Charity or China?要施舍还是要中国？

May 11th 2006 | ASUNCIÓN

From The Economist print edition

OF THE 25 countries around the world, all smallish, which choose to recognise Taiwan rather than China, almost half are in Latin America or the Caribbean.（1）In the past, their motives were often rooted in shared anti-communism. Nowadays, it is usually a matter of money. So it is with Paraguay. When Chen Shui-bian, Taiwan's president, visited the l________（A） South American republic last weekend he paid homage[1] to the origins of their friendship at a reception, going out of his way to greet the grandson of Alfredo Stroessner, Paraguay's fascistic dictator of 1954-89. Then he got out his cheque book.

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全世界选择承认台湾而非中国（为主权国家）的25个国家（都是一些弹丸小国）中，有接近一半都位于拉丁美洲或加勒比海地区。过去它们这样做的动机通常都根源于反对共产主义（“be rooted in”表示“根源于”，“明显受……影响”），而现在则往往是钱说了算。巴拉圭也是如此。上周末，台湾“总统”陈水扁访问这个南美内陆共和国时，在一次招待会上对双方的友谊渊源推崇备至，竭尽全力讨阿尔弗雷多•斯特罗斯纳（1954至1989年巴拉圭法西斯独裁者）孙子的欢心。随后，他掏出了支票本。

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In the past few years, Taiwan has given Paraguay grants of $30m for public housing and $20m for a new Congress building. Other donations—only Japan and Germany are more g________（B）—pay for scholarships. Two Taiwanese banks offered a $400m loan, making the island Paraguay's biggest bilateral creditor.

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在过去的几年里，台湾为巴拉圭的公共住房事业赞助了3000万美元，为一幢新建的国会大楼捐助了2000万美元，其它捐款则被作为助学金，其表现之慷慨，仅次于日本和德国。两家台湾银行还提供了一笔4亿美元的贷款，使台湾成为巴拉圭最大的双边债权“国”。