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外媒看中非合作:埃塞俄比亚首都为何神似中国城市?Addis Ababa looks like a Chinese city

Jenni Marsh, CNN 玛斯特翻译 2022-04-26

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Forum on China-Africa Cooperation

中非合作论坛成立于2000年,

宗旨是加强中非经济合作与贸易往来。

成立之初,

世界其他地区可能都觉得有些难以理解。

当时的中非双边贸易和投资额很有限,非洲的前景也远逊于现在。

此后,在中非合作论坛的推动下,双方经贸合作呈现爆发式增长。

18年后的今天,中国已一跃成为非洲最大的贸易伙伴,双边贸易和投资关系迅速发展。


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本期,我们从外媒视角,

来看看中非合作下的一个缩影:

埃塞俄比亚首都亚的斯亚贝巴的变化

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(原标题:Skyscrapers, trains and roads: How Addis Ababa came to look like a Chinese city)


When Wang Yijun put Ethiopia's most expensive real estate project on the market, he experienced a strange phenomenon. People preferred the lowest floors over those with panoramic city views. "Power cuts mean elevators in this city often don't work," explains Wang, the site manager. "So the bottom-floor flats became the most valuable. You won't see this pricing in any Chinese city."

当王一军(音)将埃塞俄比亚最贵的房地产项目推向市场时,他经历了一个奇怪的现象。人们喜欢最低的楼层,而不喜欢那些可以饱览城市全景的高楼层。“停电意味着这座城市的电梯经常不能正常工作,”项目经理王一军说。“因此,底层的公寓定价变成最贵的。在中国的任何城市,你都不会看到这样的定价方式。


Replicating China's urban model in Africa has its challenges, but with limited developable space in Addis Ababa -- the capital is surrounded by protected farmland -- Wang believes high-rise living, such as Tsehay Real Estate's $60 million Poli Lotus development, is inevitable.

在非洲复制中国的城市模式有挑战性,但在被受保护的农田所包围的首都亚的斯亚贝巴,由于可开发空间有限,王经理认为高层居住是不可避免的,比如Tsehay Real Estate投资6000万美元开发的Poli Lotus项目。

(译者注:POLI LOTUS INTERNATIONAL CENTER由中地海外埃塞俄比亚公司投资开发的地产项目,该楼盘为埃塞俄比亚首都亚的斯亚贝巴高端城市综合体项目。)



Theodros Amdeberhan, an Ethiopian lawyer, last year bought a three-bedroom, fifth-floor apartment here for about 3.5 million birr ($127,000). "Local developers never deliver on time," says Amdeberhan. The complex opened in 2016, and so far 70% of lots have sold. "When Mr Wang offered me a good price, I didn't hesitate," he says.

埃塞俄比亚律师Theodros Amdeberhan去年花了大约350万埃塞俄比亚比尔(合12.7万美元)在这里买了一套位于五楼的三居室公寓。Amdeberhan说:“当地的开发商从不按时交房。”该地产项目于2016年开业,迄今为止,70%的公寓已售出。“当王先生给我开了一个好价格时,我毫不犹豫的就买了,”他说。


With red lanterns swaying over its entrance, the palm-tree peppered compound of 13 towers could easily be in Shenzhen, Chongqing or the suburbs of Shanghai. It's the sort of Chinese-ification that permeates much of Addis.

大红灯笼摇曳在建筑入口上方,这种布满棕榈树的由13座塔楼组成的楼群很容易就能在深圳、重庆或上海郊区看到。这是亚的斯亚贝巴中国风格化的一部分体现。



Cars chug through the city on smooth Chinese roads, Chinese cranes lift the skyline, sewing machines hum in Chinese factories in Chinese-owned industrial parks, tourists arrive at the Chinese-upgraded airport and commuters ride modern Chinese trains to work.

汽车在中国援建的平坦大道上呼啸而过,中国塔吊建设着城市天际线,缝纫机在中国工业园的中国工厂里嗡嗡作响,游客们来到中国公司升级改造的机场,上班族们乘坐现代化的中国火车去上班。


Simply put, Addis Ababa is becoming the city that China built -- but at what diplomatic and economic cost?

简而言之,亚的斯亚贝巴正在成为一座由中国建设的城市——但要付出怎样的外交和经济代价?


A city without addresses

一个没有地址的城市


Located 2,355 meters above sea level, Addis Ababa is one of the highest capitals in the world. Officials say 2.7 million people call it home, but that's based on a census from 2007. The real number is surely far bigger. Few buildings here have addresses, so taxi drivers operate by landmarks. And because Ethiopia was never colonized, barring a brief Italian occupation between 1936 and 1941, Addis lacks the European infrastructure that underpins many African metropolises. "It was never planned to be a city," says Alexandra Thorer, an architect who lived in Addis as a child, and wrote her thesis on the city's urbanization.

亚的斯亚贝巴海拔2355米,是世界上最高的首都之一。官方称有270万人居住在这里,但这是基于2007年的人口普查。实际数字肯定要大得多。这里很少有建筑物有地址,所以出租车司机靠地标来认路。除了在1936年至1941年间曾被意大利短暂占领,埃塞俄比亚从未被殖民过,因此亚的斯亚贝巴缺乏许多非洲大城市所拥有的欧式基础设施。“这里从来就不曾被计划要成为一座城市,” 建筑师Alexandra Thorer说,她小时候住在亚的斯亚贝巴,写了一篇关于这座城市城市化的论文。


新旧亚的斯亚贝巴


By the turn of the 21st century, Addis' population had swelled and its dirt roads badly needed upgrading. At the same time, China was pursuing stronger ties with African nations -- in 2000, Beijing held the inaugural Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, now a triennial deal-making pow wow.

到了21世纪之交,亚的斯亚贝巴的人口膨胀,土路急需改造。与此同时,中国也在寻求加强与非洲国家的关系。2000年,北京举办了首届中非合作论坛,如今已成为三年一度的交易盛会。


The Ethiopian government saw China as a model for development and courted it for infrastructure, says Ian Taylor, a professor in African political economics at the University of St. Andrews, in Scotland.

苏格兰圣安德鲁斯大学(University of St. Andrews)非洲政治经济学教授Ian Taylor表示,埃塞俄比亚政府视中国为发展的典范,并对中国的基础设施建设求之不得。



In two decades, the Chinese provided Addis with an $86 million ring road, the Gotera Intersection ($12.7 million), Ethiopia's first six-lane highway ($800 million), and the Ethio-Djibouti Railway line ($4 billion), which connects the landlocked country to the sea, to cite a sprinkle of projects. The speed at which Addis grew, says Thorer, mirrored the pace of 21st-century urban explosion in China.

20年来,中国为亚的斯亚贝巴修建了一系列工程,包括一条造价达8600万美元的环城路、戈特拉交通枢纽(造价1270万美元)、埃塞俄比亚第一条六车道高速公路(造价8亿美元)、以及埃塞俄比亚-吉布提铁路(造价40亿美元),将这个内陆国家和海洋连接了起来。Thorer说,亚的斯亚贝巴的增长速度也是21世纪中国城市爆炸式发展速度的映射。


China also built the first Metro system in Sub-Saharan Africa in Addis. Its two lines cut through the heart of the city, and carry at least 30,000 passengers an hour, who pay 6 birr ($0.30) a ride. "I thought it would fail quite quickly," says Thorer, "but actually it's really well used."

中国还在亚的斯亚贝巴建立了撒哈拉以南非洲的第一个地铁系统。它的两条线路穿过市中心,每小时至少可搭载3万名乘客,每次收费6埃塞俄比亚比尔(合0.30美元)。“我以为它很快就会失败,”Thorer说,“但实际上它确实运行的很好。”


"Addis has been radically transformed," says Taylor. "Huge skyscrapers are changing the whole profile of the city." A 46-story glass tower will be the tallest in Ethiopia when finished in 2020 by the China State Construction Engineering Corporation.

“亚的斯亚贝巴已经彻底改变了,”Taylor说。“摩天大楼正在改变整个城市的面貌。” 2020年,中国建筑工程总公司建成的一座46层的玻璃幕墙摩天大楼将成为埃塞俄比亚最高的建筑。


中国建造的非盟总部


The city's most symbolic skyscraper is, of course, the futuristic African Union (AU) headquarters. Gifted to Addis by Beijing in 2012, the $200 million structure resembles nothing in Ethiopia.

这座城市最具象征意义的摩天大楼当然是充满未来感的非盟总部。2012年,中国政府向亚的斯亚贝巴捐赠了这处价值2亿美元的建筑,它的建筑风格看起来很不属于埃塞俄比亚。


"I didn't realize how Chinese it was until I went to China," says Janet Faith Adhiambo Ochieng, communications officer at the African Union. "Then I was like: 'Wow.'"

非洲联盟通讯官员Janet Faith Adhiambo Ochieng说:“直到我去了中国,我才意识到它有多么中国化。”“然后我就觉得:‘哇。’”


Getting in the red

陷入赤字


In the early 2000s, Irish singer-songwriter Bono was part of a chorus of celebrities asking Western countries to cancel African debt, which was costing some governments three times more than healthcare. When the G8 agreed to waive $55 billion from mostly African accounts in 2005, Bono called it "a little piece of history."

二十一世纪初,爱尔兰歌手兼词曲作者Bono加入了一群名人的行列,要求西方国家取消非洲债务。非洲债务给一些政府造成的损失是其医疗保险的三倍。当G8在2005年同意放弃主要来自非洲的550亿美元债务时,Bono称这是“历史的一部分”。


Fast forward a decade, and Africa owes China about $130 billion, according to the Johns Hopkins SAIS China-Africa Research Initiative -- money which has mainly been used to fund transport, power and mining projects.

据约翰霍普金斯大学(Johns Hopkins university) SAIS中非研究计划(SAIS Africa Research Initiative)的数据,10年后,非洲欠中国约1,300亿美元,资金主要被用于交通、能源和采矿工程。


The continent lags behind other developing regions in virtually all infrastructure sectors, be it electricity, road or railroad performance. "Western companies and organizations such as the IMF and World Bank weren't offering money for that type of stuff," Taylor says.

无论是电力、公路还是铁路方面,非洲大陆在几乎所有基础设施领域上都落后于其他发展中地区。Taylor说:“西方公司和组织,如国际货币基金组织和世界银行,并没有为这类工程提供资金。”



China's credit line to Africa has provoked criticism. Earlier this year, Rex Tillerson, then US Secretary of State, said that China's "predatory loan practices" in Africa "mire nations in debt and undercut their sovereignty, denying them their long-term, self-sustaining growth."

中国对非洲的信贷额度引发了批评。今年早些时候,时任美国国务卿的Rex Tillerson表示,中国在非洲的“掠夺性贷款行为”“让非洲国家陷入债务泥沼,削弱了它们的主权,对其长期、自立根生的发展不利”。


Ethiopia has taken at least $12.1 billion from Chinese creditors since 2000. But overall the country is $29 billion in the red -- it owes more collectively to the Middle East, the World Bank and others than to China. The same is true for the majority of African countries.

自2000年以来,埃塞俄比亚至少从中国债权人那里获得了121亿美元。但这个国家总共有290亿美元的赤字——它欠中东、世界银行等的债务总额比欠中国的还要多。大多数非洲国家也是如此。


A report published this month by the Johns Hopkins SAIS China-Africa Research Initiative found that Chinese loans are "not currently a major contributor to debt distress in Africa."

约翰霍普金斯大学中非研究计划本月发表的一份报告表明,中国的贷款“目前不是非洲债务危机的主要原因”。



"We're emerging into a new phase of a China-centric world order," says Solange Chatelard, academic and research associate at the Université Libre de Bruxelles in Belgium. "The former hegemonic powers are having a hard time adjusting to their decline."

“我们正在进入一个以中国为中心的世界秩序的新阶段,” 比利时布鲁塞尔自由大学(Université Libre de Bruxelles )的学术和研究助理Solange Chatelard表示。“前霸权国家正在艰难地适应自己的衰落。”


Lina Benebdallah, assistant professor of politics and international affairs at Wake Forest University, North Carolina, however, cautions that the China-Africa relationship is "asymmetric." In 2016, for example, China exported $88 billion in goods to Africa, but only imported $40 billion from the continent.

然而,北卡罗来纳州维克森林大学(Wake Forest University)政治与国际事务助理教授Lina Benebdallah警告称,中非关系是“不对称的”。例如,2016年,中国向非洲出口了880亿美元的商品,但只从非洲进口了400亿美元。


And there are countries with worrying amounts of Chinese debt. In Djibouti, China holds 77% of national debt, while Zambia's $6.4 billion in Chinese loans represents the lion share of its commitments. A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) told CNN via email that China has paid "high attention" to African debt situation, and is dedicated to "sustainable development."

还有一些国家背负着的中国债务金额值得注意。在吉布提,中国持有该国77%的国债,而赞比亚64亿美元的中国贷款是其债务中的最大份额。中国外交部(MOFA)发言人通过电子邮件告诉CNN,中国高度关注非洲债务状况,并致力于“可持续发展”。



Twisting Ethiopia's arm?

掣肘埃塞俄比亚?


One of the big concerns around Chinese loans is debt-trap diplomacy -- the idea that Beijing will pressure countries that can't pay into exploitative deals.

围绕中国贷款的一大担忧是债务陷阱外交——即中国政府或将向无力偿债的国家施压,迫使它们同意剥削性协议。


At the imposing prime minister's office building in Addis Ababa, Arkebe Oqubay, a senior government minister, is adamant that Ethiopia hasn't seen any arm-twisting from China. "One of the unique things that makes Chinese funding quite attractive is they practice non-intervention in local politics," he says.

在亚的斯亚贝巴雄伟壮观的总理办公楼里,政府高级部长Arkebe Oqubay坚称埃塞俄比亚没有受到来自中国的任何压力。他表示:“让中国的资金相当有吸引力的一个独特之处在于,他们不干预当地政治。”


政府高级部长Arkebe Oqubay


And Beijing has been demanding that African nations cut diplomatic ties with Taiwan, under its "One China Policy," for decades he says -- debt or no debt.

他说,几十年来,北京一直要求非洲国家根据“一个中国政策”断绝与台湾的外交关系——不管有没有债务。


Luke Patey, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute of International Studies, sees it differently. He cites the example of Sri Lanka as the "canary in the coal mine."

丹麦国际问题研究所(Danish Institute of International Studies)高级研究员Luke Patey则持不同看法。他以斯里兰卡为例,称其为“煤矿里的金丝雀”。


In 2010, Beijing invested $1.5 billion to build the Hambantota port. When Sri Lanka couldn't repay the debt, it signed a 99-year lease of the port with a Chinese state-owned company to service some of the billions it owed.

2010年,北京投资15亿美元修建汉班托塔港。当斯里兰卡无法偿还这笔债务时,它与一家中国国有企业签订了为期99年的租赁合同,以偿还所欠的数十亿美元。


"If developing countries do not pay greater attention to how they manage their debt with China, we're going to see a growing number selling off large stakes in key sovereign assets," Patey says.

Patey表示:“如果发展中国家不更多地关注如何管理与中国的债务,我们将看到越来越多的对其核心主权资产的抛售。”


杂乱无章的城区/整齐规划的城区


Another concern is national security. Earlier this year, French news outlet, Le Monde, alleged that Beijing had spied on the African Union through the computer systems it helped install. China's foreign ministry said the report was based on "groundless accusations" and the AU disregarded the allegations as "baseless." But the rumors raised eyebrows, as China builds symbolic political facilities across Africa.

另一个问题是国家安全。今年早些时候,法国《世界报》(Le Monde)报道称,中国政府通过其协助安装的电脑系统监视非洲联盟。中国外交部表示,这份报告是基于“毫无根据的指控”,而非盟则认为这些指控“站不住脚”。但随着中国在非洲各地建立标志性的政治设施,这一传言令人侧目。


"The Germans could have bugged that building," Ochieng says, pointing to the far more modest Peace and Security facility Angela Merkel's government gifted the AU in 2016. "But will the story that the Germans are watching Africa sell as well?"

“德国人也可以窃听那栋大楼,” Ochieng说。他指的是Angela Merkel默克尔政府在2016年赠予非盟的那座风格低调些的治安设施。“但德国人监视非洲的新闻能这么吸引眼球吗?”


默克尔政府赠予的建筑设施


When Western powers see a city like Addis Ababa awash with Chinese influence, there is the knee-jerk reaction that "China has an ulterior motive," says Benebdallah. But it's often the case, says Taylor, that Chinese companies don't face Western competition for construction contracts. Once Chinese firms have shipped their equipment, they may as well stay put and capitalize.

当西方势力看到亚的斯亚贝巴这样的城市充斥着中国的影响时,他们会本能地反应“中国别有用心”,Benebdallah说。但Taylor表示,中国企业通常并没有在建筑合同方面面临西方的竞争。一旦中国公司将他们的设备运来,他们会留在当地并进行投资。


For Patey it's not that simple. When China finances roads, railways, and hydropower dams, he says, it stipulates that Chinese construction companies build them with Chinese concrete and steel. "Africa has served as a launching pad for Chinese ... companies to gain overseas experience," he adds. "It's where China Inc cuts its international teeth."

对Patey来说,事情没那么简单。他说,当中国为公路、铁路和水电大坝提供资金时,它规定中国的建筑公司要用中国的混凝土和钢材建造。“非洲一直是中国公司用来获得海外经验的跳板……”他补充道。“这是中国企业开始在国际市场上大展拳脚的地方。”


A MOFA spokesperson told CNN via email that Chinese companies in Africa operate "independently" and that the Chinese government is "committed to equal negotiations," and had no interest in "lecturing countries."

中国外交部发言人通过电子邮件告诉CNN,在非洲的中国公司“独立运作”,中国政府“致力于平等谈判”,对“说教干预他国”没有兴趣。


Poli Lotus小区

Poli Lotus小区公寓内部


On a Friday afternoon at Poli Lotus, Theodros Amdeberhan's teenage son plays FIFA on the wide-screen TV, while the maid roasts coffee and a picture of the Eiffel Tower hangs over the sofa in their Chinese-built apartment.

周五下午,在Poli Lotus这栋中国建造的公寓里, Theodros Amdeberhan十几岁的儿子在宽屏电视上踢国际足联(FIFA),女仆在烘焙咖啡,沙发上方挂着一幅埃菲尔铁塔的照片。


When asked how he feels about the Chinese molding Addis Ababa in their country's own image, Amdeberhan says: "I once went to China and noticed that they have this way of building city centers that can incorporate all the needs of the people." With the higgledy piggledy chaos of unplanned Addis just beyond his window, he says it's an appealing concept.

当被问及如何看待中国按照自己国家的形象塑造亚的斯亚贝巴时,Amdeberhan表示:“我曾经去过中国,发现他们这种建设市中心的方式可以顾及市民的所有需求。”就在他的窗外,未规划的亚的斯亚贝巴城区乱糟糟的乱作一团,他说中国的城市模式是一个很吸引人的概念。

内容整理译自cnn.com

Edited and translated from cnn.com


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