中国与斯里兰卡自贸谈判遭遇障碍 [联合国媒体]

China trade pact talks with Sri Lanka hit major hurdles

中国与斯里兰卡自贸谈判遭遇障碍



Talks between China and Sri Lanka for a free-trade agreement have hit major hurdles, mainly because Beijing will not agree to Colombo’s demand for a review of the deal after 10 years, Sri Lanka’s top negotiator said.

斯里兰卡首席谈判代表表示中国和斯里兰卡关于自由贸易协定的谈判遭遇重大障碍，主要原因是北京方面不同意科伦坡希望在10年后对该协议进行审查的要求。

China has invested billions of dollars building ports and roads and power stations in the Indian Ocean island nation just off the southern toe of India as part of its Belt and Road Initiative to increase its trade and other connections across Asia and beyond.

作为一路一带战略的一部分，中国已经在斯里兰卡这一印度洋岛国投资数十亿美元修建港口道路和发电站，意在促进亚洲及其他区域国家内外贸易。

But concerns have grown in recent months that such investments can drive the country of 21 million people deeper into debt and undermine its sovereignty, prompting greater scrutiny of deals with China.

但近几月也出现了一些担忧，斯里兰卡担忧该笔投资会将2100万斯里兰卡人拖入债务深渊也会损害该国主权。这种担忧促使斯里兰卡对与中国的合作进行更严格审查。

China’s exports to Sri Lanka dwarf the trade that goes in the other direction, leaving Colombo with a big deficit with Beijing.

中国对斯里兰卡出口额使斯里兰卡对这个出口相形见绌，导致科伦坡方面与北京方面存在巨大贸易逆差。

Sri Lanka’s chief trade negotiator K.J. Weerasinghe said this week that Colombo was insisting on a right to review the free trade pact after 10 years, but China was not ready to agree that.

本周斯里兰卡首席贸易谈判代表K.J. Weerasinghe表示科伦坡方面坚持10年后必须对中斯自贸协定进行审核，但中国并不同意这么做。

Ministerial level discussions about an agreement have not been held since March last year. Lower-level discussions between officials have made little progress, according to Weerasinghe.

自去年三月以来两国还未就贸易协定进行部长级谈判。Weerasinghe也表示官员间的低级磋商谈判几乎没有进展。

“The talks have come to a standstill. China wants to remove the review clause,” Weerasinghe said. Beijing was opposed to such an option because it wanted longer-term stability, he said.

他说：“谈判已经陷入停滞。中国希望取消审查条款。”Weerasinghe表示中国政府反对这么做，因为它希望保持政策的长期稳定。

China’s commerce ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
The review clause that Sri Lanka wants would allow it to change some of the deal terms if they were hurting the island nation’s local businesses.

中国商务部没有回复记者询问。
如果中国伤害了这个岛国的当地企业，斯里兰卡坚持加入的审查条款允许它改变一些交易条款，

Weerasinghe said another point of contention was that China wanted zero tariffs on 90 per cent of goods the two countries sold to each other as soon as an agreement was signed while Colombo would rather it started with zero tariffs on only half of the products concerned and expanded gradually over 20 years.

Weerasinghe表示两国的另一个冲突焦点是,中国希望对90%的两国商品施行零关税并彼此尽快签署自贸协议。而科伦坡则希望在未来20年内施行零关税的商品从20%慢慢提升到90%。

China has been pushing for free trade pacts with countries in the region and last year sealed an agreement with the Maldives that drew criticism from opposition political groups in the tropical islands’ nation. They said it had been rushed through parliament with less than an hour of debate.

中国一直在地区国家推动签署自贸协定，并在去年成功和马来西亚签署自贸协议，该协议招致该热带岛国反对派的批评。他们批评说这个协议在不到一个小时的谈判中就被通过了。

Sri Lanka has previously said it wanted more time to negotiate the free trade deal with China as it is concerned about the economic impact of a rushed deal on its economy.

斯里兰卡此前曾表示希望有更多时间与中国就自由贸易协定进行谈判，因为它担心仓促达成协议会使斯里兰卡受到来自中国的经济影响。

Sri Lanka imported US$4.2 billion worth of Chinese goods in 2016, mostly raw materials for garments, machines and electronics, metals, transport equipment and chemicals. Its exports to the world’s second largest economy were just US$211 million the same year, which included textiles, tea and vegetables, footwear and rubber.

2016年斯里兰卡进口了价值42亿美元的中国商品，其中大部分是服装、机械电子产品、金属、运输设备和化学原料。同年斯里兰卡对中国这一世界第二大经济体出口总额仅为2.11亿美元，其中包括纺织品、茶叶蔬果、鞋类和橡胶制品。

The 2017 figures for China trade have still not been released by the Sri Lankan authorities.

斯里兰卡当局仍未公布2017年对华贸易数据。

The trade deficit with China accounted for nearly half of the nation’s total deficit in 2016, adding pressure on the country’s current account deficit, central bank data showed.

斯里兰卡央行数据显示2016年对华贸易赤字占到了斯里兰卡总赤字的半数，给该国财政状况带来了很大压力。

Sri Lanka’s foreign debt rose nearly 17 per cent to 4.72 trillion rupees (US$30 billion) last year, a fifth of that coming from loans from China to finance the massive construction programme across the island.

全年斯里兰卡外债增加17%达到了4.72万亿卢比（约合300亿美元），其中五分之一是因基建项目向中国借的贷款。

Colombo is separately negotiating a trade pact with India, but that is also moving slowly because Sri Lankan businesses fear they will face competition from a flood of cheap goods made by Indian firms.

科伦坡正在与印度单独谈判一项贸易协定，但这也进展缓慢。因为斯里兰卡企业担心将面临来自印度企业制造的大量廉价商品竞争。