除了倒数7个段落是我补充外，都是张滨同学翻译的。这篇文章属于那种让我们看到人民日报和新闻联播以外的声音，至于偏颇不偏颇自己看吧。

China in Africa

Never too late to scramble
巧取豪夺，为时未晚

Oct 26th 2006 | BEIJING, LAGOS AND LUSAKA
From The Economist print edition



China is rapidly buying up Africa's oil, metals and farm produce. That fuels China's surging economic growth, but how good is it for Africa?
为更好的推动经济迅猛发展，中国正在全力收购非洲的石油，矿产以及农产品。然而，这样对于非洲有何益处？

IN HIS office in Lusaka, Zambia's capital, Xu Jianxue sits between a portrait of Mao Zedong and a Chinese calendar. His civil-engineering and construction business has been doing well and, with the help of his four brothers, he has also invested in a coal mine. He is bullish about doing business in Zambia: “It is a virgin territory,” he says, with few products made locally and little competition. He is now thinking of expanding into Angola and Congo next door. When he came in 1991, only 300 Chinese lived in Zambia. Now he guesses there are 3,000.

许建学（音译）坐在其位于赞比亚首都卢萨卡的办公室内，他背后是毛泽东的肖像及一本中国日历。在津巴布韦国内，他的工程建筑生意运转顺利，并且在四个兄弟 的帮助下，他对采矿业也有涉猎。对于在津巴布韦的生意，他充满信心的说：“这里是一块处女地，本地无法生产任何成品，也没什么竞争而言。”现如今，他考虑 将生意拓展到邻国安哥拉及刚果。当他1991年刚到津巴布韦的时候，这里只有大约三百名中国人，而现在，他估计至少要有三千人。

Mr Xu reflects just a tiny part of China's new interest in Africa. This year alone many bigger names than his have come visiting. Li Zhaoxing, China's foreign minister, swept through west Africa in January; President Hu Jintao visited Nigeria, Morocco and Kenya in April; and the prime minister, Wen Jiabao, knocked off seven countries in June. In the first week of November Chinese and more than 30 African leaders will gather at the first Sino-African summit in Beijing. And Chinese companies, most of them owned by the state, have been marching in the footsteps of their political leaders. But is this all good for Africa? Is it bringing the trade and investment that Africa so badly needs, or just meddling and exploitation.

相比中国对非洲的十足兴致，许的生意十分微小。单单今年，就有很多更具分量的人物来到非洲，中国外交部长李肇星，一月遍访西非诸国；国家主席胡锦涛，四月 出访尼日利亚，摩洛哥及肯尼亚；总理温家宝也在六月访问非洲七国。而十一月初，中方将于超过三十个非洲国家首脑在北京举行的第一届中非合作论坛上会晤。紧 跟着，以国有企业为主的大量中国公司将追随他们领导人的脚步在这片土地生根。但，对于非洲，这一切仅仅是有益无害吗？到底是为了给非洲带来他们亟需的投资 和贸易，还是为了干涉非洲事务并剥削非洲资源？

The summit in Beijing is being greeted by Chinese officials and the country's state-run media with an effusion reminiscent of the cold-war era, when China cosied up to African countries as a way of demonstrating solidarity against (Western) colonialism and of outdoing its ideological rival, the Soviet Union. It supported African liberation movements in the 1950s and 1960s, and later built railways for the newly independent countries, educated their students and sent them doctors.

被中方官员及其官方媒体所高度赞扬的中非合作论坛北京峰会，却带有一些冷战时期的政治色彩。当中国与非洲诸国关系升温，是一种团结一致反抗西方殖民主义的 证明方式，也是为了超越曾具有相同意识形态的竞争对手－苏联对非洲所做的一切。苏联曾在二十世纪五十年代，六十年代间支持非洲各国的独立解放运动，并且向 那些新独立的国家援建铁路设施，协助教育其儿童，并且派遣援非医生。

China's main aim then was to gain influence. Now China wants commodities more than influence. Its economy has grown by an average of 9% a year over the past ten years, and foreign trade has increased fivefold. It needs stuff of all sorts—minerals, farm products, timber and oil, oil, oil. China alone was responsible for 40% of the global increase in oil demand between 2000 and 2004.

中国在非洲的主要目标本是扩大影响力，但现在，中方更想要的是非洲的各种物质资源。在过去的十年间，中国经济每年平均增长百分之九，而外贸出口翻了六倍， 因而需要各种各样的物质资源，例如矿产品，农产品，木材资源等，但最重要的就是大量的石油。在千禧年后的四年间，仅中国自身石油需求救达到了全球石油需求 增长量的百分之四十。

The resulting commodity prices have been good for most of Africa. Higher prices combined with higher production have helped local economies. Sub-Saharan Africa's real GDP increased by an average of 4.4% in 2001-04, compared with 2.6% in the previous three years. Africa's economy grew by 5.5% in 2005 and is expected to do even better this year and next.

与高产量相结合的高价格可以促进当地经济发展，贸易所形成的商品价格对于非洲大部分国家来说都有好处，。在01至04年，撒哈拉沙漠以南各国纯国民生产总 值平均增长百分之四点四，而与之相对的是98－01年，经济增长只有百分之二点六。05年，非洲经济增长率达到百分之五点五，而且今年和明年的经济增长率 还将继续增加。

Which countries are the main beneficiaries? For copper and cobalt, China looks to the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia; for iron ore and platinum, South Africa. Gabon, Cameroon and Congo-Brazzaville supply it with timber. Several countries in west and central Africa send cotton to its textile factories.

哪些国家将成为贸易的受益者呢？ 中国将向民主刚果及赞比亚购买铜和钴，然后向南非，加蓬，喀麦隆，购买铁矿及白金。刚果金可以向中国提供木材，中西非的一些国家也可以向中国纺织厂提供棉花。

Oil, however, is the biggest business. Nigeria, Africa's biggest oil-producer, has been getting lots of attention. CNOOC, a state-owned Chinese company, paid $2.7 billion in January to obtain a minority interest in a Nigerian oilfield, and China recently secured exploration rights in another four. In Angola, which has now overtaken Saudi Arabia as China's biggest single provider of oil, another Chinese company is a partner in several blocks. China has shown similar interest in other producers such as Sudan, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon and Congo-Brazzaville, which already sells a third of its output to Chinese refiners.

然而，石油才是真正最大宗的贸易。作为非洲最大石油出产国的尼日利亚，现今正引起广泛关注，而中国海洋石油总公司，一家国有企业，将于明年一月支付二十七 亿美元收购尼日利亚油田的部分工作权益。而且中国最近又从其他四个国家获得了开采权。现今安哥拉已经超越沙特成为中国最大的石油提供国。在那里，另外一家 中国公司也获得了部分油田区块的开采权。中国还对其他一些石油出产国表示了兴趣，例如苏丹，赤道几内亚，加蓬等，在这些国家中，刚果金已经将其三分之一的 石油产量卖给了中国的石油提炼厂。

Just the beginning
一切仅仅开始


As a result, trade between China and Africa has soared from $3 billion in 1995 to over $32 billion last year. But China's commerce with the world also expanded over the same period, so Africa makes up only 2.3% of the total. This constitutes about 10% of Africa's total trade (see chart).

与之相符，中非间贸易额在去年已经从95年的三十亿美元飚升至超过三百二十亿美元。但同期，中国与世界其他地区的贸易额也大幅增长，因此非洲仅仅占中国总贸易额的百分之二点三，但这就相当于非洲总贸易额的百分之十。（见图标）

However, trade between China and Africa is expected to double by 2010. Although Europe remains Africa's main partner, its share has melted from 44% to 32% of the region's foreign trade within the past ten years, whereas America's share has, like China's, risen. For some countries, the redirection of exports has been dramatic. China now takes over 70% of Sudan's exports, compared with 10% or so in 1995. Burkina Faso sends a third of its exports, almost all of which are cotton, to China, compared with virtually nothing in the mid-1990s. China is now Angola's largest export market after the United States.

预计到2010年，中非贸易额将会在此基础上再翻一番，尽管欧洲仍是非洲各国的主要合作伙伴，但其贸易份额在过去的十年间已经从百分之四十四降至百分之三 十二，同中国一样，美国在非洲的贸易额也在增加。对于一些国家而言，出口的重新导向十分显著，在苏丹，95年出口中国的物资仅占百分之十，如今却升至百分 之七十。又如布基纳法索，九十年代中期，其与中国的贸易近乎为零，但现今向中国出口的物资（主要为棉花）已经占其出口总量的三分之一。在安哥拉，中国也成 为其仅次于美国的第二大出口国。

Africa has found more than a new buyer for its commodities. It has also found a new source of aid and investment. According to China's statistics, it invested $900m in Africa in 2004, out of the $15 billion the continent received. This was a huge increase (see chart), though most of it went to oil-producing countries. But its aid is spread more widely. It has cancelled several billion dollars of African debt, which has helped to build roads, railways, stadiums and houses in many countries.

非洲诸国认为中国不仅仅是一个新买家而已，而且是其获得援助和投资的新来源。据中方统计，2004年，中国大幅增加了在非洲的投资，总数额为九亿美元，而 整个非洲大陆总共才获得一百五十亿美元。尽管这些投资主要在各石油出产国内，但中国向非洲的各种援助却远远不只于此，中方已经免除了非洲国家数十亿美元的 债务，并在许多地方援建了大量公路，铁路，体育场及民用房屋。

This largesse is sometimes an entry ticket. In Nigeria China's promises to invest about $4 billion in refineries, power plants and agriculture were a condition for getting oil rights. In Angola a $4 billion line of low-interest credit enables Chinese companies to help rebuild the bridges, roads and so on that were destroyed in decades of war. The debt is repaid in oil.

慷慨大度有时是一块很好的敲门砖，在尼日利亚，中方许诺投资四十亿美元兴建炼油厂，发电站及农业设施作为获得开采权的条件。而在安哥拉，中方将向其提供四十亿美元的低息贷款用来重建桥梁，道路以及在连年战火中摧毁的一切设施。这笔帐将用石油来偿还。

Fewer complications
更简单，更明了



For Angola, which has been keen to get going with the reconstruction of its infrastructure, China's straightforward approach is an attractive alternative to the pernicketiness of the IMF and the Paris Club of creditors, which have been quibbling over terms for years. So it is with many African countries, fed up with the intrusiveness of Europeans and Americans fussing about corruption or torture and clamouring for accountability. Moreover, the World Bank and many Western donors were until recently shunning bricks-and-mortar aid in favour of health and education. China's credit to Angola is not only welcome in itself. It has reduced the pressure from the West.

相比于国际货币基金组织的吹毛求疵，巴黎债权人俱乐部关于条款细节的纠缠不堪，没完没了。安哥拉，这个急切重建其基础设施的国家，显然更加青睐于中国式的 简单明了。和很多非洲国家一样，他们厌恶欧洲人的侵扰，厌恶美国人关于腐败，酷刑，责权混乱的喋喋不休。 此外，直到近期，世界银行及西方捐助者仍选择医疗教育事业上的援助，而不是传统意义上的物质。因此，安哥拉国内十分渴求并欢迎中国的贷款，这项合作还减轻 了来自西方对其的压力。

Thanks to China, therefore, workers from the Middle Kingdom in straw hats are now helping Angolans to lay down new rails on the old line from Luanda to the eastern province of Malange. Another railway, from Benguela to Zambia, once used to carry copper, is also being rebuilt. China is happy: the work helps offset some of its trade deficit with Angola. The Angolan government is also happy: it is rebuilding its shattered economy at last.

感谢中国，感谢那些来自戴着草帽，来自龙之王国的工人们，是他们帮助安哥拉在旧路基上铺设从罗安达至东部省份马兰热的铁轨。另外一条从本格拉至赞比亚，原 先被用于运输铜矿的铁路也在重建中。中国政府很高兴，因为这些工程抵销了部分与安哥拉的贸易赤字，安哥拉政府也很高兴，因为这样可以最终恢复他们破碎的经 济。

For José Cerqueira, an Angolan economist, China is welcome because it eschews what he sees as the IMF's ideological and condescending attitude. “For them,” he says, “we should have ears, but no mouth.” Others are pleased because China is ready to pass on some of its technology. It is, for example, helping Nigeria to launch a second satellite into space. Some African officials, disillusioned with the Western development model, say that China gives them hope that poor countries can find their own path to development.

在一名安哥拉经济学家，何塞•塞奎拉眼中，中国同样是很受欢迎的，因为中方没有国际货币基金组织那种意识形态和屈尊俯就的态度。他说，世界银行以及货币基 金组织的要求，我们只能听，却不能发表自己的意见。而中国就完全不需要我们这样做。还有很多人也十分高兴，因为中国将转让部分技术，举个例子来说，中方将 帮助尼日利亚把他们的第二颗卫星送上天。许多非洲官员已经对西方经济发展模式不抱任何幻想，他们认为中国给了他们这些穷国以希望，并且帮助他们寻求自身发 展之路。

And now the snags
潜在困难

The love affair with China, however, may be sour as well as sweet. For countries that do not sit on oil or mineral deposits, higher commodity prices make life harder. Even for producers there are risks. A recent report by the World Bank argues that Africa's new trade with China and India opens the way for it to become a processor of commodities and a competitive supplier of cheap goods and services to Chinese and Indian consumers. But another report, from the OECD, a club of industrialised countries, argues that China's appetite for commodities may stifle producers' efforts to diversify their economies. Oil rigs and mines create few jobs, it points out, and tend to suck in resources from other industries. And if Africa is to escape its vulnerability to the capricious movements of world commodity prices, it must start to export more manufactures. On this the World Bank adds its own warning: China and India must end their escalating tariffs on Africa's main exports.

然而，与中国的联姻可能会是五味杂陈的，对于那些没有石油及矿藏的国家，更高的商品价格将会使他们的人民生活更加困苦，即使对于那些生产商来说，也是很具 风险的。据世界银行最新报道称，非洲与中印贸易开启了其商业化进程，并且将会成为向中印两国的消费者提供更多廉价品的供源地。但据经合组织另外一份报告， 一些工业化国家认为中国对于商品的觊觎之心将会扼杀那些为改变本国经济的生产商们的努力。而且它还指出，油井及矿产为其人们提供工作机会，而且还可能会从 其他产业中夺取资源。如果非洲不想在变化莫测的世界商品价格前暴露其脆弱性的话，他们必须开始出口更多的制成品，就此，世界银行发出了警告，中印两国必须 对非洲主要出口物资取消其正在不断攀升的关税。

China is also bringing irresistible—some say unfair—competition to Africa. All over Africa Chinese traders can now be seen selling cheap products from the homeland, not just electronics but plastic goods and clothes. In Kamwala market in Lusaka a host of Chinese shops have appeared over the past couple of years. “Two years ago,” says Muhammad, a local trader of Indian origin, “I did not have time to sit down; now I'm sitting doing nothing.” Though his shelves are full of clocks and radios made in China, he blames his enforced idleness on the competition brought by Chinese traders.

中国也带来了冲击——有些人说成不公平——对于非洲的竞争。在整个非洲，中国商人被视为正在兜售产自其老家的廉价商品，不仅有电子消费品，而且还有塑料产品和服装。在卢萨卡市的Kamwala市场①，一家中国商店的主人已经在来这里两年多了。“两年前，”一位印度裔的本地商人Muhammad说，“我（忙得）没有时间落座；而现如今我除了坐着无所事事。”虽然他的货架上摆满了中国制造的钟表和收音机，他仍然抱怨他那迫不得已而无所事事的窘境，而这窘境是由中国商人的竞争造成的。

Zambian and other African consumers do not share his despondency. They like Chinese prices. But in some countries consumers are less well organised than textile workers, and in South Africa the trade unions have succeeded in getting the government to negotiate quotas on Chinese clothing imports. Still, the power of China's productivity and economies of scale—never mind government subsidies—certainly hurts local industries. Textile factories in places like South Africa, Mauritius and Nigeria have been badly hit. In tiny Lesotho, where making clothes for Europe or America is the only industry around, this has been catastrophic.

赞比亚和其他非洲的消费者并不会和他分担这种沮丧之情。他们喜爱中国的价格。但是在有些国家，消费者很少能像纺织工人那样有更好的组织，在南非，贸易联盟已经成功的促使政府展开对中国服装进口进行限制的谈判。然而，中国的生产力和规模经济的力量——也不会介意政府补贴——的确对当地的行业造成了伤害。像南非、毛里求斯、尼日利亚等国的纺织工厂已经遭到沉重打击。在小国莱索托，那里的制衣业，供应欧美市场，是当地仅有的工业，已经陷入了萧条。

The working conditions, as well as the prices, set by Chinese employers are also a concern to some Africans. The alleged ill-treatment of workers in a Chinese-owned mine in Zambia in July led to a violent protest in which several workers were shot. And many Chinese firms bring in much of their own labour, rather than hiring locals. China brought in thousands of its own workers to build the 1,860km (1,160-mile) Tazara railway between Lusaka and the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam in the 1970s. It was finished ahead of schedule, but Tanzania and Zambia still have to rely on Chinese technical help to maintain it. African hopes of technology transfer may be over-optimistic.

中国雇主提供的工作环境，也如价格问题一样，成为一些非洲人担心的问题。一项关于华人拥有的煤矿虐待赞比亚劳工的指控在七月导致了一场暴力罢工抗议，其间几名工人遭到枪击。许多中国公司都带来大量自己的劳工，而不是雇佣当地人。1970年代，中国带来了数千名华工修筑卢萨卡（赞比亚首都）与坦桑尼亚（首都）港口城市达累斯萨拉姆之间1860公里（1160英里）的坦赞铁路。工程项目结束了，但是坦桑尼亚和赞比亚人仍然必须依赖中国人的技术援助才能维护铁路。非洲想要获得技术引进的希望可能过分乐观了。

Human rights are optional

人权不是必须的

Some say China's involvement will erode efforts to promote openness and reduce corruption, especially in oil and mining. Nigeria insists that Chinese companies must respect its new anti-graft measures, and the latest bidding round for oil blocks in Angola has been the most open so far. In both countries it is unclear whether China's presence is making corruption better or worse. It is clear, though, that China is not interested in pressing African governments to hold elections or be more democratic in other ways. That helps to explain why China directs so much money towards Sudan, whose odious regime can count on China's support when resisting any UN military intervention in Darfur. China invested almost $150m in Sudan in 2004, three times as much as in any other single country. When American and Canadian oil companies packed their bags there, China quickly stepped in, drilling wells and building pipelines and roads. The Chinese are supposed to be building an armaments factory as well.

有些人说中国的进入将削弱促进开放和减少腐败的力量，尤其在石油开采和矿藏开发方面。尼日利亚就坚决要求中国公司必须遵守它的新的反贿赂措施，近来围绕安格拉油田开采的投标活动也做到了迄今为止最为公开的程度。在这两个国家，中国的到来到底会有积极影响还是消极影响都还不很清楚。但清楚的是，中国在推进非洲的政府们举行选举或者在其他方面更加民主化方面并没什么兴趣。这正好有助于解释为什么中国直接出钱援助苏丹，它的遭到极度不满而勉强维持统治的政府能够在阻止联合国在达富尔的军事干预的时候依靠中国的支持。在2004年中国向苏丹投资了几乎150万美元，是向任何其他的单个国家投资的三倍。当美国和加拿大石油公司在这里打起行李包（离开）时，中国很快进驻，钻井，建造管线和道路。中国人甚至获准建立一家军工厂。

APThe Emperor's new clothes? 皇帝的新衣？

China's lack of interest in human rights is something that President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe can also be thankful for. Shunned by the West, and with his country's economy in a shambles, he has turned to China for political and economic support—and got it. After he launched Operation Murambatsvina last year, in which 700,000 people had their homes or businesses destroyed, China neutered all attempts at discussion, let alone condemnation, in the UN Security Council. However, despite this, China may not want to squander any more money in a country that has no oil and few mineral rights left to dispose of.

中国缺乏对人权问题的兴趣正合津巴布韦总统罗伯特·穆加贝之意。遭到西方排斥并且面临本国经济混乱的他转而向中国寻求政治和经济支持——他得到了。在去年他实施了“恢复秩序行动”之后，中国在联合安理会上扫除了所有议论此事的企图，使反对声音孤立，而700，000平民在此行动中流离失所。然而，尽管如此，中国也不想浪费任何钱在一个没有石油，也没有多少矿藏开采权剩下的国度。

But China's friendship and support at the UN comes with one important political string attached: the endorsement of the one-China policy. To date 48 African countries have paid due obeisance to Beijing: Chad, Senegal and Liberia are the latest to have abandoned their recognition of Taiwan. The suggestion by Michael Sata, the main opposition candidate in Zambia's presidential election on September 28th, that he would have recognised Taiwan if he had won was enough to bring the first public intervention by China in the internal affairs of an African country; the ambassador said that China would consider cutting diplomatic relations if Mr Sata won (which he did not).

但是中国在联合国的友谊和支持附带着一个重要的政治条件：只有一个中国政策的承诺。据统计有48个非洲国家已经还了北京的政治债：乍得、塞内加尔和利比里亚是最新与台湾断交的国家。Michael Sata的言论足以引发中国首次公开干涉一个非洲国家的内部事务，这个主要的持反对观点的赞比亚总统选举的竞选人在9月28日表示，如果获胜，他将承认台湾（的政治地位）；（中国驻赞比亚）大使表示如果Sata先生当选，中国将考虑断绝与该国的外交关系（实际他最后没有当选）。

That is a warning to Africans that this new interloper in their continent is no more altruistic than its predecessors. Still, that does not mean China's involvement is bad and it is certainly not to be stopped. It is up to Africans to ensure that they get a fair deal from it. If so, both China and its African partners can be winners.

这是一个新近的闯入者在非洲大陆上向非洲人发出的警告，这种警告并不比它的前任闯入者们具有更多的利他主义色彩。当然，这并不意味着中国的进入就是糟糕的事情，并且它是不可阻挡的。这取决于非洲能否保证从其中获得公平的对待。如果是肯定的，中国和他的非洲伙伴都会成为赢家。

注：① 该市场位于首都卢萨卡市中心主要大道旁的老商业区。