中国与拉美建立经济合作关系

China Establishing Economic Ties with Latin America

中国与拉美建立经济合作关系

 

Chinese President Hu Jintao paid a visit to Mexico recently, where he met with his Mexican counterpart, Vicente Fox, and members of Mexico's Senate.  The two leaders presided over the signing of various agreements, including one that may eventually allow Chinese companies to mine iron and other minerals in Mexico.

 

It was Mr. Hu's second visit to Latin America in less than a year. His stops last year included Argentina and Brazil where he met with the presidents of those countries and signed commercial agreements to increase Chinese imports of agricultural products and other commodities. China's initiative toward Latin America appears to be part of a wider global strategy.

 

Michael Shifter is a Latin American expert at the Washington-based policy group, Inter-American Dialogue.

 

Michael Shifter: I think they are finding opportunities here and those opportunities I think are all opportunities that the United States isn't taking advantage of.  There is a sense that the United States has looked elsewhere and hasn't really put the energy and effort into taking advantage of the economic opportunities in this hemisphere.  I think China has discovered that there may be some interesting ways they can take advantage of them so I think that's happening, but I think this is part of their global strategy as a major power.

 

China is looking at Latin America primarily as a source of raw materials like oil, timber and minerals.  It also is importing agricultural products such as beef.  These Latin American imports are supplying China's rapidly expanding manufacturing sector¹ and helping² to feed its huge population. 

 

The Bush administration, which in August signed a free trade pact³ with Central America and the Dominican Republic, says it is not too concerned about China's initiatives in the hemisphere, noting that U.S. trade and investment in Latin America dwarfs⁴ China's. 

 

However, Roger Noriega, who until last week was the State Department's Assistant Secretary for Western Hemisphere Affairs, warns Washington does not want to see Beijing establish security ties with certain countries.

 

Roger Noriega: If there's intelligence cooperation, or an effort to build security relationships, military-to-military relationships, in a way that would be detrimental⁵ to our security or the interests of our neighbors in the Americas, that would be a concern for us. We don't see that as a major problem but it's something that we have to pay close attention to.

 

Mr. Noriega points to the growing ties between Venezuela's Hugo Chavez and Cuba's Fidel Castro as the main source of concern should Beijing establish security relations with those nations.

 

China's expanding role in the region prompted the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold hearings on the issue Tuesday.  Some lawmakers wondered if China posed a threat to U.S. influence in the Americas. 

 

Administration witnesses played this down, but Roger Pardo-Maurer of the Defense⁶ Department highlighted the differences between the U.S. and Chinese approach toward Latin America.

 

For their part, Brazil and other Latin American countries view China as a promising⁷ new business partner -- a sign that Latin Americans are looking beyond their traditional economic and political relationship with the United States.

 

Bill Rodgers, VOA news.

 

注释：

initiative [i5niFiEtiv] n. 主动

timber [5timbE] n. 木材，木料

Dominican Republic n. 多米尼加共和国

detrimental [7detri5mentl] adj. 有害的

1 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

2 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

3 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

4 dwarfs   

n.侏儒，矮子（dwarf的复数形式）vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Shakespeare dwarfs other dramatists. 莎士比亚使其他剧作家相形见绌。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The new building dwarfs all the other buildings in the town. 新大楼使城里所有其他建筑物都显得矮小了。 来自辞典例句

5 detrimental   

adj.损害的，造成伤害的

参考例句：

• We know that heat treatment is detrimental to milk.我们知道加热对牛奶是不利的。
• He wouldn't accept that smoking was detrimental to health.他不相信吸烟有害健康。

6 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

7 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。