中国称东盟论坛不适合谈南海问题

China moved to block efforts to resolve long-running tensions over claims in the disputed South China Sea, warning participants in a regional summit attended by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton here that it is 'crucial' they leave the issue out of their discussions.

针对其他国家解决长期以来南中国海(South China Sea,中国称南海)主权争端的努力，中国着手加以阻挠。北京警告柬埔寨金边一场有美国国务卿克林顿(Hillary Clinton)参加的地区峰会的与会者说，不要谈南中国海问题，这一点至关重要。

Mrs. Clinton arrived in the Cambodian capital late Wednesday after making a brief but historic trip to the Laotian capital of Vientiane. She is the first U.S. secretary of state to visit Laos since John Foster Dulles in 1955. Mrs. Clinton met with the communist nation's prime minister and discussed ways of unlocking more investment there as part of Washington's widening effort to build allies in Southeast Asia to match China's growing influence in the region.

克林顿对老挝首都万象做了简短但具有历史性的访问之后，于周三晚间抵达金边。她是1955年杜勒斯(John Foster Dulles)访问以来第一位访问老挝的美国国务卿。克林顿与这个共产主义国家的总理会晤，讨论进一步鼓励企业在当地投资的办法。华盛顿正在扩大与东南亚国家结盟的行动，以制衡中国在该地区日益提高的影响力，而与老挝的往来正是这一行动中的一个环节。

Mrs. Clinton is also expected to announce new rules later this week clarifying procedures for U.S. companies wanting to invest in Myanmar, including energy companies looking to do business with the country's state oil firm岸another part of Washington's effort to expand America's role in countries that border China. U.S. officials said earlier this year they would be suspending sanctions against Myanmar after its government launched overhauls to end decades of military rule, and U.S. companies have been waiting for more details before they go in.

预计克林顿还将于本周晚些时候宣布新规，向希望在缅甸投资的美国企业阐明相关流程，这些企业中还包括希望与缅甸国家石油公司做生意的能源企业。这同样是华盛顿在中国邻国当中扩大影响的整个行动中的一环。美国官员今年早些时候说，在缅甸政府推行改革以结束数十年军方统治之后，他们将暂停针对缅甸的制裁。而美国企业一直在等待更多细节出台，然后再进入。

But tensions over the South China Sea are increasingly looming over Mrs. Clinton's weeklong Asia tour, which has also included stops in Japan, Mongolia and Vietnam.

但南中国海争端的阴影正越来越多地笼罩在克林顿为期一周的亚洲行程之上。她此行已经到过了日本、蒙古和越南。

The resource-rich stretch of water岸which carries around half of the world's total trade岸is claimed in whole or part by China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei, and frictions have intensified lately. In one of the latest dust-ups, Chinese and Philippine ships were locked in a two month stand-off at a disputed area known as the Scarborough Shoal after Philippine authorities tried to arrest Chinese fishermen accused by Manila of illegally harvesting coral in the waters. The ships finally began to withdraw last month after heavy storms made it difficult for them to remain.

南中国海蕴藏着丰富的资源，经这片水域运输的货物占全球总贸易量的一半。中国大陆、菲律宾、越南、马来西亚、台湾和文莱都声称拥有该海域的全部或部分主权。近期，发生在这一海域的摩擦越来越多，最新争端之一是在菲律宾当局指控中国渔民非法采摘珊瑚、试图逮捕他们之后，中国和菲律宾船只在争议区域斯卡伯勒浅滩(Scarborough Shoal，中国称黄岩岛)陷入为时两个月的对峙。上个月因暴风雨使船只难以停留，这些船只终于开始撤离。

The Philippines and other Southeast Asian claimants were hoping to make headway on defusing the sea disputes Thursday, when foreign ministers from Southeast Asia, China and other countries meet at a series of annual summit gatherings sponsored by the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, in Phnom Penh. Mrs. Clinton flagged her intentions on Tuesday, when she told reporters in Hanoi that she hoped Asian leaders would work on developing a code of conduct for activities in the sea to ensure future disagreements are resolved amicably.

周四，东南亚国家、中国和其他国家的外交部长在金边参加一系列由东南亚国家联盟(Asean，简称东盟)主办的年度峰会，菲律宾和其他在南中国海地区有主权要求的国家希望这一天在解决争端方面取得进展。克林顿在周二传达了她的意图。当天她在河内对众记者说，她希望亚洲领导人针对南中国海活动制定一套行为准则，以确保将来的分歧得到友好解决。

But in a commentary published Wednesday by the state-run TingVoa.com news agency, China poured water on that goal, saying ministers gathering in Phnom Penh should 'be wary' of letting the South China Sea 'distract' them, because Asean meetings are 'not a proper platform' for discussing the issue. Rather, they should focus on building mutual trust and cooperation, it said.

但在官方媒体新华社周三发表的一篇评论文章里面，中国给克林顿这一目标泼了一盆冷水。文章说，在金边参加会议的各国部长应当注意不要让南海问题分散其注意力，因为东盟会议不是讨论这一问题的适合场所。文章说，他们应当专注于增进互信、加强合作。

'Thus, it is preferable and crucial that the Phnom Penh meetings keep to their agenda and leave South China Sea issues to China and the specific Asean countries concerned,' it said.

文章说，因此金边会议应紧扣主题，把南海问题留给中国和具体的东盟当事国解决，这是重要而关键的。

The statements came a day after similar warnings from a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, who at a briefing described the discussions on the South China Sea as 'deliberate hype' designed to 'to interfere with the relationship between China and Asean.'

该文章是在中国外交部发言人发出类似警告一天后发表的。这位发言人在例行记者会上将有关南海问题的讨论说成是旨在“干扰中国与东盟关系的“人为炒作。

'Certainly, disagreements exist, but we have constantly shown that a common understanding can be reached through peaceful negotiations,' said Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, Asean's secretary-general. 'I am confident that our collective wisdom and shared experiences will help us steer through these difficulties.'

东盟秘书长素林(Surin Pitsuwan)说，分歧当然有，但我们已不断向外界展示出，可以通过和平协商达成共识。素林说，我相信，各方集思广益和彼此分享经验有助于解决当前面临的这些困难。

Central to the latest debate is an on-again, off-again effort to complete the so-called code of conduct, which Asean leaders envision as a legally binding document that would guide behavior in the sea and establish protocols for resolving future disputes peacefully.

有关制定完成该行为准则的反复努力成了这次争论的核心。东盟领导人希望该准则是一份具有法律约束力的文件，能指导相关国家的海上行为，制定以和平方式解决未来争议的协议。

Asian leaders agreed to draft a code a decade ago. But it never was completed, in part because of China's position that disagreements should be settled on a bilateral rather than multilateral basis. Critics of China's policy say the country fears it would be harder to negotiate South China Sea rules with a united Asean - a region of some 600 million people - and wants to isolate the individual nations that have the strongest claims.

东盟领导人10年前就同意起草一套准则，但这项工作从未完成，原因之一是中国认为应该通过双边谈判而不是多边谈判来解决分歧。中国政策的评论人士说，中国担心，若约有6亿人口的东盟各国团结一致，与之协商南中国海准则的难度就会加大，中国希望把那些主权要求最强烈的国家隔离开。

Efforts to salvage the code were revived at a series of Asean meetings in Bali last year. Since then, Asean leaders have been working to develop a more comprehensive code and a timeline for finishing it, perhaps as early as later this year, according to people familiar with the matter. But hopes for any progress in Phnom Penh are running low.

去年在巴厘岛举行的一系列东盟会议上，重新开始了制定行为准则的努力。此后，东盟领导人就一直致力于制定一套更全面的规范，并努力给出完成的时间表。知情人士表示，也许最早会于今年晚些时候制定完成。但外界对于此事能会在金边会议取得进展的前景并不看好。

'I think this is going to be really bloody, this one,' said Ian Storey, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore, referring to the Phnom Penh summits.

新加坡东南亚研究所(Institute of Southeast Asian Studies)高级研究员斯多瑞(Ian Storey)说，我认为金边峰会不会有实质性成果。

Another big stumbling block, aside from China's opposition, is that Southeast Asian nations themselves can't all agree on how hard to press the issue. Maritime states with claims in the sea岸especially the Philippines and Vietnam岸want to take a hard line against China, while other states, especially Cambodia, have been wary of taking steps that might embarrass Chinese leaders.

除中国反对外，另一块很大的绊脚石是东南亚国家本身无法就这个问题的施压力度达成一致。对南中国海有领土主张的邻海国家（特别是菲律宾和越南）希望对中国采取强硬态度，而其它国家（尤其是柬埔寨则）则对采取可能会令中国领导人难堪的措施持谨慎态度。

Those divisions, in turn, have helped fuel U.S. efforts to promote closer political and economic integration in Southeast Asia, in the hopes that it will help the countries岸which have wildly different political systems and income levels岸grow more accustomed to working together so they can present a more unified front in regional disputes.

这些国家的分歧反过来又让美国进一步努力促进东南亚的政治和经济融合。美国希望，此举会帮助政治体系和国民收入状况迥异的东南亚国家更习惯于相互合作，这样在面对地区争端时就能结成更加统一的战线。

Nevertheless, 'the trends are not good,' said Carlyle Thayer, a professor with the University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy. For many Southeast Asian nations, 'peace and tranquility are more important than forcing China to do what it doesn't want.'

不过，澳大利亚新南威尔士大学(University of New South Wales)澳洲国防军事学院(Australian Defence Force Academy)教授塞耶(Carlyle Thayer)说，这些都不是好势头。他说，对很多东南亚国家而言，安宁要比逼迫中国做它不想做的事情更为重要。

In her meetings in Laos, meanwhile, Mrs. Clinton and Laotian leaders agreed to work together to clean up vast quantities of unexploded ordnance left over in the country from the Vietnam War, when U.S. planes dropped more than two million tons of bombs on the country. They also discussed ways to boost trade ahead of an expected entry of Laos into the World Trade Organization, which analysts have said could happen as early as later this year.

克林顿在与老挝领导人举行一系列会晤的过程中，双方还一致认为，要共同努力清除越南战争在老挝遗留下来的大量未爆炸军火。越战时，美国飞机在老挝投下了逾200万吨炸弹。此外，他们还谈到了如何在老挝拟将进入世界贸易组织(WTO)之前推动双边贸易的方法。分析人士说，老挝可能最早会在今年晚些时候入世。