纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英拜登接待太平洋岛国领导人提及二战暗指中国

The Pacific Island state of Niue is one of the world’s tiniest. Covering just over 100 square miles and with a population of about 1,700, it has no military, is not a member of the United Nations and was not recognized as a sovereign nation by the United States until last year.

太平洋岛国纽埃是世界上最小的国家之一，面积仅260平方公里，人口约1700人，没有军队，没有加入联合国，直到去年才被美国承认为主权国家。

But President Biden was talking about Niue on Monday at the White House, when he hosted the leaders of 18 Pacific Island nations, the second gathering of its kind in a year and the latest illustration of a regional competition for influence between the United States and China.

但拜登总统周一在白宫接待18个太平洋岛国领导人时却把纽埃挂在嘴边，这是美国一年来第二次举行此类峰会，也是美中两国争夺地区影响力的最新例证。

Among Mr. Biden’s announcements at the event was that the United States would, for the first time, establish formal diplomatic relations with Niue and the Cook Islands, a nearby haven for snorkelers.

拜登在峰会上宣布，美国将首次与纽埃及附近的潜水天堂库克群岛建立正式外交关系。

Speaking to the leaders at the White House on Monday, Mr. Biden invoked America’s World War II campaign against Japan in the region, and, without naming China, implied that another kind of battle was now underway.

周一在白宫对各国领导人发表讲话时，拜登提到了“二战”期间美国在该地区与日本作战，在没有点名中国的情况下暗示另一种战斗正在进行。

“Like our forebears during World War II, we know that a great deal of the history of the world will be written across the Pacific over the coming years,” Mr. Biden said. “And like them, we owe it to the next generation to write that story together.” Officials said Mr. Biden spent more than two and a half hours with the group.

“就像我们的先辈在‘二战’中一样，我们都知道，未来几年很大一部分世界历史都将在太平洋彼端书写，”拜登说。“也和他们一样，我们有责任为下一代共同书写这段历史。”官员称拜登与各国领导人会晤超过两个半小时。

Mr. Biden’s second U.S.-Pacific Islands Forum Summit, as the White House calls the event, is part of a larger Biden administration effort to deepen ties with a string of islands in the South Pacific, where officials say Beijing hopes to project military power.

拜登的第二次“美国-太平洋岛国论坛峰会”（白宫宣布的正式名称）是拜登政府加深与南太平洋群岛关系的总体行动的一部分，官员称，北京也想要在该地区投射军事力量。

The event, reprising one from last September, was mainly designed to strengthen and spotlight ties after what officials concede were years of bipartisan neglect. But Mr. Biden also announced that he was working with Congress to invest $40 million in infrastructure spending for the islands, among other initiatives.

此次峰会与去年9月的活动类似，主要是为了加深与突显美国与这些国家的关系，官员也承认，多年来两党都忽视了对此关系的维护。但拜登也宣布，他正在与国会合作，准备向这些岛国的基础设施投入4000万美元，除此之外还将推出其他举措。

Those announcements hardly amount to a seismic diplomatic event. But they are two of many recent moves the Biden administration has made to strengthen America’s presence in a region east and northeast of Australia.

这些声明很难称得上惊天动地的外交事件。但这两件事都属于拜登政府为加强美国在澳大利亚东部及东北部地区的影响力而采取的诸多举措。

Over the past year, the United States has opened embassies in the Solomon Islands and Tonga, and plans to open one early next year in Vanuatu. When Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken landed in Fiji in February 2022, it was the first visit there by an American secretary of state in 36 years.

过去一年，美国在所罗门群岛和汤加开设了大使馆，并计划明年年初在瓦努阿图开设大使馆。2022年2月国务卿布林肯抵达斐济，是36年来首次有美国国务卿访问该国。

Mr. Biden had hoped to become the first sitting American president to visit a Pacific Island nation but was forced to cancel a trip to Papua New Guinea in May because of the federal debt ceiling crisis.

拜登曾希望成为首位访问太平洋岛国的在任美国总统，但由于联邦债务上限危机，他被迫在5月取消了对巴布亚新几内亚的访问。

Those steps are in no small part chess moves in response to growing Chinese influence in the region, which became particularly vivid last year when the Solomon Islands surprised U.S. officials by signing a sweeping security pact with Beijing, in what analysts say could eventually allow for a permanent Chinese military presence.

这些举措在很大程度上是为了应对中国在该地区日益增长的影响力，所罗门群岛去年出乎美国官员意料地与中国签署了一项全面安全协定后，形势也变得再明显不过，专家称该协议最终可能允许中国永久驻军。

Biden administration officials say their goal is not specifically to compete with China, or to ask countries to choose between Washington and Beijing, but to help ensure a “free and open” Pacific that is peaceful and hospitable to commercial shipping. But they acknowledge that China’s assertiveness has forced them to pay increased attention to the region.

拜登政府官员称其目的不在于针对性对抗中国，也不是要求各国在美中之争中站边，而是希望为“自由开放”的太平洋维持和平局面和友好的商业航运环境。但他们也承认，中国的强势迫使他们更加重视该地区。

And China’s state-controlled media has derided U.S. efforts to gain influence as part of an obvious power struggle. An editorial on Monday in Beijing’s China Daily newspaper said the Pacific island countries had been “largely forgotten by the West” until recently, “when the United States and its allies started viewing China as a rival.”

国家控制的中国媒体则嘲讽美国欲扩大影响力的努力显然是为了争夺控制权。北京的《中国日报》周一发表社论称，太平洋岛国过去“基本被西方遗忘”，只是现在因为“美国及其盟友开始视中国为对手”才改变。

“All of a sudden, the region has become an area of interest on their geopolitical chessboard,” the newspaper said.

“突然之间，这里就变成了他们地缘政治棋盘上的一个关注点，”该报写道。

The White House event on Monday was part of an elaborate multiday program that included a trip on Sunday to a Baltimore Ravens professional football game, and to a U.S. Coast Guard cutter in Baltimore Harbor, for a briefing by the Coast Guard commandant on maritime issues. Those issues include the growing problem of illegal fishing off the nations’ shores, for which China is primarily responsible.

周一的白宫峰会是精心安排的多日行程规划的一部分，还包括周日观看巴尔的摩乌鸦队的一场职业橄榄球赛，以及前往巴尔的摩内港登上美国海岸警卫队的巡逻舰，听取海岸警卫队司令关于海事问题的简报，包括这些国家海岸附近日益严重的非法捕鱼问题，中国是重要肇事者。

Mr. Blinken was also scheduled to host the leaders at a State Department dinner on Monday night. They were set to join a business round table on Tuesday with Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and to meet with Mr. Biden’s special envoy for climate, John Kerry.

布林肯还计划在周一晚间的国务院晚宴上招待各国领导人。来宾们定于周二与财长耶伦举行商业圆桌会议，并与拜登的气候特使克里会晤。

Biden officials say that the climate is the premier issue for the leaders, whose countries risk being submerged by rising sea levels. But they are also eager for other forms of U.S. assistance, including a greater Peace Corps presence and undersea cables to increase internet access on the islands.

拜登手下官员称，气候是各国领导人面临的首要问题，这些国家都受到被海平面上升淹没的威胁。但他们也渴望得到美国其它形式的援助，包括增加和平队在该地区的存在，并增设海底电缆，改善岛上的互联网接入。

To the frustration of the Biden administration, one key leader was notably absent from this week’s gathering: Manasseh Sogavare, the prime minister of the Solomon Islands, whose close relationship with Beijing has elicited concern in Washington.

令拜登政府失望的是，一位关键领导人极为显眼地缺席了本周的会晤，那就是所罗门群岛总理梅纳西·索加瓦雷，他与中国的密切关系引起了美国的担忧。

Despite his presence in New York last week for the United Nations General Assembly, Mr. Sogavare did not come to Washington this week.

尽管上周在纽约出席了联合国大会，索加瓦雷本周没有到访华盛顿。