Keeping the flame alight
让圣火永放光芒
Apr 10th 2008
From The Economist print edition
Translation cvx555888
Two ways to repair China's image: end the torch relay and take a lead over Myanmar
两个方法可以改善中国的形象：结束火炬传递并在缅甸问题上发挥领导作用
WERE shooting oneself in the foot an Olympic event, China would surely be well placed for a gold. The Beijing 2008 Olympic Torch Relay, taking the flame around the world before the games begin in August, was always a risk. Of course the flame would draw protesters like moths. But the suppression of riots and protests in Tibet has ensured the torch's progress has graduated from minor diplomatic embarrassment to full-scale public-relations disaster (see article).
如果搬起石头砸自己的脚也是奥运会比赛项目，那中国是当之无愧的冠军。2008年北京奥运会火炬传递充满了风险，因为在8月份比赛之前火炬将绕着地球跑一大圈。当然有一些小规模的抗议不足为奇，但是对西藏暴动和抗议的镇压使火炬传递过程从一次小小的外交事件演变成了一场全方位的公共关系危机
An exercise intended to flaunt the new, outward-looking and confident China has displayed its dark side: nervous, repressive, prickly and stubborn. That stubbornness may rule out the obvious remedy: calling the whole farce off before someone is badly hurt. At least the International Olympic Committee should have nothing more to do with it. Protests this week in London, Paris and San Francisco were ill-tempered enough. The passage through Delhi on April 17th could be uglier. India is home to some 100,000 Tibetans. The only stop on the torch's world tour sure to be trouble-free is Pyongyang. As for its proposed procession through Tibet in June, it is hard to imagine a more provocative or insensitive gesture.
一次展示现代的，外向的，自信的中国的大好机会却暴露了其阴暗面：紧张，压抑，暴躁而又固执。这种固执会错失掉显而易见的补救机会，那就是在有人受伤之前，停止这场闹剧。至少国际奥委会应采取行动而不是坐视不管。伦敦，巴黎，旧金山的抗议者已经够厉害了，4月17日经过德里的时候会更难堪，因为有10万西藏人就住在印度。火炬世界之旅唯一安全的一站恐怕就只剩平壤了。至于火炬要在6月经过西藏，就更难想象是怎样一幅紧张而又压抑的画面了。
To accuse China's critics of “politicising” a sporting event is nonsense. What has the relay to do with sport? It is not some timeworn practice integral to the games. Rather, the idea of a relay from Greece to the Olympic venue was revived by the Nazis for the 1936 Berlin Olympics, which is hardly a precedent China wants to advertise. The first “global” relay only took place for the most recent Olympics, in Athens in 2004. But that was not such a circus. China's pride may preclude any concession, however face-saving, on Tibet, or on human-rights abuses in general. But it is also facing criticism for its foreign policy—its links with the governments of Sudan and Myanmar in particular. Here, in theory, it can do something to show that it is indeed a responsible international “stakeholder”, with diplomatic maturity as well as economic clout.
中国批评把奥运会政治化毫无意义，为了反驳这种指责，我们要问那火炬传递和运动又有什么关系呢？那并不是奥运会历来就有的一部分。事实上，把火炬从希腊传递到奥运会主场的点子是在1936年柏林奥运会时纳粹想出来的，纳粹可不是中国想要效仿的榜样。第一次真正意义上的全球传递只在最近的雅典奥运会上出现过。而那次的情况与这次不同。中国的自信使其在西藏问题和人权问题上拒绝做出任何让步，即使这样做可以保全面子。中国还面临着对其外交政策的指责——它与苏丹和缅甸政府保持着特殊关系。理论上，经济成长会带来政治上的成熟，中国可以采取些行动证明它确实是负责任的国际利益攸关方。
Take Myanmar. After the bloody quelling of the “saffron revolution” last September, the ruling junta threw a few sops to international opinion. It accepted visits from a United Nations envoy, opened talks with the detained opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and gave a timetable for a political transition. China deserves some credit for forcing the junta's hand. Myanmar's generals are nobody's puppets. But China, with its big commercial interests in the country, and its support in the UN Security Council, is now the junta's best friend.
拿缅甸来说。经过去年九月对”臧红色革命”（缅甸僧人发动的革命）的血腥镇压，统治集团好不容易对国际建议释出一些善意。它接受联合国代表团的访问，与反对派领导人昂山素季展开了搁置已久的会谈，给政治过渡设定了时间表。但是中国，由于在缅甸有巨大的商业利益，并在联合国安理会动用否决权支持缅甸，现在它成了缅甸统治集团最好的朋友。
It is time to use that position again. Confident that the outside world's focus on their misdeeds has shifted elsewhere, the generals have stalled on dialogue both with their opponents at home and the UN's envoy. The plight of their country remains desperate (see article). The political “process” has degenerated into a drive to impose a constitution entrenching military rule. A referendum on this solution will be held on May 10th in a climate of vicious intimidation.
是时候利用这种优势了。缅甸统治集团对外部世界对其罪行的关注已自信到完全不管不顾，将军们终止了与国内反对派和联合国代表团的对话。这个国家面临的困境令人绝望 。政治进程倒退到了要强制通过一部增强军方力量的宪法这种地步。5月10日针对这部宪法的公投将在恶意胁迫的气氛中举行。
Members of the Security Council are mulling a new statement, calling for some of the minimum reforms needed for a credible vote—such as the release of opposition leaders, including Miss Suu Kyi. The first thing China can do is to allow the statement to be issued in the name of a united outside world. More than that, China could help resolve the sterile debate that has raged for two decades over “engagement” or “isolation”. Isolation has never worked, because China, India and South-East Asian countries see too much commercial and strategic benefit in links with the junta. But nor has “engagement”, since Western countries have imposed sanctions of varying severity, and the junta has little interest in engaging anyway.
安理会成员发表了一项新声明，要求进行一些保证公正投票的必要的细微改革——比如释放反对派领导人，包括昂山素季女士。首先中国可以做到的是允许以整个国际社会的名义发表这篇声明。更进一步中国还可以帮助结束持续20年的关于“接触”和“隔绝”的毫无结果的争论。隔绝不是办法，因为中国，印度和东盟国家都看到了与统治集团保持联系会带来巨大的商业和战略利益。但是仅仅“接触”同样不可行，因为西方已对缅甸进行了非常激烈的制裁，况且统治集团对接触也没什么兴趣。
Nobody wins gold for sitting on a fence
在设置障碍的情况下没有赢家
Despite this, there is a broad consensus about the need for reform in Myanmar. With anti-Chinese feeling mounting in Myanmar, it is not in China's interests to be perceived as the prop that always holds up a loathed regime. It could take the initiative in forming a contact group to engage the junta in talks on economic co-operation and political reform. Even if it excluded Europe and America, such a group, of China, India, some South-East Asian countries and Japan, could help show the generals that they cannot forever survive in the cracks of other countries' disagreements. And it could help show that China is not always, unequivocally, on the side of the thugs.
尽管这样，缅甸在改革必要性的问题上还是达成了广泛共识。随着缅甸反中情绪的滋长，继续支持一个广受厌恶的政权已不符合中国的利益。它可以发起成立一个联系组织促使统治集团在经济合作与政治改革方面展开对话。即使这个组织把美国，欧洲排除在外，只包括中国，印度，东盟和日本，也有助于向将军们传达这样一个信息：他们不可能在忽视他国不满的情况下永远生存下去。这也有助于显示中国并非总是毫不含糊的站在专制政权一边。