肯尼亞總統敦促讓中非貿易恢復平衡

President Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya has called on China to rebalance an increasingly skewed trade relationship between Africa and the rising superpower, arguing that Beijing must do more to tackle a widening trade deficit.

肯尼亞總統烏胡魯肯雅塔（Uhuru Kenyatta，上圖左二）呼籲中國讓非洲與這個崛起中的超級大國之間日益傾斜的貿易關係恢復平衡，稱北京方面必須採取更多行動解決非洲日益擴大的貿易逆差。

Africa’s trade balance with China has moved decisively into deficit due to a fall in the price of many African commodities, such as oil, copper, iron ore and cocoa. In 2015, the most recent year for which there is reliable data, Africa’s 54 countries recorded a $34bn deficit with China on total trade of $172bn, according to the China-Africa Research Initiative (Cari) at Johns Hopkins University, although commodity prices have strengthened somewhat since then.

由於石油、銅、鐵礦石和可可等許多非洲大宗商品價格下跌，非洲對華貿易已不可避免地出現逆差。約翰霍普金斯大學(Johns Hopkins University)“中非研究倡議”(China-Africa Research Initiative)的數據顯示，2015年（能找到可靠數據的最新年份），非洲54國對華貿易總額爲1720億美元，總逆差爲340億美元，儘管大宗商品價格自那年起已有所走強。

“As with any country, e deficit is an issue of concern and we will be pushing to see how we can increase opportunities for Kenyan goods to penetrate the Chinese market,” Mr Kenyatta said in an interview with the Financial Times. He did not specify which goods Kenya hoped to export or precisely what Chinese barriers stood in their way.

肯雅塔在接受英國《金融時報》採訪時表示：“與所有國家一樣……貿易逆差是個令人關注的問題，我們將努力探究如何能提高肯尼亞商品滲透進中國市場的機會。”他沒有具體說明肯尼亞希望出口哪些貨物，也沒有明確指出中國設置了什麼壁壘。

Kenya, east Africa’s most developed economy, is less dependent on commodities than many countries on the continent and grew by nearly 6 per cent last year. Nevertheless, in 2015, Kenya imported $5.9bn worth of Chinese goods, much of it steel and equipment for a $4bn Chinese-built railway, but shipped only $99m of goods in return, according to Cari.

肯尼亞是東非最發達的經濟體。與非洲大陸的許多國家相比，肯尼亞對大宗商品的依賴要弱一些，該國經濟去年增長了近6%。儘管如此，“中非研究倡議”的數據顯示，2015年肯尼亞進口了價值59億美元的中國商品，其中很大一部分是供中方修建的一條造價40億美元的鐵路所用的鋼材和設備，而肯尼亞只向中國出口了9900萬美元商品。

Mr Kenyatta, one of only two African leaders to attend this weekend’s Beijing forum of China’s flagship Belt and Road regional infrastructure programme, said ahead of the gathering: “Those of us there, representing Africa, will be increase our trade into China.”

上週末，中國招牌性的地區基建計劃“一帶一路”(Belt and Road)的論壇在北京召開，肯雅塔是出席該論壇的僅有的兩位非洲國家領導人之一。他在會前表示：“我們這些代表非洲出席的人，將力求……擴大我們的對華出口。”

Referring to concerns in parts of Africa that China was recreating colonial trading patterns by flooding the continent with manufactured goods, extracting raw materials and gobbling up construction contracts, Mr Kenyatta said that Beijing was “beginning to appreciate that, if their win-win strategy is going to work, it must mean that, just as Africa opens up to China, China must also open up to Africa”.

當談及對中國正在非洲部分地區重現殖民地貿易模式、在這塊大陸傾銷製成品、攫取原材料、搶奪建設合同的擔憂時，肯雅塔表示，北京方面已“開始認識到這一點，如果他們的雙贏戰略想要奏效，就必然意味着，正如非洲向中國開放一樣，中國也必須向非洲開放”。

Under its Belt and Road initiative, China is seeking to refashion the ancient Silk Road linking Asia with Europe and Africa, including Kenya on the Indian Ocean coast. China overtook the US as Africa’s biggest trading partner in 2009.

依託“一帶一路”倡議，中國正試圖重塑將亞洲與歐洲和非洲連接起來的古“絲綢之路”，位於印度洋沿岸的肯尼亞也在這條路上。中國在2009年超越美國成爲非洲的最大貿易伙伴。

Mr Kenyatta said Kenya intended to emulate Ethiopia by inviting Chinese manufacturers to the country. As Chinese wages rise, African leaders see attracting jobs in labour-intensive industries such as textiles, shoes and agro-processing as one way of tackling the trade imbalance.

肯雅塔表示，肯尼亞打算效仿埃塞俄比亞，邀請中國製造商來肯尼亞。隨着中國人的工資水平升高，非洲國家領導人認爲，將勞動密集型行業——如紡織業、製鞋業和農產品加工業——的工作崗位吸引到非洲是解決非中貿易不平衡的一個辦法。

Mr Kenyatta said the establishment of special economic zones, modelled on China and built close to new, mostly Chinese-built, transport links, was “critical for job creation in Kenya”.

肯雅塔說，在新的交通運輸網（主要由中國人修建）附近建立中國式的經濟特區“對肯尼亞的就業創造至關重要”。

The president denied Kenya was taking on too much Chinese debt to finance what critics have suggested are white elephant projects that will never pay for themselves. His government borrowed $3.6bn for the Mombasa-Nairobi leg of a new rail line, due to open next month, which Mr Kenyatta said would eventually extend to Uganda, Rwanda and even the Atlantic coast in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

肯雅塔否認肯尼亞向中國借了太多的錢來建設永遠收不回投資的“面子工程”。他的政府爲修建蒙巴薩-內羅畢鐵路借了36億美元。蒙內鐵路定於下月開通，它是一條新鐵路線的組成部分，肯雅塔表示該線最終將延伸至烏干達、盧旺達乃至大西洋沿岸的剛果民主共和國。

“We believe strongly that infrastructural development is what is going to help us open up east Africa, open up the continent to trade and investment,” he said. “Our debt is all towards investment — investment that should have been made a long time back,” he said, adding that debt was still at a “very sustainable level”.

他說：“我們堅信，基礎設施發展將有助於我們敞開東非、敞開非洲大陸的大門迎接貿易和投資。我們借的錢全都用作投資了，用作老早就應該做的投資。”他還表示，債務規模仍處於“非常可持續的水平”。

On Mr Kenyatta’s watch, since 2013, debt has risen from 40 per cent to 53 per cent of gross domestic product. And critics say that ratio is flattered by the fact that Kenya’s GDP jumped by a quarter when it was recalculated in 2014. “We’ll find ourselves so indebted to China we will be beholden to them not only economically but politically,” said Patrick Lumumba, director of the Kenya School of Law.

自肯雅塔於2013年上臺以來，肯尼亞的債務與國內生產總值(GDP)之比已從40%升到53%。而且批評者稱，這一比例還是“美顏”後的結果，因爲2014年肯尼亞的GDP經過重新計算後激增了四分之一。肯尼亞法學院(Kenya School of Law)院長帕特里克盧蒙巴(Patrick Lumumba)表示：“我們會發覺自己欠中國太多，我們將不僅在經濟上欠他們的，在政治上也欠。”