At Davos, the Real Star May Have Been China, Not Trump - The New Times
A Sober Trump Reassures the Davos Elite - The New York Times
特朗普在达沃斯风头被盖？美媒：世界都“向着”中国
2018年01月29日 11:07 人民日报海外版-海外网
《纽约时报》报道截图海外网1月29日电 美国总统特朗普日前参加达沃斯论坛并发表演讲，《纽约时报》却评价道，特朗普这次风头被中国盖过了，“中国才是达沃斯论坛真正的明星”，“世界明显‘向着’中国。”
美国总统特朗普1月26日打破惯例，亲自出席达沃斯论坛并发表演讲。阐述“‘美国优先’不代表美国孤立”的立场，成为本届论坛的风云人物。不过，《纽约时报》在对其达沃斯之行进行评价时却称，特朗普的风头被掩盖了，中国才是达沃斯论坛真正的“明星”。
《纽约时报》称，很明显，地缘政治的势头是向着北京的，并不是华盛顿，很多事实都可以证明这一点。
巴西总统米歇尔·特梅尔首先对中国提出的“一带一路”倡议表示欢迎，认为这有助于促进拉美国家与中国的密切合作；巴基斯坦总理沙希德•哈坎•阿巴西也对中国在巴基斯坦推进的基础设施建设项目给予好评，称“不仅本国，也将给周边各国带来好处”。
《纽约时报》还报道，在达沃斯论坛中，中国代表刘鹤的演讲是“入座率”最高的演讲之一。刘鹤阐述了“中国经济已由高速增长阶段转向高质量发展阶段”的总要求。与会代表听完后表示，中国的“一带一路”倡议已经能与过去由美国主导的国际贸易体系相媲美。
德国工业巨头西门子首席执行官乔·凯泽（Joe Kaeser）则评价道，“中国的‘一带一路’倡议正在变成新的WTO”。
《纽约时报》提到了一些批评者对“一带一路”的疑虑，担心这将导致各国对华债务的增加，也增加安全风险。不过，真正参与到倡议中的国家似乎对此并不担忧。巴西总统米歇尔·特梅尔就表示，他并不担心中国在南美的影响力上升，这大幅地增加了巴西国内的投资，他强调“债务问题应该被视为财政问题，而非地缘政治问题。”
新加坡一位部长称，中国可以以一种善意的方式运用其新获得的影响力来减轻外界对其经济迅速崛起的“恐惧”。另外，智利外交部长也赞道，“中国开放的经济愿景非常受欢迎，我们在这方面看到了与美国的巨大差别。”
最后，《纽约时报》总结道，在世界都在因特朗普的“美国优先”理论而担忧不已的时候，各国领导人都在利用达沃斯论坛争夺与中国的合作机会，中国才是达沃斯论坛真正的“明星”。
据了解，世界经济论坛2018年年会以“在分化的世界中打造共同命运”为主题，聚焦在地缘战略竞争加剧背景下国际合作的意义。
At Davos, the Real Star May Have Been China, Not Trump
Liu He, a top economic policy adviser to President Xi Jinping of China, drew a full house to his presentation during a meeting of global business and political leaders in Davos, Switzerland.Gian Ehrenzeller/European Pressphoto Agency
DAVOS, Switzerland — President Trump used the World Economic Forum meeting to woo investors and business leaders by reassuring them that “America first does not mean America alone.” But it was clear in Davos, Switzerland, this past week that geopolitical momentum lay with Beijing, not Washington.
At one end of town, President Michel Temer of Brazil welcomed an unexpected offer from Beijing for Latin American nations to work closely with a Chinese initiative, known as the Belt and Road, intended to spread its economic and diplomatic influence abroad.
At the other end of town, a senior Chinese diplomat helped introduce the prime minister of Pakistan at a breakfast meeting. Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi used his talk to praise the rapidly expanding Chinese investments in his country, including to build power stations and a large port.
One of the best-attended speeches at the forum was that of Liu He, a member of China’s ruling Politburo, who promoted the Belt and Roadinitiative, also known as One Belt, One Road. Participants here said the Chinese initiative was already rivaling more established, traditionally American-led, international institutions.
“The China One Belt, One Road is going to be the new W.T.O. — like it or not,” said Joe Kaeser, chief executive of Siemens, the German industrial giant, referring to the World Trade Organization.
Belt and Road takes its name from the idea that Beijing is spreading its influence along the ancient Silk Road that once linked imperial China to the Roman Empire and to the medieval Europe of Marco Polo. But that was not the only push to extend its presence abroad that Beijing was trying to showcase.
On Friday, the Chinese government used a policy document issued in Beijing to call for a “Polar Silk Road” that would link China to Europe and the Atlantic via a shipping route past the melting Arctic ice cap.
Belt and Road has been a centerpiece of the foreign policy of President Xi Jinping, and his promises of a “China Dream” of restoring his nation to past greatness. Unveiled in Kazakhstan in 2013, Belt and Road started as a plan to revive economic, investment and diplomatic links across Central Asia.
The plan gradually extended to include the Mideast, Europe and eastern Africa, with Beijing promising hundreds of billions of dollars of investment in highways, rail lines, ports, power stations and other infrastructure, much of it through loans from Chinese state-owned banks.
Critics have been skeptical, arguing that projects bankrolled through the initiative will bury the recipients in debt and cause environmental damage. The initiative has also been criticized as an easy line of financing for authoritarian regimes. China says its projects will be environmentally and financially sound, and that it does not seek a say in how other countries are governed.
While Davos was underway, China was making other efforts to stretch the geographical ambitions of its Belt and Road initiative even further. At a summit meeting for Latin American and Caribbean foreign ministers in Santiago, Chile, Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China called for close cooperation and participation by the region’s countries, although he stopped short of formally including them in the initiative.
In Davos, President Temer of Brazil said that he was not concerned about the rising influence in South America of China, which has increased investments in his country and extended enormous loans to Venezuela and Ecuador.
Venezuela has already proved unable to repay its creditors, which include Moscow and Beijing. The Russian government has used Venezuela’s overdue debts as a bargaining chip to win the right for Russian warships to visit Venezuelan ports.
Mr. Temer said the debts should be seen as a financial issue, not a geopolitical one. “The major concern they have is to recover the loans they gave Venezuela, they want their payment,” he said in an interview. “This was actually quite explained in the meetings we have.”
He also said that he was not worried by the strong Chinese interest in acquiring stakes in Brazil’s electrical distribution and other industries. “The U.S. invests as well in Brazil,” he said.
National leaders seemed to vie with one another in Davos in calling for closer cooperation with China. Mr. Abbasi of Pakistan dismissed recent controversy in his country over whether China’s giant construction projects were compromising Pakistan’s sovereignty, its environment or its financial stability.
“There is no major challenge we have not been able to resolve, and the sovereignty issues are very clear,” he said at a breakfast for business executives and the news media. He added that on financial and environmental issues relating to Belt and Road projects, “So far, I can tell you we are winning on both counts.”
Chinese officials used Davos as another opportunity to speak out against protectionism, in what analysts have described as an effort to take advantage of global concerns about the Trump administration and its warnings that it would pursue a more aggressive trade policy.
Beijing’s rhetoric comes despite China’s steep tariffs on a broad range of manufactured goods, including shoes and cars. China’s average tariffs on imports are actually triple those of the United States and double those of the European Union.
However, China has zero tariffs on many raw materials that it has in only limited quantities at home, like iron ore. As a result, its stance has been particularly welcomed by countries like Chile that produce a lot of raw materials but relatively few factory goods.
“In this, we see a very big difference with the United States,” Foreign Minister Heraldo Muñoz of Chile said, calling China’s “vision of openness and its rejection of protectionism very welcome.”
