The European Union’s top officials should have been sitting on a Chinese high-speed train on Tuesday morning, zipping between Beijing and Tianjin for an annual dialogue with their Chinese counterparts, writes Jamil Anderlini.

　　周二早上，歐盟最高級官員們本應坐在北京和天津之間的中國高鐵上，與中國同行舉行年度對話。

　　Instead the conference was postponed at the last minute and Herman Van Rompuy and José Manuel Barroso were stuck in Brussels trying to hammer out a deal to save the eurozone.

　　然而，會議在最后一刻被推遲了；歐盟常任主席赫爾曼·范龍佩(Herman Van Rompuy)和歐盟委員會主席若澤?曼努埃爾?巴羅佐(José Manuel Barroso)被困在布魯塞爾，試圖撮合一個拯救歐元區的協議。

　　The change of plans saved the three leaders from what would have been a rather uncomfortable summit, during which Chinese officials would have tried to extract maximum political advantage out of their guests.

　　計劃的改變，使3位領導人避開了一場本來會相當不舒服的峰會——中國官員會試圖從這些來賓身上榨取最大限度的政治好處。

　　 European politicians are not quite coming cap in hand to Beijing to ask for a bail-out, but they are clearly hoping that China and other developing countries such as Brazil will see it as being in their own interests to pitch in some cash to help out.

　　歐盟政界人士并沒有到乞求中國政府出手紓困的程度，但他們顯然希望，中國和其它發展中國家（比如巴西）將意識到，提供一些資金紓困是符合它們自身的利益的。

　　Suggestions include a plan for China and other governments to contribute money to the International Monetary Fund that is then used to support sovereign debt markets or recapitalise European banks, but Chinese officials coyly insist they have not been formally asked for anything yet.

　　相關提議包括，由中國和其它國家政府向國際貨幣基金組織(IMF)貢獻資金，然后用這些資金去支持各主權債務市場，或對歐洲各銀行進行資本重組。但中國官員們婉轉地堅稱，他們尚未接到任何正式請求。

　　They say they expect a formal request for assistance at the forthcoming G20 meeting in Cannes on November 3 and 4 and they may very well agree to help out – just as they did in the aftermath of the financial crisis in 2009, when they bought $50bn of special IMF bonds. That appears a trifling figure for a country with $3,200bn in foreign exchange reserves to throw around but don’t expect Beijing to cough up much more.

　　中國官員們表示，他們希望在即將召開的20國集團(G20)戛納峰會（11月3日至4日）上接到正式的援助請求，而他們很可能會答應幫忙——正如他們在2009年金融危機的余波中購買了500億美元的IMF特別債券一樣。對于一個擁有3.2萬億美元外匯儲備的國家來說，這點錢似乎只是小意思，但不要指望中國政府拿出比這多得多的資金。

　　In public, the message is supportive and encouraging.

　　 在公開場合，中國政府傳遞出令人鼓舞的信息，表示愿意支持。

　　“China is confident that the EU has the ability and wisdom to overcome these straits. We have always provided what help we can to the countries concerned via bilateral and multilateral channels,” the government said on Monday.

　　 中國政府周一表示：“中國相信歐盟有能力、有智慧、能夠戰勝這些困難。我們一貫通過雙邊和多邊渠道向相關國家提供我們力所能及的幫助。”

　　 But in private, Chinese officials say the suggestion that China will do much more to save Europe is preposterous.

　　但私底下，中國官員們表示，要中國付出大得多的努力來拯救歐洲的提議是十分荒謬的。

　　“Ask a Chinese farmer if China should save Europe and he will ask who is going to save him,” one senior politician recently told the Financial Times. “The key issue at the moment is that the market doesn’t have sufficient confidence in [European] government policy and the ability of the government to carry out the right policies – so if your governments can’t convince the market then what can China do or say to convince them?”

　　“隨便問一個中國的農民：中國應不應該救歐洲？他都會反問：那誰來救我啊？”一位中國高級官員最近向英國《金融時報》表示，“目前的關鍵問題是，市場對（歐洲各國）政府的政策和它們推行正確政策的能力缺乏信心——因此，如果連你們自己的政府都無法說服市場，那中國又能說什么或做什么來說服市場呢？”

　　China will keep making soothing noises about confidence and support for Europe and may even pitch in with some spare change from its foreign exchange reserves. But in the end China’s leaders believe it is up to Europe and its own people and governments to sort out their problems themselves.

　　中國將繼續發表一些令人寬慰的套話，表示對歐洲有信心、會支持歐洲，甚至可能從它的外匯儲備中撥出點零錢支持歐洲。但歸根結底，中國領導人相信，歐洲的問題要靠它自己——靠它的人民和政府來解決。