奧巴馬訪華兩手空空？

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.

美國總統(tǒng)巴拉克·奧巴馬(Barack Obama)昨日與中國國家主席胡錦濤舉行了3個小時的會談，會談氣氛被形容為是坦誠的。隨后，奧巴馬只用了30分鐘，就飛速游覽完了北京故宮。奧巴馬在寒風中結(jié)束了故宮之行，從順貞門離開。

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.

無疑，他會遭遇到美國國內(nèi)保守派批評人士慣常的猛烈抨擊，罪名是他在公開場合低調(diào)處理人權問題上的批評，美國總統(tǒng)訪華期間，通常都會批評中國的人權紀錄。

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.

但美國官員堅稱，奧巴馬在非公開會談中“毫無保留”。白宮東亞事務辦公室主任杰夫·貝德(Jeff Bader)表示，奧巴馬在人權問題上對胡錦濤所說的話，是他從事美中關系工作30年來，所聽到的最坦率之言。

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.

會談結(jié)束后，兩位領導人在人民大會堂一起露面，雙方給人的印象都是，會談期間在一系列問題上曾出現(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.

兩位領導人都照章宣讀各自的聲明。胡錦濤強調(diào)，有必要“反對和抵制各種形式的保護主義”，此言意在拒絕美國對中國巨額貿(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重商主義的一種表現(xiàn)。這些信號都暗示，雙方在相關問題上沒有取得多大進展。

“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)強調(diào)，中美兩國國情不同，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。“關鍵是要尊重和照顧對方的核心利益和重大關切。”

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.

可能需要幾個月、甚至幾年的時間，才能判斷奧巴馬與中國開展友好戰(zhàn)略接觸的政策能否奏效：即中國在幫助美國對付美方官員所稱的“全球重大問題”（如氣候變化、核武擴散、經(jīng)濟失衡）上，提供更多實質(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.

美中兩國都回避“G2集團”一詞，以免其它國家不快。但實際上，昨日的長篇聯(lián)合聲明涵蓋從清潔能源到空間技術的多個領域，這標志著全球最大的民主國家與最大的威權國家試圖發(fā)起一個“G2全球指導委員會”。

“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.”

“世界上其實只有兩個國家能夠解決某些問題，”美國駐華大使、猶他州前共和黨籍州長洪博培(Jon Huntsman)表示。“因此，這些會談確實是旨在開展空前的協(xié)作，應對各項關鍵的全球問題……沒有一個問題被排除在外。”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，就像美國與蘇聯(lián)在罕見的雙方緩和時期出爐的長篇聲明一樣，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。除了在中國人民幣盯住美元匯率的問題上缺乏進展外，雙方顯然未能就奧巴馬的大部分議程內(nèi)容達成共識。

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.

其中包括阿富汗問題，在北京方面看來，阿富汗戰(zhàn)爭是沒有意義的，而奧巴馬將要宣布向阿富汗增兵，使這場戰(zhàn)爭進一步升級。還有伊朗核計劃問題，美國總統(tǒng)許諾稱，如果德黑蘭方面不服從國際要求，會有“后果”，但胡錦濤在這個問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.”

“中國希望在伊朗問題上看到更多對話，”中國人民大學的金燦榮表示。“我們需要更多時間，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汽車項目，并不能掩蓋一個事實，即美中兩國領導人已大幅降低了下月哥本哈根氣候變化會議上達成重大協(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：“美國歡迎中國努力在世界舞臺上扮演更重要的角色，在這個角色中，責任的增加伴隨著經(jīng)濟增長。”目前尚不清楚，北京方面是否真的同意這句話的后半部分。