安倍首访非洲 车马未至投资先行

Japan is flexing its diplomatic and commercial muscle in Africa, seeking commodities and new markets in an effort to catch up with other nations, including China, that have poured billions of dollars into the region in recent years.

日本准备在非洲显示其外交和商业实力，寻找大宗商品和新市场，以努力追赶上其他近年来已向该地区倾注数十亿美元的国家，包括中国。

Shinzo Abe is leading the first visit by a Japanese prime minister to sub-Saharan Africa in eight years this week to support “Japanese companies’ investments to secure important natural resources” in the region, Tokyo said. The top Japanese trading houses, or sogo shosha, have already started to pour billions of dollars into projects including Mitsui’s in Mozambique to produce liquefied natural gas. Sumitomo and Mitsubishi are also targeting the region.

安倍晋三(Shinzo Abe)本周正在访问撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲，这是八年来日本首相第一次访问该地区。日本政府表示，安倍此行旨在支持“日本企业为在该地区获取重要自然资源所作的投资”。日本顶级商社——称为“综合商社”(sogo shosha)——已开始投入数十亿美元开展项目，包括三井物产(Mitsui)在莫桑比克生产液化天然气的项目。住友(Sumitomo)和三菱(Mitsubishi)也把目光对准了该地区。

David Shinn, professor of international relations at George Washington University and a former US ambassador to several African countries, said the trip was a “belated recognition” that Japan was “falling behind a number of rising countries in Africa”, including China, India, Brazil, South Korea and Turkey.

乔治华盛顿大学(George Washington University)国际关系学教授戴维•希恩(David Shinn)曾任美国驻非洲多个国家的大使。他说，安倍此行是“后知后觉”，日本终于发现自己“在非洲落后于一些崛起国家”——包括中国、印度、巴西、韩国和土耳其。

The increase of Japanese investments in Africa, particularly in commodities, could provide an important counterweight to China’s influence, foreign executives said. In recent years, a growing number of African officials have voiced concern that China is taking the continent’s natural resources and selling back manufactured goods, a relationship that echoes European colonialism a century ago.

外企高管们表示，日本增加对非投资，特别是对大宗商品的投资，可以对中国的影响构成一种重要的平衡。近年来，越来越多的非洲官员表达了担忧，他们担心中国一方面拿走非洲的自然资源，另一方面向非洲销售工业制成品，这让人回想起一个世纪以前的欧洲殖民主义。

Hiroyuki Takai, head of research at Sumitomo, the Tokyo-based trading house, said the Japanese push would trigger some “competition between Chinese and Japanese companies”. But he played down the prospect of a clash, saying: “It’s good and healthy to have fair competition on behalf of the African countries.”

住友是总部位于东京的商社。其研究部门主管Hiroyuki Takai认为，日本挺进非洲将引发一些“中国和日本企业之间的竞争”。但他对发生冲突的可能则予以淡化，“从非洲国家利益来看，出现公平竞争是好事，有益于良性发展。”

Mr Abe is set to announce more than Y60bn ($576m) in loans to Mozambique to help finance a transport network to ship coal to a new export terminal. Last year Tokyo promised more than $30bn in aid to African countries over the next five years.

安倍计划宣布向莫桑比克提供逾600亿日元（合5.76亿美元）的贷款，资助一个运输网的建设，以便将煤炭运送到一个新的出口终端。去年，日本政府承诺，未来五年将向非洲国家提供超过300亿美元的援助。

The renewed push into Africa started to gather pace last year but this week’s trip will take it to a new level, diplomats said. A similar push in 2008 fizzled out soon after.

外交人士表示，日本从去年起开始加快重新挺进非洲的步伐，但安倍本周的访问将其推向新的高度。2008年日本的类似举动在开始不久便偃旗息鼓。

Mr Shinn added that the trip was also a “recognition that there is more money to be made in Africa today than was the case” since a Japanese prime minister last visited the region eight years ago. The International Monetary Fund forecasts that the economy of sub-Saharan Africa would grow 6 per cent in 2014, second only to the 6.5 per cent growth rate in the developing Asia region, which includes China.

希恩还表示，日本首相上次访问该地区还是在八年前，因此，安倍此行也表明日本“认识到今天的非洲比过去有更多赚钱的机会”。国际货币基金组织(IMF)预计，2014年撒哈拉沙漠以南非洲的经济增长率将达到6%，仅次于亚洲发展中地区（包括中国）6.5%的增长率。

Analysts cautioned that the Japanese push had its limits. Tokyo is unlikely to match the firepower of China, which has invested billions of dollars in the region, on top of billions more in no-strings-attached soft loans that have financed railways, power plants and other infrastructure projects across Africa. Chinese trade with Africa is far larger too, rising in 2012 to nearly $180bn, compared with $25bn for Japan.

分析人士指出，日本对非投资力度有限，不太可能达到中国的投资规模，后者已在该地区投入数十亿美元，另外还有几十亿不带附加条件的低息贷款，用于资助非洲各地修建铁路、发电厂和其他基础设施项目。中国与非洲的贸易规模也比日本大得多，2012年的贸易额升至近1800亿美元，而日本只有250亿美元。

Perhaps the biggest example of Chinese dominance will become apparent tomor­­row when Mr Abe gives his policy speech on Africa at the headquarters of the African Union, a $200m building funded by China as a gift to the continent.

安倍明天在非洲联盟(African Union)总部发表对非政策演说时，恐怕将是中国的影响力得到最大体现的时刻。这栋建筑是中国政府斥资2亿美元送给非洲的一份礼物。

The renewed engagement with Africa is part of a broader effort by Mr Abe to put an assertive stamp on Japan’s foreign policy. In the year since he returned to power for a second stint as prime minister, he has made about one overseas trip a month, notably more than his recent predecessors.

重启与非洲合作是安倍在更广泛的领域上实行强势外交政策努力的一部分。他再度出任日本首相一年以来，大约每月开展一次外事出访，明显多于几位前任首相。

Some of the trips, in particular to southeast Asia, have given the impression of an alliance-building campaign directed at China, though commercial motives have also been prominent, from natural-resource dev­elop­ment deals to an agreement to sell Japanese nuc­lear technology to Turkey.

某些访问，特别是对东南亚国家的访问，让人感觉日本是在进行一项针对中国的结盟计划。不过，从开发自然资源的协议到向土耳其出售日本核技术的协议，这些访问的商业动机也同样突出。