿富汗战争使得美国忽视了建立与亚洲国家的关系。
U.S. focuses on region, China
David Lampton of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in Washington said U.S. efforts to warm up to its Asian allies is unsettling to China.
华盛顿约翰霍普金斯大学高级国际研究所的大卫·兰普顿说，美国试图加强与亚洲盟友关系的努力令中国感到不安。
"Of course, China plays a major role in the region and tends to have a kind of lens or framework of containment. And so as the U.S. is trying to improve relations, I think this raises alarm bells in Beijing, seeing this as some kind of effort to contain China," said Lampton.
兰普顿说：“当然，中国在这一地区发挥着重要作用，而且倾向于以牵制性的角度或者框架。所以美国在试图改善与该地区国家的关系时，我想这给北京政府敲响了警钟。他们将这看做是企图遏制中国的努力。”
Despite ongoing tensions between Washington and Beijing over regional security, currency issues and human rights, Clinton added a brief visit to China's Hainan Island to her agenda just days before her departure.
尽管目前美中在地区安全、货币问题和人权方面关系紧张，克林顿还是在她的亚洲之行中加入了访华行程。她将在离开亚洲的几天前在中国海南岛进行短暂访问。
Lampton said the visit demonstrates that despite the tensions, both countries are showing they are equally anxious to talk to each other. "I mean, the fact of the matter is China's our most rapidly growing export market. Also, China has an enormous domestic change underway. Urbanization. They still have to urbanize another 400 million people at least. A population bigger than the U.S. So they don't want any problems with us frankly, and I think all Americans realize we don't need any more problems in the world."
兰普顿说，克林顿的访华行程反映出，尽管两国关系紧张，但双方显示出他们都同样迫切地要与对方对话。兰普顿说：“我的意思是说，问题的实质在于中国是我们增长最快的出口市场。而且中国正在进行巨大的内部变革，就是城市化。他们还有至少4亿人口要城市化。这一数字比美国总人口还要多。所以坦率地说，他们不希望与美国有任何问题，同时我想所有的美国人也意识到，我们不需要世界上再有任何更多的问题了。”
The Obama administration's discussions with Beijing will continue in January when Chinese President Hu Jintao visits the White House.
奥巴马政府与北京政府的会谈将于明年1月继续进行。届时，中国国家主席胡锦涛将前往白宫进行访问。 |