奥巴马访华两手空空？

It took Barack Obama 30 minutes yesterday to whizz through the Forbidden City in Beijing following what was characterised as a candid three-hour discussion between the US president and Hu Jintao, his Chinese counterpart. At the end of his chilly tour Mr Obama exited through the Gate of Continuous Harmony.

美国总统巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)昨日与中国国家主席胡锦涛举行了3个小时的会谈，会谈气氛被形容为是坦诚的。随后，奥巴马只用了30分钟，就飞速游览完了北京故宫。奥巴马在寒风中结束了故宫之行，从顺贞门离开。

He will doubtless be treated to the customary barrage of disharmony by conservative critics back home about having soft-pedalled in public on the human rights criticisms that normally arise during a US presidential visit.

无疑，他会遭遇到美国国内保守派批评人士惯常的猛烈抨击，罪名是他在公开场合低调处理人权问题上的批评，美国总统访华期间，通常都会批评中国的人权纪录。

But US officials insist that, in private, Mr Obama had “pulled no punches”. Jeff Bader, the president's senior Asia adviser, said Mr Obama gave Mr Hu the most frank talk on human rights he had heard in his 30 years of dealing with US-China relations.

但美国官员坚称，奥巴马在非公开会谈中“毫无保留”。白宫东亚事务办公室主任杰夫·贝德(Jeff Bader)表示，奥巴马在人权问题上对胡锦涛所说的话，是他从事美中关系工作30年来，所听到的最坦率之言。

At their joint appearance in the Great Hall of the People following their meeting, both leaders gave the impression that there had been sharp disagreements on a wide range of issues – in addition to Tibet, which Mr Obama finally raised, having hitherto gingerly sidestepped the troubled province.

会谈结束后，两位领导人在人民大会堂一起露面，双方给人的印象都是，会谈期间在一系列问题上曾出现明显的分歧，包括奥巴马此前小心回避的西藏问题。

Reading from separate statements, Mr Hu emphasised the need to “oppose and reject protectionism in all its manifestations”, which was code for having brushed off US complaints about China's large trade surpluses. Mr Obama referred to the need to move beyond the dollar-renminbi peg, which the Americans see as a form of Chinese mercantilism – again, signalling there had been little progress.

两位领导人都照章宣读各自的声明。胡锦涛强调，有必要“反对和抵制各种形式的保护主义”，此言意在拒绝美国对中国巨额贸易盈余的抱怨。奥巴马则提到，有必要超越人民币盯住美元的汇率政策，美方将这种政策视为中国重商主义的一种表现。这些信号都暗示，双方在相关问题上没有取得多大进展。

“I underlined to President Obama that, given our differences in national conditions, it is only normal that our two sides may disagree on some issues,” said Mr Hu, his hands firmly grasping the lectern. “What is important is to respect and accommodate each other's core interests and major concerns.”

“我向奥巴马总统强调，中美两国国情不同，双方存在一些分歧是正常的，”胡锦涛表示，他的手紧紧抓住讲坛。“关键是要尊重和照顾对方的核心利益和重大关切。”

It may take months, even years, to judge whether Mr Obama's approach of friendly strategic engagement with China will bear fruit in the form of more substantive Chinese assistance in helping America tackle what one US official called the “global headline issues”, such as climate change, nuclear weapons proliferation and economic imbalances.

可能需要几个月、甚至几年的时间，才能判断奥巴马与中国开展友好战略接触的政策能否奏效：即中国在帮助美国对付美方官员所称的“全球重大问题”（如气候变化、核武扩散、经济失衡）上，提供更多实质性的协助。

Both countries eschew the term “G2”, for fear of offending other players. But in practice yesterday's long joint statement, which covered everything from clean energy to space technology, marked the attempted launch of a G2 global steering committee between the world's largest democracy and largest autocracy.

美中两国都回避“G2集团”一词，以免其它国家不快。但实际上，昨日的长篇联合声明涵盖从清洁能源到空间技术的多个领域，这标志着全球最大的民主国家与最大的威权国家试图发起一个“G2全球指导委员会”。

“There are really only two countries in the world that can solve certain issues,” said Jon Huntsman, the US ambassador to China and former Republican governor of Utah, whose fluent command of Chinese has already gone down well with his hosts. “So the meetings really have been aimed at co-ordinating like never before on the key global issues . . . There wasn't a single issue that was left out.”

“世界上其实只有两个国家能够解决某些问题，”美国驻华大使、犹他州前共和党籍州长洪博培(Jon Huntsman)表示。“因此，这些会谈确实是旨在开展空前的协作，应对各项关键的全球问题……没有一个问题被排除在外。”精通中文的洪博培，已经与东道主建立了良好关系。

Much like the long statements that the US and Soviet Union produced during their rare bouts of detente, however, a great deal of continuing disharmony could be read between the lines. In addition to the lack of progress on China's dollar link, the two sides evidently failed to reach common ground on the bulk of Mr Obama's agenda.

不过，就像美国与苏联在罕见的双方缓和时期出炉的长篇声明一样，从中美联合声明的字里行间，可以看出双方继续存在的不和。除了在中国人民币盯住美元汇率的问题上缺乏进展外，双方显然未能就奥巴马的大部分议程内容达成共识。

These included Afghanistan, which Beijing sees as a pointless war and which Mr Obama is about to intensify with a new surge of troops, and Iran, where the US leader promised “consequences” should Tehran fail to comply with international demands but on which Mr Hu was largely silent.

其中包括阿富汗问题，在北京方面看来，阿富汗战争是没有意义的，而奥巴马将要宣布向阿富汗增兵，使这场战争进一步升级。还有伊朗核计划问题，美国总统许诺称，如果德黑兰方面不服从国际要求，会有“后果”，但胡锦涛在这个问题上基本上保持缄默。

“China wants to see more dialogue on the Iran issue,” said Jin Canrong, of Renmin University. “We need more time to see if this approach is going to work.”

“中国希望在伊朗问题上看到更多对话，”中国人民大学的金灿荣表示。“我们需要更多时间，看看这种方式能否奏效。”

Both sides put a brave face on climate change. But announcements of a series of new clean energy initiatives, from carbon capture research to a project on electric cars, could not paper over the fact that both leaders had sharply downgraded prospects of a big deal on climate change in Copenhagen next month.

双方都力图在气候变化问题上做出积极表态。但是，宣布一系列清洁能源方面的举措，从碳捕获研究到电动汽车项目，并不能掩盖一个事实，即美中两国领导人已大幅降低了下月哥本哈根气候变化会议上达成重大协定的可能性。

In concluding remarks, Mr Obama said: “The US welcomes China's efforts in playing a greater role on the world stage – a role in which a growing economy is joined by growing responsibilities.” It remains to be seen whether Beijing genuinely agrees with the second half of that statement.

奥巴马在致辞结尾表示：“美国欢迎中国努力在世界舞台上扮演更重要的角色，在这个角色中，责任的增加伴随着经济增长。”目前尚不清楚，北京方面是否真的同意这句话的后半部分。