Hillary Clinton arrives Monday in Japan, the first of four stops in Asia - her first official foreign travel as secretary of state. She will also visit South Korea, Indonesia and China to build partnerships she says will transcend geographic and political boundaries. The visit comes as North Korea is suspected of preparing to conduct a missile launch and Japan announces that its economy shrank in the fourth quarter of last year.
希拉里.克林顿星期一抵达日本，开始她亚洲四国之行的首站访问。这也是她担任国务卿以来首次正式出访。她还将访问韩国、印度尼西亚和中国，寻求建立她称之为跨越地理和政治疆域的伙伴关系。与此同时，北韩可能正在准备进行一次导弹发射。
Secretary Clinton's visit to Japan comes on the heels of Tokyo's announcement that Asia's leading economy shrank by more than three percent in the last three months of 2008, as exports and factory output fell. It was the third straight quarterly decline in Japan's gross domestic product and the economy's worst quarterly performance in 35 years.
克林顿国务卿抵达日本时，东京方面刚刚宣布，由于出口和工厂产出衰退，这个亚洲最大的经济体在2008年最后3个月里经济萎缩超过百分之3。这是日本国内生产总值连续第3个季度下滑，也是该经济体35年来最糟糕的季度经济表现。
Last week, Secretary Clinton told an audience at the Asia Society in New York that she will use what she called "smart power" diplomacy - seeking stronger bilateral, regional and global cooperation to deal with world issues like the economic crisis.
克林顿上个星期在纽约亚洲协会演讲时说，她将运用所谓的“巧实力”外交，寻求建立更稳固的双边、区域性和全球性合作，解决象经济危机这样的世界性问题。
"The global financial crisis requires every nation to look inward for solutions. But none of us can afford to become so introspective that we overlook the critical role that international partnerships must play in stabilizing the world's economy and putting all of us back on the path to prosperity," she said. "And we cannot respond with a race to erect trade and other barriers; we must remain committed to a system of open and fair trade."
她说：“每个国家都需要在全球金融危机中解决自身问题。但是任何国家都不能过于考虑自身，却忽视国际性的伙伴关系在稳定世界经济、将我们带回到共同繁荣的道路所起的关键作用。我们不能够以竞相树立起贸易和其他形式的壁垒作为回应。我们必须继续建立起一个开放和公平的贸易体系。”
Shortly after Clinton departed for Asia, North Korea's official news agency suggested that the country is preparing a missile launch, insisting that the communist state has a right to pursue "space development". U.S. and South Korean officials say they believe Pyongyang is preparing to test its long-range Taepodong-2 ballistic missile.
在克林顿刚刚启程前往亚洲之时，北韩官方的通讯社表示正在准备进行一次导弹发射。这个共产主义国家坚持认为，它有权进行“空间开发”。美国和韩国的官员表示，他们相信平壤正在准备试射其“大浦洞2型”远程弹道导弹。
Clinton has called North Korea's nuclear program Northeast Asia's most acute challenge. She says President Barack Obama is committed to working through the six-party talks, involving the United States, China, Russia, Japan and North and South Korea, and that her trip is intended to move the process forward. Last week at the Asia Society, she urged Pyongyang to refrain from what she called "any provocative action" and "unhelpful rhetoric".
克林顿国务卿已经将北韩核项目称作是东北亚地区最急迫的挑战。她说，奥巴马总统致力于通过有美国、中国、俄罗斯、日本和南北韩参与的六方会谈。她说，此行也打算推进这个谈判的进程。她上星期在亚洲协会讲话时，敦促平壤放弃她所说的“一切挑衅性的行动”和“毫无助益的辞令”。
"The North Korean government has committed to abandoning all nuclear weapons and to return at an early date to the Treaty on Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. We continue to hold them to those commitments," Clinton said. "If North Korea is genuinely prepared to completely and verifiably eliminate their nuclear weapons program, the Obama administration will be willing to normalize bilateral relations, replace the [Korean] Peninsula's long-standing armistice agreements with a permanent peace treaty, and assist in meeting the energy and other economic needs of the North Korean people."
她说：“北韩政府已经承诺放弃所有核武器，并且早日重返核不扩散条约。我们仍然希望他们遵守那些承诺。如果北韩真正打算完全并且可核查地去除它的核武器计划，奥巴马政府愿意和它建立正常的双边关系，以永久性的和平协议取代(朝鲜)半岛长期以来的停战协议，并且帮助北韩人民满足其能源和其他经济需求。”
While in Japan, Clinton is expected to meet with family members of Japanese citizens who have been abducted by North Korea. Pyongyang has admitted to kidnapping at least 13 Japanese nationals during the 1970's and 1980's to train as spies. North Korea has allowed five to return home in recent years and has said the others have died. But Japan says more people were abducted and that it wants information about their fate.
预计克林顿在日本期间将会见被北韩绑架的日本国民的家人。平壤已经承认在1970到1980年代绑架了至少13名日本国民，让他们帮助训练间谍。北韩近年允许其中5人返回，并且说其他人都已经死亡。但是日本表示，有更多的人被绑架，并且要求得到有关这些人的信息。
Previous U.S. administrations, in their first diplomatic forays, have tended to focus on Europe and the Middle East. Hillary Clinton's first official trip takes her to Japan, South Korea, Indonesia and China where she says she hopes to signal the United States needs strong partners across the Pacific Ocean. The United States, she says, is both a transatlantic as well as transpacific power. She says each stop represents partners who, in her words, are "indispensable to America's security and prosperity".
上一届美国政府在最初的外交动作中把重点放在欧洲和中东。希拉里.克林顿的首次正式出访则是前往日本、韩国、印度尼西亚和中国。她说，希望发出的信号是，美国需要牢固的跨越太平洋的伙伴。她说，美国势力兼跨大西洋和太平洋。她说自己到访的每一站都是她所说的“对于美国的安全和繁荣不可或缺的”伙伴。 |