英国财相撇开政治难题拥抱中国

George Osborne is travelling to Shanghai, the“epicentre of China’s summer stock marketmeltdown, in a show of solidarity today to declare: “Britain and China — we will sticktogether.

英国财政大臣乔治攠斯本(George Osborne)今日将前往上海，中国夏季股灾的“震中，意在通过此行宣告：“英国和中国——我们将紧密团结在一起。

Mr Osborne’s five-day mission to China has seen the chancellor press on with his strategy ofembracing Beijing as he attempts to prove Britain is “China’s best partner in the west. Thechancellor insists he raised China’s human rights record in private meetings with seniorgovernment ministers in Beijing yesterday but his public utterances have been highly supportiveand uncritical.

奥斯本此次访华为期五天，他此行一直奉行支持北京的策略，力图证明英国是“中国在西方的最佳合作伙伴。奥斯本坚称自己昨日在北京与中方部长级官员私下会谈时提到了中国人权记录，但他在公开讲话中一直对北京方面表示出高度支持，不作任何批评。

Mr Osborne is making his main address of the tour at the Shanghai stock exchange to say hedeliberately chose “the epicentre of the volatility in financial markets this summer.

奥斯本将在参观上海证券交易所时发表此次访华的主要讲话，表示他特意选择这个“今年夏天金融市场波动的震中位置。

“Whatever the headlines, regardless of the challenges, we should not be running away fromChina, he was due to say. Indeed, in Beijing he went further and said that Britain should be“running towards China.

他将表示：“无论资讯里怎么写，也不管面临怎样的挑战，我们不应逃离中国。事实上，他在北京时甚至表示，英国应该“奔向中国。

Mr Osborne’s approach has been to strip out the kind of political complications that used tosour UK-China relations — and still bedevil Washington’s relations with Beijing — and to focusrelentlessly on commercial ties.

奥斯本的策略是撇开那些曾令英中关系恶化——而且现在依然困扰着中美关系——的复杂政治问题，持之以恒地将重点放在商业关系上。

The chancellor insisted he was not ducking difficult subjects, however. “We do not see a choicebetween securing growth and investment and raising human rights issues, he said. “We doboth consistently, and indeed I have done so in meetings here in China. But on issues suchas meeting the Dalai Lama, the Hong Kong democracy movement, clashes with other Asianpowers in the South and East China seas and cyberhacking, Britain has decided in the pastthree years to pull back from public confrontations.

但奥斯本坚称自己没有回避难题，他说：“我们不认为争取经济增长和投资与提出人权问题之间存在二选一。我们一贯同时进行，而且实际上在中国参加会议时我也是这样做的。但在若干问题上，如会见达赖喇嘛(DalaiLama)，香港民主运动，中国在东、南中国海与其他亚洲大国的冲突，以及网络黑客方面，过去三年英国都选择放弃公开对抗。

Some of the commercial fruit of the approach was apparent yesterday as Beijingannounced plans to issue short-term debt in London, the first time it has done so outside thecountry. Mr Osborne said the move by the People’s Bank of China was a further step towardshis goal of making the City the principal offshore base for Chinese finance.

奥斯本的策略在昨天结出了一些商业果实，北京方面宣布计划在伦敦发行短期债务，这是中国首次在海外发行短期债务。奥斯本表示，中国人民银行(PBoC)此举让他的目标——让伦敦金融城成为中国主要离岸金融基地——又近了一步。

Separately, Mr Osborne and his Chinese counterpart, Ma Kai, announced a feasibility studyinto linking the stock markets of London and Shanghai to provide deeper liquidity for theChinese market. Further evidence of the closer links will come today when the London StockExchange announces that China Construction Bank’s London branch is to become a memberfirm — the bourse’s ninth Chinese member.

此外，奥斯本还与中国副总理马凯宣布将就上海和伦敦股市连通开展可行性研究，为中国市场提供更有深度的流动性。伦敦证交所(London Stock Exchange)今日将宣布中国建设银行(CCB)伦敦分行成为其会员，这是该交易所的第九个中国成员，此举将进一步证明英中两国的密切联系。