VOA双语新闻 Japanese Troops Stay Beyond Mid-December（在线收听）

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has received a multi-billion-dollar debt waiver from Japan, but he was not able to win a solid commitment from the Japanese to keep their troops in southern Iraq. The waiver represents 80 percent of the debt run up by the Saddam Hussein regime, with the remainder to be repaid over the next 23 years.

伊拉克外长兹巴里获得日本正式同意，免去几十亿美元的贸易保险债务，但是他没有获得来自日本继续在伊南部驻军的可靠承诺，这比免去的债务占萨达姆执政时期积累债务总额的80%，剩余的20%将在今后23年内偿还。

Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari has managed to get Japan to formally agree to a $6 billion waiver of trade insurance debt.

伊拉克外交部长兹巴里已经到达日本正式同意了免去60亿美元的贸易保险债务。

Mr. Zebari, speaking to reporters in Tokyo, says he also asked Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Defense Minister Fukushiro Nukaga to keep Japan's 600 non-combat troops in Samawah past the December 14 deadline for the end of their mission.

兹巴里在东京对记者说，他还请求日本首相小泉纯一郎和日本防卫厅长官额贺福志郎在12月14日撤军期限后，继续保留600名驻扎在赛马沃的非战斗部队。

"Any premature withdrawal will send the wrong message to the terrorists," he said, "the deadly oppositionists let us say, to those countries in the region that this coalition is fracturing, they are running, that their policies, their strategies of undermining this process is winning."

兹巴里说：“任何过早的撤军都将向恐怖分子、极端的反叛分子、并且向周边国家发出一个错误的信息，那就是联盟已经四分五裂，盟军正在试图逃跑。破坏(和平)进程的政策和策略正在得逞。”

Japanese officials say Foreign Minister Taro Aso told Zebari on Thursday that the government will decide soon whether to extend the mission. They say Japan's defense minister reiterated that message to Mr. Zebari on Friday.

日本官员表示，外务大臣麻生太郎星期四对兹巴里说，日本政府不久将决定是否延长驻军伊拉克的使命。日本防卫厅长官星期五向兹巴里重申了这个信息。

The Japanese troops have been engaged in reconstruction work and providing clean water to Samawah-area residents.

日本军队参与了伊拉克的重建工作，并向赛马沃地区的居民提供洁净水。

There are indications the Japanese government could extend its troop presence in Iraq. Last month it approved a one-year extension of a naval mission in the Indian Ocean that has been supporting U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan.

有迹象显示，日本政府可能会延长伊拉克驻军的期限。上个月，日本政府批准把驻扎在印度洋的支持以美国为首的阿富汗联军部队的日本海上自卫队的使命延长一年。

But such an extension in Iraq would clearly go against public opinion here. A Japanese newspaper's public opinion poll last month found that more than three-quarters of those surveyed are against keeping Japanese forces in the war-torn country.

但是延长伊拉克驻军的使命明显与日本公众意见相左。日本报纸上个月公布的一项民意调查显示，四分之三以上接受调查的日本人反对日本自卫队在这个被战争蹂躏的国家继续驻扎。