Senior officials from 21 countries are meeting in Hawaii this week for the annual summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, or APEC. This year's host, President Barack Obama, will meet with other Asia-Pacific leaders Saturday and Sunday.
来自21个国家的领导人本星期将在夏威夷召开亚太经合组织首脑会议。今年的东道主奥巴马总统将于周六和周日会见其它亚太领导人。
Security is in force in Honolulu, as 10,000 people gather for the summit, including national leaders, government ministers, business executives and reporters.
随着各国领导人、政府部长、商界领袖以及新闻记者等总共1万多人前来参加这次峰会,檀香山加强了安全警界。
This year the United States hopes to expand trade and coordinate regulations in the Pacific region and announce a framework for the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership, a Pacific free trade zone. It would be built on an existing trade agreement involving Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore.
今年APEC峰会的东道国美国希望扩大贸易,在太平洋地区协调相关规则,并计划宣布成立跨太平洋伙伴关系合作组织,即形成一个太平洋自由贸易区。这个组织将以现存的贸易协议为基础,其成员国为缅甸、智利、新西兰和新加坡。
American negotiators are spearheading the effort to expand the partnership to include the United States, Australia, Malaysia, Peru and Vietnam. Japanese farmers and fishermen rallied Tuesday against the possible involvement by their nation after news reports said Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will soon announce that Japan will join the talks.
美国谈判人员正在努力扩大合作关系,以便让美国、澳大利亚、马来西亚、秘鲁以及越南都能进入这个组织。日本农民和渔民星期二举行集会,反对日本加入这个组织,此前有报道说,日本首相野田佳彦将很快宣布加入伙伴关系的谈判。
The United States is urging restrictions on subsidies to state-owned enterprises, which would have an impact on China, whose mixed economy is making the transition from state ownership to private enterprise. A Chinese official said this week that China has not been asked to join the free trade partnership.
美国呼吁限制政府对国有企业补贴,这可能使中国受到冲击,因为中国经济正处于转型期,企业正在经历从国有制转成私有制的过程。一名中国官员本周说,中国没有受邀加入贸易伙伴关系。
Political scientist Christopher McNally of the East-West Center says the U.S. Congress would probably not approve the agreement if China were included, at least for now. But Vietnam has joined the talks, and he notes that Vietnam is making the same transition. He says APEC is a good forum to reach limited agreements that involve only some of the member nations.
东西方中心的政治学者麦克纳利说,如果中国也加入其中,美国国会很有可能不批准协议,至少在现阶段会如此。不过越南加入了谈判,他指出,越南也在进行经济体制改革。他说APEC是一个很好的论坛,APEC是推动这类协议的好机会。
“It's a venue where leaders can get together to discuss facilitation of trade, investment and other economic issues within the Asia-Pacific. But, agreements that are binding tend to be forged at a smaller level because it's very difficult to get all 21 economies to agree on one issue,” noted McNally.
他说:“各国领导人可以在这里讨论如何促进亚太地区的贸易、投资和其他经济问题,可是要达成具有约束力的协议却要在较小规模的范围里进行,因为要让21个经济体在某个问题上达成一致是很难的。”
American officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, are asking APEC nations to reduce tariffs on environmentally sustainable goods and services, including wind turbines and solar power panels.
国务卿希拉里.克林顿等美国官员要求APEC会员国在有利环境、可持续发展的商品上减少关税,例如在风力发电机和太阳能接收板上给予方便。
China has said the U.S. goals are too ambitious and are beyond the reach of developing countries. Analyst McNally says American trade agreements are more complex than China's and typically deal with issues other than trade.
中国说,美国的目标过于雄心勃勃,超过了发展中国家所能承受的水平。分析人士麦克纳利说,美国贸易比中国的要复杂许多,通常会涉及一些与贸易无关的问题。
“They also include environmental standards, they include labor standards. The include also product standardization, things like that," said McNally.
他说:“这些问题包含环境标准、劳工标准,以及某些产品标准化等相关问题。”
He says Chinese agreements focus on such basic issues as reducing tariffs and quotas and harmonizing customs standards.
他说,中国的协议集中在基本问题上,例如减少关税,制订定配额以及协调海关标准等。
Both kinds of issues will be tackled in meetings at successively higher levels. President Obama will host the APEC leaders at a dinner Saturday, and the summit will wrap up with a meeting of the leaders Sunday.
这两种问题都将在不同的高层会议上讨论解决。奥巴马总统将在周六的晚宴上招待各国领导人,首脑会谈将于星期天结束。 |