奥巴马首晤东南亚领导人

图：美国国务卿希拉里（戴墨镜者）与众议员列文(Sander Levin，背对镜头者)周三在新加坡交谈

美国总统奥巴马(Barack Obama)下周将首次与东南亚国家领导人召开峰会，美国正努力在该地区重建主导地位；东南亚地区在全球贸易中扮演着关键角色，该地区与中国的关系近年来得到了迅速发展。

President Barack Obama will hold a first-ever summit with the leaders of Southeast Asia next week as the U.S. tries to regain its dominance in a region that plays a crucial role in global trade but has rapidly expanded ties with China in recent years.

奥巴马与东南亚国家领导人的峰会将于本周日在新加坡召开的亚太经济合作组织(APEC)领导人年度会议间隙进行。预计此次峰会将包括美国总统和缅甸高级领导人数十年来最高规格的一次会晤。缅甸军政府被指责普遍侵犯人权，美国对缅甸实施了严格的经济制裁措施；多年来，关于如何处理与缅甸关系的分歧一直影响着美国与东南亚国家的关系。

The summit, which will take place Sunday on the sidelines of an annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders' gathering in Singapore, is expected to include one of the highest-level meetings between a U.S. president and a top Myanmar leader in decades. The U.S. imposes strict economic sanctions on Myanmar, whose military regime is accused of widespread human-rights abuses, and disagreements over how to treat the country have clouded U.S. relations with Southeast Asia for years.

去年中国取代美国，成为东南亚第三大贸易伙伴，仅次于日本和欧盟27国，双方贸易总额达到了1,930亿美元。今年8月，中国与东盟(Asean) 10国签署了自由贸易协定，有望进一步推动双方关系。

Last year, China overtook the U.S. as Southeast Asia's third-largest trading partner after Japan and the 27-member European Union, with 3 billion in two-way trade. In August, Beijing finalized a free-trade pact with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which is likely to further boost ties.

东南亚地区具有重要地位，该地区拥有将近6亿人口，民众收入迅速增长。2004年至2008年期间，东南亚地区的名义国内生产总值(GDP)总计增长了一倍以上。在美国和欧洲陷入经济衰退之际，印尼和越南等几个东南亚国家今年经济却强劲增长。

The region is no small prize. With nearly 600 million people and rapidly rising incomes, it saw its combined nominal gross domestic product more than double between 2004 and 2008, and several of the region's countries, including Indonesia and Vietnam, have posted solid growth this year even as the U.S. and Europe slid into recessions.

中国的资本在一定程度上推动了这些国家的经济增长。中国投资资金大举涌入缅甸、印尼和其他地区的自然资源项目和其他交易，而中国修路、建桥和铺设铁路等大规模援助工程也令柬埔寨和老挝等较为贫困的国家受益。一些批评人士说，所有这些已经使得中国在东南亚地区的声望高过美国。

Chinese capital has helped fuel their growth. Chinese investment has poured into natural-resources projects and other deals in Myanmar, Indonesia, and elsewhere, and poorer nations, like Cambodia and Laos, have benefited from large Chinese goodwill projects to build roads, bridges and rail links. All of that has made Beijing more visible than Washington in the region, some critics say.

前东盟秘书长塞维里诺(Rodolfo Severino)说，从美国方面来说，他们需要更为主动。塞维里诺目前是新加坡东南亚研究所(Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore)的东盟研究中心(Asean Studies Center)主任。

'The U.S., for its part, needs to be more active,' said Rodolfo Severino, a former Asean secretary general, who now heads the Asean Studies Center at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies in Singapore.

预计缅甸总理登盛(Thein Sein)和其他东南亚领导人将与会，此次会议可能不会达成重要协议。但分析人士说，这次峰会将具有重要的象征性意义，标志着美国再度接触东南亚地区。奥巴马在东南亚度过了部分童年，他在该地区仍然极受欢迎。

No major agreements are expected out of the meeting, which is expected to include Myanmar's Prime Minister Thein Sein and other Southeast Asian leaders. Still, analysts say it will hold major symbolic importance as a sign of renewed U.S. engagement in a part of the world where Mr. Obama spent part of his childhood and where he remains extremely popular.

这一峰会还将给本周举行的范围更广的APEC 21国领导人峰会增加一点戏剧性。APEC成员国包括中国、墨西哥、美国和澳大利亚，占据了全球经济54%的权重。预计此次APEC领导人会议的重点会放在采取什么途径维持全球刺激性资金流动，避免此次经济衰退出现倒退，以及推动自由贸易；不过，APEC峰会的影响力仍次于二十国集团(G20)领导人会议等其他重要国际性会议。

It will also add some measure of drama to the wider summit held this week among leaders of the 21-nation APEC group, which includes China, Mexico, the U.S. and Australia, and represents some 54% of the world economy. Attendees of that gathering are expected to focus on ways to keep stimulus flowing world-wide to prevent a relapse of the latest recession and to promote free trade, though the summit's influence is secondary to other major international gatherings such as meetings of members of the Group of 20.

当然，美国仍然在东南亚拥有重要的政治和经济影响力。东南亚的出口导向型经济一定程度上依赖于美国消费者来推动经济增长。军事方面，美国仍然在该地区发挥着主导作用，包括在印尼和菲律宾培训反恐部队，协助打击东南亚与基地组织(al Qaeda)有关联的伊斯兰武装组织。

The U.S., of course, still has a major political and economic presence in Southeast Asia. Its export-driven economies rely in part on U.S. consumers to fuel their growth. And the U.S. continues to play the predominant military role in the region, including training counterterrorism forces in Indonesia and the Philippines that have helped break al Qaeda-linked Islamic militant networks in Southeast Asia.

但对于有缅甸军政府领导人参与的高级别东盟会议或广泛的经济协议，美国迄今仍拒绝参加或签署。相反，美国专注于与东南亚国家分别达成双边协议，例如2003年与新加坡达成的自由贸易协议，这使得批评人士更加觉得美国轻视了与东盟的关系。

But Washington has until now declined to attend high-level Asean meetings or forge wider-ranging economic pacts that involve Myanmar's military leaders. Instead, the U.S. has concentrated on bilateral agreements with individual Southeast Asian countries, such as a 2003 free-trade pact with Singapore, which has added to the sense among critics that it undervalues its relationship with Asean.

东南亚地区的其他一体化举措──包括近期东盟、印度、澳大利亚、新西兰和韩国之间达成的自由贸易协定──已经使得一些美国官员担心美国会被迫靠边站。上个月，美国参议院外交关系委员会(Senate Foreign Relations Committee)的共和党少数派领袖参议员卢格(Richard Lugar)提出了一项决议，呼吁美国与东盟达成贸易协议。他说，对缅甸的贸易限制措施不应该阻碍美国和东盟达成这一协议。

Other efforts at integrating the region -- including recent free-trade agreements between Asean and India, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea -- have left some in Washington worried that the U.S. is getting left behind. Last month, Sen. Richard Lugar, the Republican minority leader of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, introduced a resolution calling for a trade agreement between the U.S. and Asean. Trade restrictions with Myanmar shouldn't hinder the deal, he said.