美国国家公共电台 NPR 3 Men, One Skyscraper And A Conflict-Of-Interest Concern In Foreign Policy

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Now, here's a story about two countries, three men and a skyscraper¹. NPR's Peter Overby looks at questions of how the Trump² Tower in Manila might affect ties between the United States and the Philippines.

PETER OVERBY, BYLINE³: One of the three men is President Trump. The others are Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and Jose E.B. Antonio. Antonio is Duterte's special trade envoy⁴ to the United States, and he's the developer of a Trump-branded residential⁵ tower in Manila. Antonio made a promotional video for the tower in 2012.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

JOSE E.B. ANTONIO: We believe that Trump exemplifies the best quality of real estate anywhere in the world. It also exemplifies luxury, and it exemplifies exclusivity.

OVERBY: Trump in the video praising Antonio and his company.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: True professionals - they really know what they're doing. Trump Tower Manila is going to be something special.

OVERBY: And Trump's children joined in. Here's Ivanka Trump.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

IVANKA TRUMP: We feel very comfortable with the Antonio family as the developers of this project.

OVERBY: And Donald Jr.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

DONALD TRUMP JR.: Over the years in our dealings with the Antonios, both on a personal level as friends and on a business level, we've just had nothing but great times and great success.

OVERBY: Photos and a billboard⁶ of Ivanka Trump were used to promote the project. But Antonio's company actually owns the tower. It pays the Trump organization to use the Trump brand between $1 million and $5 million a year, according to Trump's 2015 financial disclosure report. Trump profits from this, even in the White House, because unlike other recent presidents, he retained ownership of his businesses. As for Phillipine President Duterte, the third guy in this story, his political career is marked by violence in his own country and by anger toward the United States. Here's how he dissed President Obama in October.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

PRESIDENT RODRIGO DUTERTE: So you can go to hell. Mr. Obama, you can go to hell.

OVERBY: Last month, President Trump invited Duterte to the White House. No agenda was stated. Duterte hasn't said yes or no. The White House did not respond to our request for comment.

STUART GILMAN: It all just looks really bad. It looks like Trump is trying to simply protect his properties.

OVERBY: Stuart Gilman is an international consultant⁷ on anti-corruption policies.

GILMAN: If you encourage these autocrats⁸ through U.S. attention to them, making them feel important and special, that will undermine our desire to have a stable Filipino government.

OVERBY: But a conflict of interest like this has deeper implications, too. It could upset the careful process that Washington uses to make a foreign policy decision.

JOSHUA KURLANTZICK: Major players in the administration think about it. They consult with Congress, whatever, papers are put forward.

OVERBY: Joshua Kurlantzick is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. He says the evolving policy is debated, refined and pushed forward up to the top levels of the White House. But suppose the process changes course without explanation.

KURLANTZICK: And it possibly could go in a different direction because of some business interests. It's going to leave everyone wondering, A, what was the point of the process and, B, how do we have, like, a reasonable, thoughtful, honest policymaking process in the future?

OVERBY: It's a question that could come up for any of the 19 other nations where the Trump organization does business. Peter Overby, NPR News, Washington.

1 skyscraper   

n.摩天大楼

参考例句：

• The skyscraper towers into the clouds.那幢摩天大楼高耸入云。
• The skyscraper was wrapped in fog.摩天楼为雾所笼罩。

2 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

5 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

6 billboard   

n.布告板，揭示栏，广告牌

参考例句：

• He ploughed his energies into his father's billboard business.他把精力投入到父亲的广告牌业务中。
• Billboard spreads will be simpler and more eye-catching.广告牌广告会比较简单且更引人注目。

7 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

8 autocrats   

n.独裁统治者( autocrat的名词复数 )；独断专行的人

参考例句：

• Still, the widespread pessimism doesn't explain the relatively high scores enjoyed by the autocrats. 不过，普遍的悲观情绪并没有解释为何独裁者得到相对较高的分数。 来自互联网