Barack Obama in Asia
奥巴马总统的亚洲之行

Scaling the Asian wall
小马哥的长城游记

Nov 19th 2009 | BEIJING AND TOKYO
From The Economist print edition

The president pays Asia the compliment of courtesy; rewards are not immediate
[小马哥访华，收获驴粪蛋一枚。]

IT TOOK Barack Obama nearly a year in office to get to East Asia. When he did, it was for an intensive nine-day obstacle course, which he tried to negotiate with the placatory charm and openness to dialogue that have marked his diplomacy. Unsurprisingly, it went down well, but produced little of substance.
[小马哥上台一年，终于秀到东亚来了。行程九天，有拉拢有谈判，任重道远，且看小马哥外交手段如何。这事吧，大面上挺漂亮，其实样子货。]

The centrepiece of the trip was China, which he visited at a critical juncture in the world’s most important bilateral relationship. China handled the visit with ambivalence. It was keen to encourage Mr Obama’s friendly approach and his willingness to recognise China as a fellow great power. But it was also clearly nervous of a charismatic young president far better than China’s standoffish leaders at appealing to ordinary citizens (“voters”, as they are known in America).
[表面是到东亚国家访问，实则重在访华。中美关系，世界瞩目，牵扯多多。东道国心里这个五味杂陈啊。既为美国一哥的重量级莅临感到兴奋，又心存惴惴，毕竟偶像派小马哥实在招人爱。]

The courteous but rigidly formal reception afforded Mr Obama stood in sharp contrast to that given the previous Democratic president to visit China, Bill Clinton, in 1998. Chinese television aired an interview with Mr Clinton and gave live coverage to his meeting with Chinese students and to a joint press conference with President Jiang Zemin. With Mr Obama, Chinese officials were careful to limit opportunities for embarrassment. In Shanghai, Mr Obama staged what the Americans described as a “town hall” meeting with young Chinese. It was shown only on Shanghai television, along with a painfully slow feed relayed through the internet.
[小马哥此次访华，和前番风流派克公真是不能相比。隆重接待是自然的。克公来那次，电视台也转播了，发布会也直播了。这回呢？小马哥受到重点保护，局限性见面会只有上海一家电视台转播。互联网的视频转播速度更是慢得让人内伤吐血。]

Later, in Beijing, Mr Obama held a ritual meeting with reporters alongside President Hu Jintao. But unlike in 1998, no questions were allowed. Mr Hu grimly gripped his lectern as Mr Obama delivered a statement in which he spoke of the universality of America’s human-rights values. Mr Obama did not, however, seem inclined to goad his hosts at a time, as he put it, when the bilateral relationship “has never been more important to our collective future”. The decade since Mr Clinton’s visit has seen a huge shift in the relative balance of power. China’s hectic growth has made it an indispensable partner both in redressing global economic imbalances and in curbing carbon emissions.
[小马哥从上海转战北京，协同胡哥面会中外记者。和上次克公的招待会不同，这回记者同志们不许提问。小马哥侃侃而谈，宣扬米国人权。胡哥面无表情，当听不见。还好，小马哥有眼力，见好就收。自克公来华这十年，可谓风水轮流转，中国慢慢做大。]

Mr Obama’s trip predictably failed to produce breakthroughs on either issue, though a lengthy joint statement outlined measures to step up co-operation on developing clean energy. Mr Obama alluded to his hope that China’s exchange rate might become more market-driven, but there was no hint of agreement. One new area of co-operation is in outer space. The two countries declared a plan to open a dialogue on manned space flight, hitherto resisted by America because of the strong military links to China’s manned space programme.
[前边说过，小马哥这回就搞了一驴粪蛋工程，外表漂亮，实则没甚内容。中方擅打太极，拖拉转移。随便你米国怎么建议还是抗议，我方是正经事、重要事，全不表态，视若罔闻。难道你还能跳脚骂？]

The two sides announced that they would hold another dialogue on human rights by the end of February, their first such discussions in nearly two years. The dialogue has been sputtering on and off for nearly 20 years. But as usual during American presidential visits, China this week tried to keep dissidents out of sight. Several were reportedly rounded up by the police before the trip.
[漂亮事放面上。明年2月咱再谈MZ。其实，这20年来，咱也没谈别的，净在这儿扯了。其实吧，我中方极其十分绝对有诚意，小马哥来之前，任何我方不满意、不喜欢的声音，全体“被消失”。从此，你看你看，一切太平安好。]

Officials displayed similar nervousness in their preparations for the “town hall” meeting in Shanghai. Chinese participants were coached beforehand on how they should pose their questions. They were also carefully selected. Many were members of the Communist Youth League, an organisation that grooms potential party members. America, Mr Obama said, would “always speak out” for its core principles. But as he also said, “more is to be gained when great powers co-operate than when they collide”.
[小马哥上海那场演讲，简直就是场“话剧”秀。中方出场演员都是“职业”卧底。小马哥傻了吧，赶紧说：“我们会继续坚持自己的信念”，“当然，合作的话对咱们大家都有好处”。]