2019年经济学人 日本和韩国之间的贸易争端(1)

 

Leaders

来源于《社论》版块

Export controls in Asia

亚洲的出口管制

History wars

历史战争

A trade dispute between Japan and South Korea has echoes of Donald Trump¹’s tactics

日本和韩国之间的贸易争端与唐纳德?特朗普的策略如出一辙

Take just about any trade fight today, and President Donald Trump’s America is at the centre of it: with Europe over cars and aeroplanes; with foreign producers of steel; with China over, well, everything. But a brawl² now under way in Asia, between Japan and South Korea, has the potential to be as damaging as much of what Mr Trump has stirred up. It is also a sign that his model of abusing economic partners is spreading.

就拿今天的任何一场贸易战来说吧，唐纳德·特朗普总统领导下的美国正处于这场贸易战的中心：在汽车和飞机问题上与欧洲对抗；与外国钢铁生产商合作；随着中国的结束，嗯，一切都结束了。但如今在亚洲、日本和韩国之间正在发生的一场争吵，其破坏性可能不亚于特朗普挑起的事端。这也表明，他滥用经济伙伴的模式正在蔓延。

Tensions between Japan and South Korea go back centuries. Japan’s colonisation of Korea between 1910 and 1945 is still resented. Japan believes a 1965 agreement resolved claims by South Korea over forced labour. It is incensed³ that South Korea’s supreme⁴ court last year ordered Japanese firms to compensate⁵ victims. Amid a widening rift⁶, Japan took its most serious action on July 4th when it began restricting exports to South Korea of three specialised chemicals used to make semiconductors⁷ and smartphones.

日本和韩国之间的紧张关系可以追溯到几百年前。1910年至1945年间，日本对朝鲜的殖民统治至今仍令人怨恨。日本认为，1965年的一项协议解决了韩国对强迫劳动的要求。去年，韩国最高法院下令日本公司赔偿受害者，这让韩国感到愤怒。在日益扩大的分歧中，日本在7月4日采取了最严重的行动，开始限制向韩国出口三种用于制造半导体和智能手机的特殊化学品。

The stakes are high. Japan accounts for as much as 90% of global production of these chemicals. It exported nearly $400mworth of them to South Korea last year. That may not sound like much, but their importance is outsized. They are needed to make memory chips, which are essential to all sorts of electronic devices. And South Korean firms are the world’s dominant⁸ manufacturers of memory chips. If Japan were to choke off exports, the pain would ripple⁹ through global tech supply chains.

风险很高。日本占全球这些化学品产量的90%。去年，中国向韩国出口了价值近4亿美元的稀土。这听起来可能不算什么，但它们的重要性却被夸大了。它们被用来制造存储芯片，而存储芯片对各种电子设备都是必不可少的。韩国公司是世界上内存芯片的主要制造商。如果日本切断出口，其痛苦将波及全球科技供应链。

Japan has also hinted that it might start requiring case-bycase licences for the sale to South Korea of some 850 products with military uses. South Korean firms have called for boycotts¹⁰ of Japanese goods. The two countries, whose trade relationship, worth over $80bn a year, is larger than that between France and Britain, need to step back from the brink¹¹.

日本还暗示，它可能会开始要求向韩国出售约850种军用产品的个案许可证。韩国公司呼吁抵制日货。两国的贸易关系每年超过800亿美元，超过了法国和英国之间的贸易关系。

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 brawl   

n.大声争吵，喧嚷；v.吵架，对骂

参考例句：

• They had nothing better to do than brawl in the street.他们除了在街上斗殴做不出什么好事。
• I don't want to see our two neighbours engaged in a brawl.我不希望我们两家吵架吵得不可开交。

3 incensed   

盛怒的

参考例句：

• The decision incensed the workforce. 这个决定激怒了劳工大众。
• They were incensed at the decision. 他们被这个决定激怒了。

4 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

5 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

6 rift   

n.裂口，隙缝，切口；v.裂开，割开，渗入

参考例句：

• He was anxious to mend the rift between the two men.他急于弥合这两个人之间的裂痕。
• The sun appeared through a rift in the clouds.太阳从云层间隙中冒出来。

7 semiconductors   

n.半导体( semiconductor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Crystals may be insulators, semiconductors, or conductors. 晶体可以是绝缘体，半导体，或导体。 来自辞典例句
• Semiconductors containing such impurities are called p-type semiconductors. 含有这类杂质的半导体叫做P型半导体。 来自辞典例句

8 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

9 ripple   

n.涟波，涟漪，波纹，粗钢梳；vt.使...起涟漪，使起波纹； vi.呈波浪状，起伏前进

参考例句：

• The pebble made a ripple on the surface of the lake.石子在湖面上激起一个涟漪。
• The small ripple split upon the beach.小小的涟漪卷来，碎在沙滩上。

10 boycotts   

（对某事物的）抵制( boycott的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Their methods included boycotts and court action, supplemented by'sit-ins". 他们的主要方法包括联合抵制、法庭起诉，还附带进行静坐抗议。
• Are boycotts for other purposes illegal? 至于用于其它目的的联合抵制行动是否也是非法的呢？

11 brink   

n.(悬崖、河流等的)边缘，边沿

参考例句：

• The tree grew on the brink of the cliff.那棵树生长在峭壁的边缘。
• The two countries were poised on the brink of war.这两个国家处于交战的边缘。