放大圖片
■法意德三國上月宣布加入AIIB。圖為2014年,國家主席習近平會晤籌建AIIB成員國的代表。 資料圖片
英國《金融時報》報道,法國、德國和意大利同意加入由中國主導的亞洲基礎設施投資銀行,將使亞投行擴大至31個成員國。繼英國之後,法、德、意也要求加入亞投行。
亞投行是由中國牽頭主導,旨在推動亞洲在運輸、能源、電信以及其他基礎設施領域的投資。2013年10月中方提出倡議,2014年10月24日中國、印度、新加坡等21個首批意向創始成員國簽署籌建備忘錄。美國拒絕了這一邀請,而後還游說其盟友(包括澳大利亞、韓國、英國和其他歐洲國家)不要加入亞投行。
中國在現有國際秩序中獲得了發展機遇,無意挑戰美國。不過,現有國際秩序並不完善,中國發起成立亞投行,是對現有國際秩序的完善。中美兩國建立新型大國關係,可以避免歷史上曾出現的國強必霸、後起與現存大國無法共贏共存的局面。 (18-3-2015)
US fails to ward European countries off AIIB
As reported by the UK Financial Times, France, Germany and Italy have already agreed to join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), raising the number of member countries to 31. Following the footsteps of the UK, these three countries-France, Germany and Italy-also expressed their wishes to join AIIB.
Initiated and led by China, AIIB aims at promoting investments in infrastructure such as transportation, energy and telecommunication in Asia. China proposed its establishment in October 2013. Later on 24 October 2014, the first group of 21 countries, including China, India and Singapore, with the intent to become founding members, signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Establishing AIIB. The US had turned down the invitation earlier, and went further to dissuade its allies (including Australia, Korea, UK and other European countries) from joining AIIB.
The current world order has given China an opportunity to develop. She does not intend to challenge the US. Nonetheless, the existing order is not a perfect one. China initiated AIIB and this is a way to perfect the world order. History has seen times where a strong nation became hegemonic, and newly-emerging and dominant powers could not co-exist in a win-win manner. This can be prevented if China and the US build up a new model of relationships. (18-3-2015)
Learning Point
這篇社評的焦點「亞投行 」的英文是Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank,簡稱AIIB。這簡稱由名稱中的英文字的第一個字母組成,是一個acronym(首字母縮寫詞)的例子。
許多英文名稱很長,由多個字組成,為了方便,就會用首字母縮寫,文中有:UK 是United Kingdom(英國)的縮寫,US是United States(美國)的縮寫。■Translation and Learning Point by Tung-ming [ tungming23@gmail.com ]
Exercise
全球有許多國際熟悉的組織的英文名字都有縮寫,能說出下面的首字母縮寫詞代表的組織嗎?
1. UN
2. EU
3. WHO
4. WTO
5. ASEAN
6. NASA
Answers
1. United Nations 聯合國
2. European Union 歐洲聯盟(歐盟)
3. World Health Organization 世界衛生組織(世衛)
4. World Trade Organization 世界貿易組織(世貿)
5. Association of Southeast Asian Nations 東南亞國家聯盟(東盟)
6. National Aeronautics and Space Administration(美國)國家航空暨太空總署
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