中國與20國簽約創建亞投行

BEIJing — China and 20 other countries signed a memorandum on Friday agreeing to create an international development bank that Beijing hopes will rival organizations like the World Bank. But some leading Asian countries refrained from joining the project, which the United States has been quietly lobbying against.

北京——週五，中國與其他20個國家簽署了一份備忘錄，就建立一家國際發展銀行達成共識。北京方面希望，該銀行能匹敵世界銀行(World Bank)等機構。但是，一些主要亞洲國家並沒有參與該項目，美國也一直在私下游說各國不要參加。

Japan, Australia, South Korea and Indonesia were not represented at the signing ceremony for the bank, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, in Beijing. India joined the bank, along with Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines, news agencies reported.

日本、澳大利亞、韓國和印度尼西亞均未派代表參加亞洲基礎設施投資銀行（Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank，簡稱亞投行）相關文件的簽字儀式。據各通訊社消息，加入該銀行的國家除印度以外，還有馬來西亞、泰國、越南和菲律賓。

The bank, proposed a year ago by President Xi Jinping of China, is to offer financing for infrastructure projects in underdeveloped countries across Asia. China, which has promised to contribute much of the initial $50 billion in capital, sees it as a way to increase its influence in the region after years of fruitless lobbying for more say in other multinational lending organizations.

一年前，中國國家主席習近平提議成立該銀行，其目的主要是爲亞洲不發達國家的基礎設施項目提供資金。在500億美元（約合3060億元人民幣）的初始資本中，中國承諾會支付一大部分。對於中國而言，這個銀行可以增加中國的地區影響力。數年來，中國爲了在其他重要國際組織獲得更多話語權做出了諸多努力，但都無果而終。

But the United States, with allies like Australia and South Korea, has campaigned against the project, characterizing it as an attempt to undercut the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank, which are dominated by the United States and Japan.

然而，美國與其盟友澳大利亞和韓國，都對該項目表示反對，稱這樣做是在試圖削弱世界銀行和亞洲開發銀行(Asian Development Bank)。在這兩家銀行占主導地位的是美國和日本。

Mr. Xi, meeting with representatives of the founding members after the signing ceremony, said the new bank "will help to improve global financial governance," according to Xinhua, the Chinese state-run news agency.

中國官方通訊社新華社報道，習近平在簽字儀式後會見創始成員國代表時說，這個新銀行“有利於推動完善全球金融治理”。

Australia has yet to make a decision on joining, Gemma Daley, a spokeswoman for Joe Hockey, the treasurer of Australia, said on Friday. The South Korean finance minister, Choi Kyung-hwan, said this week that Seoul was willing to participate under certain conditions, including a commitment from the bank to meet international standards on issues like the environmental impact of projects. "If such issues are resolved, there will be no reason for us not to join," Mr. Choi said on Wednesday.

澳大利亞財政部長喬·霍基(Joe Hockey)的女發言人傑瑪·戴利(Gemma Daley)週五表示，澳大利亞尚未決定是否加入。韓國財政部長崔炅煥(Choi Kyung Hwan)本週表示，首爾方面願意在一定條件下參與亞投行，比如亞投行承諾在項目環境影響等問題上，達到國際標準。崔炅煥週三表示，“如果這些問題解決了，我們沒有理由不加入。”

Still, the countries' absence on Friday was a blow to the project.

但這些國家週五沒有出席簽約儀式，對於亞投行也是一個打擊。

Chinese officials have said that the bank is intended to complement existing lending organizations, not to compete with them. In March, Lou Jiwei, the Chinese finance minister, said the bank would "mainly focus on infrastructure construction," whereas the World Bank and Asian Development Bank "put their priorities more on poverty reduction."

中國官員曾表示，亞投行旨在與現有的信貸機構形成互補關係，而不是競爭關係。今年3月，中國財政部長樓繼偉表示，亞投行“專注於亞洲基礎設施建設”，而世界銀行、亞洲開發銀行則“則以減貧爲宗旨”。

The Asian Development Bank's president, Takehiko Nakao, disputed that view on Thursday. "There's a misunderstanding that the A.D.B. is for poverty reduction and the A.I.I.B. is for infrastructure, but the majority of our banking is to infrastructure," Reuters quoted him as saying.

週四，亞洲開發銀行總裁中尾武彥(Takehiko Nakao)反駁了這一觀點。路透社(Reuters)援引他的話說，“有人誤認爲，亞行以減貧爲目標，亞投行側重於基礎設施，但我們大多數的銀行業務是基礎設施項目。”

China already directly finances many infrastructure projects in the developing world, and many Chinese analysts see the bank as a sensible next step.

中國已經在爲發展中國家的很多基礎設施項目提供資金，很多中國分析人士認爲，建立亞投行是一個明智的計劃。

Wang Yong, director of Peking University's Center for International Political Economy Research, said it was natural for China to work with other countries to fill the investment gap in infrastructure, which he called "tremendous." The Asian Development Bank estimated in 2009 that the region would need $8 trillion in infrastructure investment by 2020.

北京大學國際政治經濟研究中心主任王勇表示，中國與其他國家合作填補基礎設施投資方面的缺口，是合乎常情的，他形容這一缺口十分“巨大”。2009年，亞行預計該地區在2020年前需要8萬億美元的基礎設施投資。