German Chancellor Angela Merkel arrives in China on Thursday at the head of the largest German business delegation ever to visit the country, underscoring Germany's growing economic dependence on the world's most populous nation amid Europe's economic stagnation.
德国总理默克尔(Angela Merkel)周四将率领迄今为止规模最大的德国访华商业代表团抵达中国，这凸显出在欧洲经济停滞不前之际，德国对世界人口第一大国中国的经济依赖日渐增强。
Ms. Merkel's second trip to China this year, and the sixth since she became chancellor, will revolve mostly around economic ties, German officials said, a sign of Ms. Merkel's willingness to play down thorny issues such as human rights and patent protection.
这是默克尔今年第二次访华，也是她就任总理以来的第六次访华。据德国官员说，此行将主要围绕经济关系展开。这表明默克尔有意淡化人权和专利保护等棘手问题。
'The theme is business as usual,' said Eberhard Sandschneider, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations. 'Don't expect much progress in terms of intellectual-property rights from this visit.'
德国外交关系协会(German Council on Foreign Relations)的负责人桑德施耐德(Eberhard Sandschneider)说，与以往一样，此次访华的主题集中在商业领域，不要期待这次访问之后知识产权保护方面会有重大进展。
While Germany still exports more to the U.S., and far more to the European Union, than to China, the Chinese market has been one of the fastest sources of growth for German companies in recent years, helping to offset weak growth in advanced economies since the global financial crisis.
尽管德国对华出口规模小于对美出口，也远远小于对欧盟其他地区的出口，中国市场最近几年一直是德国企业增长最快的市场之一，帮助抵消了全球金融危机以来发达国家疲弱经济增长带来的不利影响
German exports to China were 206% higher in 2011 than in 2005, compared with only a 24% increase in exports to the rest of the European Union and 6.3% to the U.S., according to German government data.
德国政府的数据显示，2011年德国对华出口规模较2005年增长了206%，相比之下，德国对欧盟其他地区出口的同期增幅仅为24%，对美出口增幅为6.3%。
On Thursday and Friday, Ms. Merkel will meet with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and President Hu Jintao, along with Li Keqiang, expected to succeed Mr. Wen this fall. Ms. Merkel will also travel with Mr. Wen via high-speed train to Tianjin to witness completion of the 100th airplane manufactured there by European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.'s Airbus.
周四和周五，默克尔将会与中国总理温家宝、国家主席胡锦涛以及预计将在今年秋天接替总理之位的李克强会晤。默克尔还会与温家宝乘高铁前往天津，参观欧洲航空防务航天公司(European Aeronautic Defence & Space Co.)旗下空中客车(Airbus)在那里总装的第100架飞机。
The chancellor is bringing along an entourage of seven cabinet ministers and nearly two dozen leading German corporate executives, among them the heads of Siemens AG, SAP AG, Volkswagen AG, ThyssenKrupp AG and BASF SE.
默克尔的随行人员包括七名内阁部长和大约20个德国主要企业的高管，其中包括西门子公司(Siemens AG)、大众(Volkswagen AG)、蒂森克虏伯(ThyssenKrupp AG) 以及巴斯夫(BASF SE)的负责人。
Germany normally reserves such high-powered delegations for allies such as the U.S., highlighting China's rising importance for Germany. Berlin officials even called Chinese-German ties a 'special relationship' during a briefing with reporters ahead of Ms. Merkel's trip, a term usually reserved for close allies such as the U.S. or France.
德国一般只有在访问美国这样的盟国时才会派出这种高级别的代表团，此次安排凸显出中国对德国的重要性正日益增长。德国官员甚至在默克尔访华前的一次记者会上称德中关系是一种“特殊关系，而德国一般只有在形容与美国和法国这样的亲密盟友关系时才会使用这种表述。
'China is battling with the U.S.A. for the position as the most important market for Germany outside the EU,' said Hans Heinrich Driftmann, president of the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
德国工商总会(German Chambers of Industry and Commerce)总裁德里夫特曼(Hans Heinrich Driftmann)说，中国与美国正在争夺德国在欧盟之外最重要市场的地位。
Trade trips such as Ms. Merkel's have become a habit of European leaders trying to help their nations' companies break into emerging markets. The visits are still usually conducted on a purely national basis, underlining that European countries are competing with each other for business overseas, despite leaders' efforts to build a closer political federation in the euro zone.
像默克尔这样以贸易为主旨的出访已经成为欧洲领导人帮助国内企业进入新兴市场的惯用方法。这些访问通常仍然完全以国家的名义进行，这凸显出，尽管欧洲领导人努力在欧元区建立一个更加紧密的政治联盟，欧洲国家正在彼此竞争，以获得海外的商业机会。
Yet even as the German-Chinese relationship deepens, Germany's growing dependence on the Chinese market makes it difficult for Ms. Merkel to win concessions from Chinese politicians in areas of political or economic dispute.
然而，随着德中两国的关系不断深化，德国对中国市场越来越严重的依赖让默克尔难以在政治和经济分歧上得到中国领导人的让步。
German business leaders continue to complain about unfair market advantages for Chinese companies. China requires that foreign companies establish joint ventures when setting up shop - a rule unlikely to be relaxed soon. German manufacturers complain that Chinese competitors have access to cheap state financing, giving them an unfair competitive advantage. Foreign companies also are restricted from bidding for public contracts.
德国商界领导者仍在抱怨中国企业拥有的不合理的市场优势。中国要求外资企业以建立合资企业的方式在中国开设工厂，这个规定在短期内不太可能放宽。德国制造商抱怨中国的竞争者能够获得廉价的政府融资，从而具备了对他人来说不公平的竞争优势。此外，外资企业在竞标公用项目等方面仍然受到限制。
While Chinese investment in Germany continues to grow, the figures are small compared to Germany's investment in China. German companies invested 26 billion euros in China last year, dwarfing China's investment in Germany of about 1.2 billion euros.
虽然中国对德国的投资仍在增长，但相比德国在华投资，规模仍很校去年德国公司在中国投资了260亿欧元，远超中国对德国约12亿欧元的投资。
But as Chinese investment grows, its leaders here are growing bolder in their comments to the German press. In an unusually open move for a Chinese official, Shi Mingde, Beijing's ambassador to Berlin, in an interview published Wednesday in the German daily Handelsblatt countered complaints that Chinese firms are unfairly supported at home and abroad, calling them 'merely arguments to practice protectionism.'
但随着中国投资不断增加，中国领导人面对德国媒体置评时也越来越敢言。德国《商报》(Handelsblatt)周三刊登了一篇采访中国驻德国大使史明德的文章。采访中，史明德驳斥了中国公司在海内外受到不公平支持的指责，说这些只是实行贸易保护主义的借口。这番话对于中国官员来说可谓是个不同寻常的公开举动。
'Whoever purports that all [Chinese] companies are state-supported is mistaken,' Handelsblatt quoted him as saying. 'It can't be that German firms are always in the lead.'
《商报》援引史明德的话说，称中国所有企业都得到国家支持是错误的；德国企业不可能一直处于领先地位。
About 5,000 German companies currently operate in China, employing 220,000 people, according to the German Chamber of Commerce in China. Three-fourths of these belong to the German 'Mittelstand,' the midsize family-owned companies that are the backbone of the German economy.
据中国德国商会(German Chamber of Commerce in China)统计，目前约有5,000家德国公司有在华业务，雇员总数达22万人。这些公司当中有四分之三都属于中小型家族式企业，它们是德国的经济支柱。
Ms Merkel's decision to take only larger corporations with her to China has drawn the ire of smaller businesses, which say Ms. Merkel could do more to help them abroad. 'Family firms need extra advice, particularly for patent and intellectual-property protection,' says Brun-Hagen Hennerkes, chairman of the Foundation for Family Businesses, which represents around 400 German Mittelstand companies.
默克尔仅携大企业访问中国的决定惹怒了德国小公司，后者说默克尔本可以采取更多措施在海外为它们提供帮助。德国家族企业基金会(Foundation for Family Businesses)主席亨纳克斯(Brun-Hagen Hennerkes)说，家族企业需要更多建议，特别是在专利和知识产权保护方面。该基金会代表着约400个德国中小型家族企业。
Lax intellectual-property protection has plagued many German companies operating joint ventures in China. In the latest high-profile case, Volkswagen said last month that it is investigating allegations that its Chinese manufacturing partner FAW Group Corp. illegally copied one if its transmissions used in VW, Audi and Skoda models in order to sell a Chinese model in Russia.
知识产权保护不力一直困扰着很多在中国有合资企业的德国公司。最近一件备受关注的事是，大众上月说，有人称其合资企业中国第一汽车集团公司(FAW Group Corp.)为在俄罗斯出售一款中国车型，非法复制了大众研发的一种原本用于大众、奥迪(Audi)和斯柯达(Skoda)等车型中的传动装置，大众目前正在对此事展开调查。
Mr. Sandschneider says that German companies should benefit from Chinese companies' own growing complaints about intellectual theft by other Chinese businesses, which is making the issue of patent protection more pressing for Chinese authorities. 'When your own country's companies start complaining, that helps move the ball forward,' he said.
桑德施耐德说，中国企业也在越来越多地抱怨称自己的知识产权被其它中国公司剽窃，产权保护也因此给中国政府带来越来越大的压力，德国公司应该会从这个现象中受益。他说，当本国企业开始抱怨的时候，就有助于推动整体情况向前发展。
Ms. Merkel isn't expected to criticize China loudly over its human-rights record. She incurred China's anger by welcoming the exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama at her Berlin chancellery in 2007, but human rights in China have since taken a back seat to economic interests.
预计默克尔不会大力指责中国的人权记录。2007年她在柏林总理官邸接见达赖喇嘛一事曾激怒过中国，但此后中国的人权问题便一直让位于经济利益。
A German official said human-rights issues will be discussed between Ms. Merkel and Messrs. Hu and Wen but 'that doesn't mean it will be discussed in the open.'
一位德国官员说，默克尔与胡锦涛和温家宝会面时将谈到人权问题，但这并不表示会公开讨论这个问题。
Others want Ms. Merkel to take a stronger stand. A group of German journalists in China wrote in a joint letter to the chancellor complaining of increased scrutiny from Chinese authorities, while Chinese artist Ai Weiwei told the German daily Bild that he hopes to meet with Ms. Merkel.
也有人希望默克尔采取更为强硬的立常一群在华德国记者向默克尔联名上书，抱怨中国政府加强了审查力度。另外，中国艺术家艾未未也对德国《图片报》(Bild)记者说，他希望与默克尔见面。
'If a head of government like Angela Merkel wished to meet with me, China would at least have to consider it,' he said.
艾未未说，如果默克尔这样的政府首脑希望与我见面，那么中国至少不得不考虑人权问题。
A group of eight German lawmakers have canceled their trip to China, scheduled to coincide with Ms. Merkel's, after being denied permission to visit Xinjiang.'As German parliamentarians, we can't accept that kind of restrictive treatment,' said Johannes Pflug, head of the German-Chinese parliamentary group.
八名德国议员访问新疆的要求被拒绝后，他们取消了原定与默克尔访华时间重合的访华行程。其中一名议员、原定访华团的领队普夫卢格(Johannes Pflug)说，作为德国国会议员，我们不能接受这种限制性对待。