纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英中国取消对澳大利亚葡萄酒加征关税

In a sign of easing tensions between Australia and China, China said Thursday it will lift the tariffs it placed on Australian wine more than three years ago.

周四，中国表示将取消三年多前对澳大利亚葡萄酒征收的关税，这是澳中两国紧张关系缓和的迹象。

The tariffs, which were first imposed in 2020 amid a nasty diplomatic spat between Australia and China, had all but vaporized the country’s biggest overseas market, worth 1.2 billion Australian dollars or around $800 million at its peak. Australian winemakers faced desperate hardship and were stuck with a surfeit of big-bodied red wines.

这些关税于2020年澳大利亚和中国之间发生严重外交争端期间开始征收，令价值最高时曾达12亿澳元（约合人民币56.5亿元）的澳大利亚最大海外市场顷刻间几乎化为乌有。澳大利亚的酿酒者面临绝境，大量酒体浓郁的红葡萄酒卖不出去。

The decision to lift the tariffs was announced by China’s Ministry of Commerce.

取消关税的决定由中国商务部宣布。

In a statement, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he welcomed the decision, and that the outcome came “at a critical time for the Australian wine industry.” He added: “We will continue to press for all remaining trade impediments affecting Australian exports to be removed.”

澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴内塞在声明中表示，他对这一决定表示欢迎，并称这一结果“出现在澳大利亚葡萄酒行业的关键时刻”。他还说：“我们将继续敦促消除影响澳大利亚出口的所有剩余贸易障碍。”

As of last August, Australia had the equivalent of 859 Olympic swimming pools of wine in storage, according to a report from Rabo Bank. “That’s going to take some time to be depleted,” said Lee McLean, the chief executive of Australian Grape & Wine Inc. “And China is not going to solve that on its own.”

根据荷兰合作银行的报告，截至去年8月，澳大利亚的葡萄酒储藏量相当于859个奥运游泳池。“这需要一段时间才能耗尽，”澳大利亚葡萄与葡萄酒公司首席执行官李·麦克莱恩说，“中国不可能独自解决这个问题。”

The price of red grapes has barely covered their production costs, prompting some growers to simply let them wither on the vine, while others accepted contracts well below the cost of production, Mr. McLean said.

麦克林说，红葡萄的价格几乎无法抵上生产成本，于是一些种植者干脆让果实在葡萄藤上枯萎，还有一些种植者接受了远低于生产成本的合同。

The development comes after months of moves toward rapprochement between the two nations, starting with a change in the Australian government. That has led to meetings between foreign ministers, the release in October of a detained Australian journalist and, in November, the first visit by an Australian premier to Beijing since 2016.

在此之前的几个月里，两国关系一直朝着和解的方向发展，首先是澳大利亚政府的换届。这带来了两国外长之间的会晤，10月，一名被拘留的澳大利亚记者得到释放，11月，澳大利亚总理自2016年以来首次访问北京。

Beijing in October agreed to review the tariffs, some of which exceeded 200 percent. In an interim decision this month, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce indicated that the tariffs were no longer necessary.

去年10月，北京同意重新审议这些关税，其中一些关税超过了200%。在本月的一项临时决定中，中国商务部表示，不再需要征收关税。

Speaking in Beijing last year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia said that it was in the interest of both nations, their economies and the security of the wider region to “stabilize” their relationship. He expressed his “confidence” that the tariffs would be removed.

澳大利亚总理安东尼·阿尔巴内塞去年在北京发表讲话时表示，“稳定”两国关系有利于两个国家、两国经济，乃至更广泛地区的安全。他表示“有信心”取消关税。

At that time, Australia withdrew complaints it had lodged with the World Trade Organization and reverted course on the cancellation of a Chinese company’s 99-year lease of the northern port of Darwin. In turn, China gradually lifted or reviewed other trade bans, sending coal, barley and timber flowing from Australia once again.

当时，澳大利亚撤回了向世界贸易组织提出的申诉，并改变了取消一家中国公司对澳大利亚北部达尔文港99年租约的做法。随后，中国逐渐解除或审查了其他贸易禁令，煤炭、大麦和木材再次从澳大利亚流入中国。

Chinese consumers had fallen hard for Australia’s red wines, leading some growers to lean into that demand, swapping white grapes for red grapes like cabernet sauvignon, shiraz and merlot, and in some cases even replacing screw tops on bottles with the corks preferred by Chinese consumers.

中国消费者对澳大利亚红酒情有独钟，一些种植者顺应了这一需求，将白葡萄换成了赤霞珠、西拉和梅洛等红葡萄，在某些情况下，甚至用中国消费者喜欢的软木塞代替瓶口的螺旋盖。

The tariffs begun in 2020, after Scott Morrison, then the Australian prime minister, called for “an objective, independent assessment” of how the Covid-19 pandemic began. China bristled over what it called “ideological bias and political games” intended to assign blame.

关税始于2020年，时任澳大利亚总理斯科特·莫里森呼吁对新冠疫情的源起进行“客观、独立的评估”。中国对其所称的旨在推卸责任的“意识形态偏见和政治博弈”感到愤怒。

Within months, China’s Ministry of Commerce began an investigation into whether Australia was “dumping” wine onto the market at artificially low prices.

几个月后，中国商务部开始调查澳大利亚是否以人工操纵的低价向市场“倾销”葡萄酒。

By November 2020, it had imposed “anti-dumping tariffs” of between 116.2 percent and 218.4 percent on Australian bottled wine, up from zero under a prior free-trade agreement. Sales to China that had been worth $800 million in 2019 dropped 97 percent in the first year. Australia, in turn, filed a complaint to the W.T.O., which referees trade disputes between nations.

到2020年11月，中国对澳大利亚瓶装葡萄酒征收116.2%至218.4%的“反倾销关税”，此前根据自由贸易协定，关税为零。2019年澳大利亚瓶装葡萄酒对中国的销售额为8亿美元，第一年就下降了97%。作为回应，澳大利亚向裁决国家之间贸易争端的世界贸易组织提出申诉。

For Chinese consumers, who have in the interim embraced high-end baijiu, a local spirit, as well as fine wines from France and more affordable ones from Chile, the tariffs had indicated a cultural shift, said Ian Ford, the founder of Nimbility, a brand and sales management company for alcohol sold in Asia. “Don’t bring it as a gift to a government official, don’t serve it at a banquet where government officials are present,” he said. “It becomes almost a statement that this is now taboo.”

亚洲酒类销售品牌和销售管理公司Nimbility创始人伊恩·福特说，对于已经在这期间接受了本土高端白酒、法国优质葡萄酒和更实惠的智利葡萄酒的中国消费者来说，关税表明了一种文化转变。“不要把它作为礼物送给政府官员，也不要在有政府官员出席的宴会上提供，”他说。“这几乎成了一种声明，表明现在这成了一种禁忌。”

The lifting of tariffs would send a clear message, he added, and some distributors in China had already begun preparing for an influx of popular Penfold’s branded wine from Australia.

他补充说，取消关税将发出一个明确的信息，中国的一些经销商已经开始准备迎接来自澳大利亚备受欢迎的奔富(Penfold’s)品牌葡萄酒。

“There will be a surge in demand,” he said, “but at the end of the day, I do think they’re going to have to fight to gain back the market share.”

“需求将会激增，”他说，“但说到底，我的确认为，他们还是需要费些功夫才能夺回市场份额。”