译者 flyingheart
This photo, taken Jan. 11, shows a part of Grenada's western coastline. Colin Perkel/The Canadian Press/AP
格林纳达西海岸，照片拍摄于2012年1月11日（Colin Perkel/The Canadian Press/AP）
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
多米尼加共和国首都圣多明各
Grenada, a trio of small Caribbean islands and a popular tourist destination, was awash in debt in 2005. When China came calling with an offer of millions of dollars in aid if the country cut ties with diplomatic rival Taiwan, Grenada took the deal. And it was rewarded: the nation received a new cricket stadium and other pricey tokens of appreciation.
格林纳达位于加勒比海地区，由三个小岛组成，是著名的旅游目的地。格林纳达在2005年时负债累累。当时中国准备提供数百万美元的援助，条件是这个国家与台湾断绝外交关系。格林纳达接受了这一条件，它的也得到了奖励：该国收获了一座新的板球场和其它不菲的好处。
But seven years later, playing up to China’s game of dollar diplomacy has come back to haunt Grenada. Taiwan is now calling in loans it made when the countries were diplomatic allies, signaling that the battle between China and Taiwan is still alive and well in the Caribbean, and directly impacting Grenada’s lifeline: tourism.
但七年之后，充当中国金元外交游戏配角的格林纳达再次走到十字路口。现在台湾要求这些曾经的邦交国家偿还贷款，这表明中-“台”之间的战斗依然没有硝烟散尽，尤其是在加勒比海地区，而且直接影响到了了格林纳达的生命线：旅游业。
Some 426,000 tourists arrive in Grenada by plane or cruise ship each year – more than four times the country's entire population. Taiwan’s move has left the local government scrambling to prop up its independent ports authority and avert disastrous airport shutdowns, as money previously used for upkeep is funneled into loan payments.
每年有大约42.6万游客乘飞机或邮轮到访格林纳达——这个人数是该国总人口的4倍还多。台湾的举动使得当地政府火速为其独立运作的港务局提供资金支持并全力避免出现机场倒闭的绝境，这是因为此前用于维修费用的（台湾）贷款都偷偷用于还债了。
Dollar diplomacy
金元外交
The People’s Republic of China has long tried to isolate Taiwan from the international community by convincing countries to cut diplomatic ties.
中华人民共和国一直在试图说服有关国家切断与台湾的外交关系，从而把台湾与国际社会隔离开来。
The two are separated by the Taiwan Strait, and China views Taiwan as a rogue state. During the 1990s and 2000s, they engaged in a diplomacy race that included offering aid to smaller countries in exchange for their diplomatic allegiance. The competition largely ended in 2008 when Ma Ying-jeou was elected president of Taiwan and instituted a policy to improve relations across the strait.
因台湾海峡的阻隔，两岸仍处于分裂状态，而且中国（大陆）方面视台湾方面为无赖政府。在二十世纪九十年代至本世纪的前十年里，双方忙于开展外交竞赛，其中包括向小国提供援助以换取外交关系的忠诚度。这种竞争态势在2008年随着马英九当选台湾（地区）总统并实行改善海峡两岸关系的政策而终结。
But much to Beijing’s consternation, 23 countries retain ties with Taipei, including 12 in Central America and the Caribbean, leading to cases of countries bidding out their diplomatic ties.
但令北京惊恐不安的是，依然有23个国家保持与台北的外交关系，包括12个中美洲和加勒比地区国家，从而导致某些国家将外交关系待价而沽的现象出现。
“No doubt, some countries in the Caribbean and Africa have tried to milk more loans from either Taipei or Beijing by playing one against the other,” says Zhiqun Zhu, a political scientist at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania.
宾夕法尼亚巴克内尔大学（Bucknell University）政治学者朱志群（音译）说，“毫无疑问，位于加勒比地区和非洲的一些国家总是想通过充当墙头草的角色从台北或者北京方面勒索更多的贷款。”
St. Lucia, for example, dropped its ties with Taiwan in 1997 and then restarted relations with it in 2007.
以圣卢西亚为例，该国1997年与台湾断绝了外交关系，又于2007年恢复了外交关系。
Vulnerable and in debt
脆弱+负债
Taipei and Beijing may have struck a diplomatic truce, but that has not stopped their battle for recognition from these smaller countries, and money continues to pour in. Last year, China boasted its largesse by pledging to lend $1 billion to Caribbean countries for development projects.
台北和北京也许处于外交休战状态，但丝毫不影响他们争取这些小国承认的战斗，大把的资金继续抛撒。去年，中国为自己的慷慨大方沾沾自喜，它许诺贷款10亿美元给加勒比国家用于开发项目。
Many Caribbean countries have been particularly vulnerable to the lure of dollar diplomacy, in part, because they carry massive amounts of debt.
在某种程度上，许多加勒比国家一直对金元外交的诱惑特别的敏感，因为它们都在背负巨额外债。
“These are among the most indebted countries in the world,” says Norman Girvan, an economist and professor at the University of the West Indies in Trinidad. “When you have a country that depends heavily on tourism and it faces a severe downturn, I’m not surprised that a country like Grenada can’t repay its loans.”
特立尼达西印度群岛大学（University of the West Indies ）经济学家、教授诺曼·格万（Norman Girvan）说，“它们都在世界负债最多的国家之列。当一个国家严重依赖旅游业并面临剧烈的经济下滑时，像格林纳达这样的国家无力偿还债务，我丝毫不感到奇怪。”
Of the 10 countries with highest debt to gross domestic product ratios, four are found in the Caribbean, including Grenada, according to International Monetary Fund data.
根据国际货币基金组织提供的数据，在负债与国民生产总值比率最高的10个国家中，四个位于加勒比地区，其中包括格林纳达。
After a string of bad economic setbacks – including devastating hits by hurricanes Ivan and Emily in 2004 and 2005 – Grenada stopped paying back some $28 million in loans it received from Taiwan, according to court documents. A judge in New York, who has jurisdiction under terms of the loans, ruled Grenada owes $25.9 million in outstanding principal and interest to Taiwan, and that Taiwan's Export-Import Bank could go after the money via the US legal system.
相关法庭文件显示，在历经一系列经济挫折（包括在2004年和2005年遭受伊凡飓风和艾米丽飓风的毁灭性打击）之后，格林纳达停止偿还大约2800万美元的台湾贷款。根据贷款的约定条款，一名纽约的法官拥有裁决权。他判决格林纳达欠台湾未偿付本息合计2590万美元。台湾的进出口银行可以在美国司法体系内追索这笔债务。
Now, the money airlines and cruise ship operators previously paid to Grenada in landing and docking fees is going to pay off the loans, sapping the country of funds to keep its air and sea ports running. Virgin Atlantic, Delta, and British Airways recently began paying into a court-established escrow account instead of the Grenadian ports authority.
现在，此前由航空公司和邮轮运营商支付给格林纳达的落地费和码头费被用来偿还贷款，该国用于维持空、海港的运行费用也在削减。最近，维珍、达美和英航都开始将付款存入法庭设立的托管帐户而不是格林纳达的港务当局。
"The government has made it clear that it will do everything necessary to keep the airport from closing,” says Richard Simon, press secretary for Prime Minister Tillman Thomas. That includes loans and legal maneuvers, Mr. Simon says.
蒂尔曼·托马斯总理的新闻秘书理查德·西蒙（Richard Simon）说，“政府方面已经明确声明它将尽最大努力维持机场不被关闭。”措施包括贷款和法律手段。
The government is also asking other Caribbean governments to help arrange a meeting with the Taiwanese to rework the original loan terms or create a payment schedule.
格林纳达政府也在请求其他加勒比国家的政府帮助安排该国与台湾人举行会谈，修改最初的贷款条款或者制订一份付款计划表。
The Thomas administration says Taiwan’s position is, in part, retribution for the way the two countries split, but that decision was made by the previous Grenadian administration.
托马斯内阁称，台湾现在的处境，部分是因为与中国大陆分裂状态导致的恶果，而且那个决定是前任格林纳达政府内阁作出的。
"We think some of this is due to the way the switch was undertaken," Simon says. “At the time it was not done properly. It was kind of done in the dark,” he says referring to granting diplomatic ties to Beijing.
“我们认为出现上述困境的部分原因是外交关系改变造成的，”西蒙说，“当时的决定不太恰当，而且还是黑箱操作。”西蒙指的是格林纳达承认与北京的外交关系。
Grenada’s debt, which stood at 99 percent of its GDP in 2010, according to IMF numbers, has left it with little wiggle room to repay Taiwan.
根据国际货币基金组织的数据，格林纳达的债务占到了2010年国民生产总值的99%，几乎丧失了偿还台湾债务的能力。
“I was a little surprised that the Ma administration did not withdraw the case,” Mr. Zhu, the political scientist, says. “It was not a particularly large sum of money.”
朱先生说，“我稍稍有些奇怪，马英九政府并未撤销这个案子，因为这笔钱的金额并不特别大。”
But, Zhu says, this case underscores the dangers in playing the diplomatic game.
但朱先生也说，该案表明了玩外交游戏的危险性。
“If there is a policy change either from Beijing or Taipei or both, these small countries may not get what they were promised,” he says, “which may lead to economic and diplomatic troubles.”
“北京或台北方面，如果有一方出现政策调整，这些小国也许就得不到承诺的东西，”他说，“它们会遭遇经济和外交方面的双重困境。”
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