经济学人

[2009.04.18]Dragon nightmares 欧盟的巨龙噩梦 Charlemagne

Dragon nightmares

欧盟的巨龙噩梦

The European Union finds it hard to agree over how to deal with China 欧盟在对华政策上同床异梦

HERE is a quick way to spoil a Brussels dinner party. Simply suggest that world governance is slipping away from the G20, G7, G8 or other bodies in which Europeans may hog up to half the seats. Then propose, with gloomy relish, that the future belongs to the G2: newly fashionable jargon for a putative body formed by China and America.

如果你想破坏一场布鲁塞尔的晚餐会，你仅需提及全球治理已经逐渐淡出G20，G7，G8或其他类似的欧洲占据半数席位的组织的掌控，而后侃侃而谈世界的未来属于G2：这是对已被广泛认同的由中国和美国组成的体系的最新潮的称呼。

The fear of irrelevance haunts Euro-types, for all their public boasting about Europe’s future might. The thought that the European Union might not greatly interest China is especially painful. After all, the 21st century was meant to be different. Indeed, to earlier leaders like France’s Jacques Chirac, a rising China was welcome as another challenge to American hegemony, ushering in a “multipolar world” in which the EU would play a big role. If that meant kow-towing to Chinese demands to shun Taiwan, snub the Dalai Lama or tone down criticism of human-rights abuses, so be it. Most EU countries focused on commercial diplomacy with China, to ensure that their leaders’ visits could end with flashing cameras and the signing of juicy contracts.

鉴于欧洲对自己未来实力的公开吹嘘，边缘化的恐惧萦绕于整个欧元区。尤其使欧洲人痛苦的是，欧盟对中国的吸引力似乎有限。毕竟，21世纪将是一个不同往常的世纪。事实上，对较早的欧洲领导人，如法国的雅克斯.希拉克而言，他们欢迎中国的崛起并视之为对抗美国霸权的另一股力量，预示着世界进入“多元化时代 ”，而这“多元”中欧洲扮演着重要的角色。如果这意味着需要屈服于中国要求的封杀台湾、冷落达赖喇嘛或降低对侵犯人权批判的调子，那么就这么办吧。大多数欧盟国家在对