昂山素季为何率先访华？ | 纽约时报
Visiting Beijing, Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi Seeks to Mend Relations
BEIJING — Hillary Clinton considers her a friend. President Obama has invited her to the White House next month. But on her first visit to a major capital since becoming leader of , chose a different destination: Beijing.
北京。希拉里视她为朋友，奥巴马邀请她下月访问白宫，可成为缅甸领导人后第一次大国首都之行，昂山素季选择了另一个目的地：北京。
With her arrival here late Wednesday, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner credited with pushing Myanmar from a military dictatorship toward democracy, offered a potent signal that her foreign policy would be more friendly toward , which is eager to strengthen its foothold in the country.
周三晚间抵达北京的昂山素季——她因推动缅甸从军事独裁制走向民主而获得诺贝尔和平奖——这发出强有力的信号，她的外交政策偏重于交好中国，中国亦渴望在该国站稳脚跟。
Her move risks unsettling Washington, however, since the Obama administration considers the democratic changes in Myanmar that brought Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi one of its major foreign policy victories in Asia.
她的举动却冒着惹恼华盛顿的风险，因为奥巴马政府认为使昂山素季掌权的缅甸民主变革是其在亚洲的重大外交胜利。
“Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has long expressed her desire for friendly relations with China, and it’s not insignificant that she has chosen to travel to Beijing before any other major capital,” said Thant Myint-U, the author of “Where China Meets India: Burma and the New Crossroads of Asia.”
《中国遇到印度：缅甸和亚洲的新十字路口》一书作者吴丹敏说：“昂山素季一直以来表达了与中国保持友好关系的愿望，她第一个出访的大国首都选择北京不是无关紧要的。”
He added: “The Chinese, whatever wariness they may have had, definitely sense the possibility of improved relations and will go all-out to make this visit a success. This will be a historic visit that could well shape Sino-Myanmar relations for many years to come.”
他说：“中国人，不论多警惕，肯定觉察到改善关系的可能性，他们会尽一切努力让出访获得成功。这将是历史性的访问，会塑造未来多年的中缅关系。”
China’s red-carpet welcome contrasts with how Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi was treated when she was Myanmar’s opposition leader. Last year, she was 20 minutes late for a meeting with President Xi Jinping, who reportedly told her that she was the first person ever to have kept him waiting so long.
中国铺展红毯欢迎昂山素季，这与她作为缅甸反对党领袖时的待遇形成对比。去年，她与习近平主席会晤时迟到20分钟，据称后者对她说，她是第一个让他等这么久的人。
Now, China is making amends for that reprimand as it pushes to install itself as the foremost power in Myanmar. It is tailoring investment projects to suit the impoverished country and assuming an influential position as mediator in peace talks between rival ethnic groups and the government this month.
如今，中国正修复裂痕，旨在让自己成为主导缅甸的头号大国力量。中国为这个贫穷国家量身定做了投资项目，还在本月民族反叛组织和政府间的和平谈判中担任有影响力的斡旋者。
It is also hoping to restart the $3.6 billion Myitsone Dam project, which was suspended in 2011 and is a major source of friction between the two countries.
中国还希望重启价值35亿美元的密松大坝项目，该项目2011年被叫停，成为两国摩擦的主要原因。
China views Myanmar as a strategic asset, so much so that some policy makers see Myanmar’s long shoreline as China’s west coast. Its position close to the Indian Ocean offers a shortcut for oil and gas imports from the Middle East, and its rich mineral deposits and proximity make it a logical part of China’s sphere of influence on the mainland of Southeast Asia.
中国将缅甸视为战略资产，甚至有的政策制定者认为缅甸是中国西海岸的漫长海岸线。缅甸距离印度洋不远，为来自中东的进口石油和天然气提供捷径，其丰富的矿产资源和地理位置之便使其成为中国在东南亚大陆发挥影响力符合逻辑的角色。
Even though China recently built oil and gas pipelines from Myanmar’s coast into southern China and has access to the Kyaukpyu port on the Bay of Bengal, trade between the two nations dropped in 2015, and relations cooled during the five-year transition from a military junta, which China backed, to elections last year.
尽管近来中国建造了从缅甸海岸通往中国西南部的石油和天然气管线，并通过皎漂港获得孟加拉湾的出海口，可2015年两国贸易却出现萎缩，中国支持的军政府经过五年转型，去年举行大选后，两国关系冷却下来。
The two sides are seeking to repair the friendship, though Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi, who has praised the old tradition of a neutral foreign policy, is likely to be vigilant that China is not too overbearing.
双方谋求修复友谊，但昂山素季赞许中立外交政策的旧传统，可能会保持警惕，以防中国太过强势。
In the days before her visit, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi sought to ease tensions over the suspension of the Chinese-financed Myitsone Dam. After appointing a 20-member commission to review the suspension decision and look at other hydro projects, she can tell China that Myanmar no longer has a closed mind on the project, analysts said.
访问前几天，昂山素季试图缓解因暂停中国投资的密松大坝引发的紧张态势。她任命一个包括20名成员的委员会，审查这一决定并考察其他水力项目，之后她对中国说，缅甸不再对项目持保守态度。
“She needs good relations with China, but were she to approve the dam, she would lose massive internal support among many groups,” said David I. Steinberg, distinguished professor emeritus at Georgetown University. The new panel was a smart way to deflect pressure on her from China as well as her domestic constituency, he said.
乔治敦大学荣誉教授大卫·斯坦伯格说：“她需要和中国搞好关系，但如果她批准了大坝项目，会失去许多国内力量的支持。”新设立一个审查小组的决定很精明，这卸开了来自中国以及国内选民的压力。
The commission could decide that the dam — which Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi resisted as opposition leader because of the environmental impact it would have on the nation’s main artery, the Irrawaddy River — should not be built. But it would most likely consider other projects that would be to China’s liking, Mr. Steinberg said.
委员会可能仍会决定不能修建大坝，昂山素季作为反对党领袖时就反对修建，原因是其可能对国家干线河道伊洛瓦底河造成环境影响，但有可能考虑其他让中国满意的项目，斯坦伯格说。
For its part, Beijing has become more flexible on the dam, opening the way for the easing of tensions, analysts said.
中国政府一方会对大坝的态度更为灵活，打开缓解紧张关系的途径。
Negotiations are underway for Myanmar to pay China if the dam is not built, or to use the money for other projects, officials close to Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi said. Numbers have already been put on the table, they said, including $800 million in compensation to China if the dam is not built, they said.
与昂山素季关系密切的官员表示，如果不兴建大坝，缅甸会付钱给中国，或者将款项用于其他项目，相关谈判正在进行中。他们表示，已经在讨论具体数目，其中包括不兴建大坝给予中国8亿美元的赔偿。
In exchange, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has told the Chinese that she wants a series of smaller hydro projects that are less of a threat to the environment and enjoy popular support, her spokesman, U Zaw Htay, said.
作为交换，昂山素季对中国人说，她希望建设一些小水电项目，对环境威胁相对较小，也有民意支持，昂山素季的发言人U Zaw Htay如是说。
“In the end, the dam construction could be halted, resumed, adjusted, replaced by another project, or maybe there are other ideas,” said Fan Hongwei, a specialist on Myanmar at Xiamen University.
厦门大学缅甸专家范宏伟说：“到头来，大坝建设被叫停、恢复、调整、替代，可能还有其他办法。”
As part of its ambition to secure more access to the Indian Ocean, China has proposed a new trading route — a waterway from the town of Bhamo in northern Myanmar to the Irrawaddy Delta — and this is likely to come up in the talks in Beijing, Myanmar officials said.
为保证实现进入印度洋的雄心，中国提议打通一条新的贸易通道，开建缅北八莫镇到伊洛瓦底三角洲的水道，缅甸官员称，也有可能在北京商讨这一项目。
Derek J. Mitchell, the former American ambassador to Myanmar, said that Washington recognized the country’s urgent need for hard infrastructure and that it had never opposed China’s delivering major infrastructure projects to Myanmar as long as they are transparent, acceptable to the people and environmentally sound, as the new government has indicated.
前美国驻缅甸大使Drek J. Mitchell表示，华盛顿认识到这个国家亟需硬基础设施建设，因此从未反对中国在缅甸承建重大基础设施项目，只要这些项目如新政府所言，透明，环保，受人民欢迎。
It would also be preferable if infrastructure that crossed borders connected Myanmar to the wider region and not just to China, Mr. Mitchell said.
Mitchell说，如果基础设施建设能跨境连接更广阔的区域而不仅是中国，那就更好了。
One of Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi’s major objectives is to seek China’s help as she starts peace talks on conflicts in northern Myanmar between the ethnic groups and the military.
昂山素季的主要目标之一是在她开启的缅北民族力量与军方的和平谈判中，寻求中国帮助。
The roiling small wars there have long been a barrier to economic development in the region, and Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has scheduled a peacemaking gathering, called the Panglong Conference, for Aug. 31. She has offered China a role as mediator, Myanmar officials involved in the talks said.
该区域此起彼伏的小型战争一直以来是经济发展的障碍，昂山素季定于8月31日召开和平会议，被称为彬龙会议。参加谈判的缅甸官员说，她让中国担任斡旋者。
Two groups in northern Myanmar near the Chinese border — the Kachin and the Wa, who are ethnic Chinese — receive arms from across the border.
与中国接壤的两个缅北集团克钦族和佤族都是中国民族，他们跨境获得武装。
The Kachin Independence Army and the United Wa State Army, the largest ethnic army in Myanmar, refused to sign a cease-fire agreement last year. At the time, a Burmese government negotiator said China had pressured the two groups along its border not to sign the deal in order to wield more influence over them.
克钦独立军和缅北最大的民族武装佤邦联合军去年拒绝在停火协议上签字。当时，一名缅甸政府的谈判人员表示，中国对两个集团施压，要求他们不要签署协议，以便对其施加更大影响力。
By offering China a key role at the talks, to be held in the capital, Naypyidaw, Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi is asking China to halt its arms supplies, a Myanmar official involved in the process said.
参与这一事件的一位缅甸官员称，昂山素季让中国在首都内比都举行的谈判中发挥关键作用，并请求中国停止供应军火。
Recent talks with a flurry of top Chinese officials who have visited Myanmar — including the minister of state security, Geng Huichang; the head of the International Department of the Chinese Communist Party, Song Tao; and the foreign minister, Wang Yi — have concentrated on China’s role in the peacemaking, the official said.
近来多位中国官员密集访缅，其中包括国家安全部部长耿惠昌、中联部部长宋涛、外交部长王毅，该官员表示，谈判集中在中国在和平谈判中发挥的作用。
“China holds many of the keys to ending decades of armed conflict,” Mr. Thant Myint-U said. “The question is what the price of increasing dependence on China will be.”
吴丹敏说:“中国手持多把钥匙，可以结束几十年来的武装冲突。问题在于，日益依赖中国的代价会是什么？”
词汇
potent
having or wielding force or authority 强力的
例句：The synthetic painkiller fentanyl, which is up to 50 times as potent as heroin, is now being manufactured illegally. （《西雅图时报》8月17日）
合成止痛药芬太尼，比海洛因强效50倍，现在正被非法生产。
wary
marked by keen caution and watchful prudence, 小心谨慎的
例句：Although Russia — nearing international pariah status since its annexation of the Crimea — recently inked a $6.2 billion high-speed rail deal, many countries remaining wary. （《时代》杂志8月18日）
尽管俄罗斯——自从兼并克里米亚以来几乎成为国际弃儿——最近签署62亿美元的高铁协议，许多国家仍然疑虑重重。
overbearing
having or showing arrogant superiority to and disdain of those one views as unworthy 傲慢强势的
例句：His overbearing personality -- the trait I had hated the most -- is what comforted me the most and got me through those difficult days.
我以前很讨厌他那专横的性格，但现在却给与我最多安慰，帮助我度过了那段艰难的日子。
口语
Sometimes we hear something that is really cool or great or amazing and we want to tell our friends and family, right? BUT...sometimes that cool thing ISN'T true!! It was just a rumor~ Then we might get embarrassed.
口语栏目来自Let's master English