中國向薩爾瓦多提供1億5千萬美元援助
A frank dialogue between Chinese and U.S. defense chiefs has taken the two countries into a temporary calm period after a series of rival military moves in the South China Sea.
U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis agreed with his Chinese counterpart, Wei Fenghe, on Friday to continue progress on a "crisis communications and deconfliction framework to reduce risk," the Defense Department said in a statement. Their meeting touched on Beijing's military expansion in the South China Sea.
美國國防部在一份聲明中表示，國防部長馬蒂斯週五與中國防長魏鳳和就繼續推動"爲降低風險而進行危機溝通和消除衝突的框架"達成一致。雙方會談觸及到北京在南中國海的軍事擴張。The U.S. side asked China to stop militarizing the sea, while the Chinese told the U.S. government to quit sending naval ships near China-held islets and said it would oppose any acts to split off those land forms. But both agreed that the military relationship "could be a stabilizing factor" in broader Sino-U.S. ties, the Defense Department added.
美國方面要求中國停止軍事化，而中方則要求美國政府不要向中國佔據的小島附近派遣海軍艦艇，並表示將反對任何分割這些島礁的行爲。但美國國防部補充說，兩國都認爲軍事關係能夠成爲更廣泛的中美關係的"穩定因素"。
Analysts said dialogue such as this one in Washington normally brings about a calm period in Sino-U.S. military ties after a series of tougher moves, such as a near ship collision in the sea in September. They predicted the calm would last at least through a Nov. 30-Dec. 1 meeting between the two countries' presidents.
分析人士表示，像在華盛頓舉行的這種對話通常會在經歷一系列較爲強硬的動作之後給美中軍事關係帶來一段平靜時期，例如今年9月份在南中國海幾乎發生碰撞衝突。分析人士預測這種平靜至少會持續到11月30日至12月1日兩國首腦舉行會晤。Neither Beijing nor Washington is expected to stop the activities that annoy the other. But both sides will "cool down" because of the meetings, said Collin Koh, a maritime security research fellow at NanYang Technological University in Singapore.
預計北京和華盛頓都不會停止激怒對方的活動。但新加坡南洋理工大學安全問題專家高瑞連表示，雙方會由於這些會議而變得"冷靜下來"。It is very hard to ignore the fact that they don't actually agree on many things that are in fact the root problems of what we see in the South China Sea, he said.
他說："很難忽視的事實是他們在很多事情上意見不一，而這些事情實際上正是我們在南中國海看到的問題的根本。"Countries in Southeast Asia worried about the near collision, while both China and the United States want to keep up relations with those countries to counter the influence of the other power.
東南亞國家擔心那次幾近發生的碰撞，而中國和美國都想與這些國家保持關係，以對抗對方的影響力。I think there is every reason, every incentive for both [the] U.S. and China to at least create the appearance that they are both keen to stabilize the South China Sea, Koh said.
高瑞連說，"我認爲，無論是美國還是中國都有充分的理由和動力，至少表面上展現出他們都熱衷於維持南中國海穩定。"It has angered the others, all militarily weaker, over the past decade by building infrastructure on disputed islets for bombers, missiles and radar systems.
過去十年來，中國在有爭議的島嶼上建造了用於轟炸機、導彈和雷達系統的基礎設施，激怒了這些在軍事上較弱的國家。The United States has no claim to the 3.5 million-square-kilometer sea but wants it open internationally for freedom of navigation. The U.S. Navy routinely sends vessels into the sea. It does annual joint naval drills with the Philippines, and in 2016 the U.S. government lifted a ban on selling certain weapons to Vietnam. It also uninvited China to the multi-country RIMPAC wartime exercises in June and July.
美國沒有提出過對這片350萬平方公里海域的聲索權，但希望它向國際上開放以實現航行自由。美國海軍經常派遣船隻進入這片海域，每年與菲律賓進行聯合海軍演習，美國政府還在2016年解除了向越南出售某些武器的禁令。在今年6月和7月舉行的多國環太平洋軍事演習中，美國也沒有邀請中國參加。At the meetings Friday, Mattis "raised the importance of all maritime forces conducting their operations in a safe and professional manner in accordance with international standards and norms," the statement said. U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi also attended.
美國國防部的聲明說，馬蒂斯防長在週五的會談中"提出了所有海上力量需按照國際標準和規範以安全和專業的方式開展行動的重要性"。U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet in Argentina during a summit of the G-20 major economies, and some of the talks last week were "centering" on that summit, a U.S. State Department statement said. Heads of state generally try to avoid upsetting each other before summits.
美國國務卿蓬佩奧和中國國務委員楊潔篪也出席了會議。Xi and Trump are more likely to touch on their 10-month-old trade dispute than the maritime dispute, some believe. The U.S. government has approved import tariffs this year covering $250 billion in Chinese goods.
美國國務院發表聲明說，美國總統特朗普和中國國家主席習近平將在20國集團峯會期間在阿根廷舉行會談。上週的一些談判以這次峯會爲主。國家元首們通常會在舉行峯會前儘量避免給對方帶來不悅。I don't think Trump will say much about the South China Sea when he meets Xi, because that meeting is ostensibly about trade, said Sean King, vice president of the Park Strategies political consultancy in New York.
有人認爲，習近平和特朗普很可能談及已有10個月之久的貿易爭端，而不是南中國海問題。美國政府今年批准對涉及2500億美元的中國商品加徵關稅。But the two leaders have the options of exchanging views and making upbeat pledges about the maritime dispute, Koh said.
不過新加坡南洋理工大學的高瑞連表示，兩位領導人可以選擇就海上爭端交換意見和做出樂觀的承諾。
