Chinese leader Hu Jintao embarks on his second five-year term engaged in a difficult balancing act, as he keeps the government's focus on fast economic growth while also promising to deliver a more equitable society and a better natural environment.
中国国家主席胡锦涛带着一项艰巨的平衡任务开始了他的第二个五年的任期，他表示中国政府的工作重点仍是保持快速的经济发展，同时他还承诺要构建更加平等的社会，并创造更好的自然环境。
In a speech yesterday to open the Communist Party's twice-a-decade National Congress, Mr. Hu said economic growth must remain the party's 'central task.' China's per-capita gross domestic product, a broad measure of the nation's prosperity, has nearly doubled during the past five years and was just more than $2,000 in 2006. Mr. Hu said the government's goal is to double that figure again by 2020 and 'basically eliminate' absolute poverty.
胡锦涛周一在每五年一次的中国共产党全国代表大会上发表了讲话，他指出经济发展仍是中国共产党的中心任务。中国的人均国内生产总值在过去五年中几乎翻了一番，于2006年达到了略多于2,000美元的水平。胡锦涛表示，中国政府的目标是在2020年前将人均国内生产总值在此基础上再增长一倍，并基本消灭绝对贫穷的现象。
While the rapid gains of recent years -- China's economy has grown by 10% or more every year since 2003 -- have made many Chinese better off, inequality is on the rise and environmental damage has been severe. 'Our growth is realized at an excessively high cost of resources and the environment,' Mr. Hu, who is both the party's chief and China's president, told more than 2,000 delegates to the party congress in Beijing's Great Hall of the People.
虽然最近几年中国经济的飞速增长（自2003年以来，中国经济的年增速在10%以上）已令很多中国人生活更加富足，但国内的贫富差距在不断扩大，环境破坏也日益严重。胡锦涛在人民大会堂向2,000多名党代表发表讲话时指出，中国的经济增长是以极高的资源和环境成本为代价的。
In order to maintain that expansion without using as many resources, China's growth in the future will need to be driven more by improvements in technology and productivity, Mr. Hu said. He outlined a vision for a major restructuring of the world's fourth-largest economy, one that would emphasize high technology rather than heavy industry, services rather than manufacturing, and local consumer spending rather than exports. And to ensure that more people benefit from economic growth, Mr. Hu said the government will raise minimum wages, expand health care and the social safety net, and stimulate the creation of jobs in the private sector.
胡锦涛指出，为了在不耗费太多资源的情况下保持经济快速增长，中国将来需要更多地依靠技术创新及提高生产率来促进经济的发展。他还为这个全球第四大经济体勾勒出产业结构调整的蓝图：着力发展高科技而非重工业；着力发展服务业，而非制造业；坚持扩大国内需求，减少对出口的依赖。为了确保经济增长惠及更多国人，胡锦涛表示，政府将提高最低工资标准，扩大医疗保健及社会保障网络的覆盖范围，并且将促进私人领域增加就业岗位。
Delivering an overall strategy rather than a list of new policies, Mr. Hu spent little time on shorter-term economic issues such as the direction of China's tightly controlled exchange rate, or recent surges in real-estate and stock prices. China's benchmark stock-market index, the Shanghai Composite, closed yesterday at a record of 6030.08 points, up 125% so far this year. Analysts say government agencies will be rolling out specific policy measures in coming months, now that the leadership has reached a consensus on the priorities laid out in Mr. Hu's speech.
胡锦涛的讲话主要围绕整体发展策略，而没有一一列举新的政策。他的讲话几乎未涉及人民币汇率、房地产价格及股市飙升等短期经济问题。中国股市基准上证综合指数周一收于6030.08点的历史新高，该指数今年迄今的累计涨幅已经达到了125%。分析师称，既然政府高层领导已就胡锦涛讲话列出的几个优先问题达成了一致，各政府机构将在未来几个月制定出具体的政策。
'From his focus, you can conclude that the economy, more than any other issue, will stand foremost in policy making in the next few years,' said Zhao Xijun, a professor of finance at Renmin University in Beijing. The emphasis on the environment could mean heavier financial penalties on polluters, as well as tax incentives for energy-saving technology, Mr. Zhao said, while the stated desire to boost household incomes could lead to lower personal tax rates.
不过胡锦涛并未明确表示他将如何解决经济增长与保护自然环境及实现社会和谐之间的冲突。地方官员在贯彻胡锦涛的政策时有可能被夹在这两大工作重点之间左右为难。
'The central government does require us to strengthen environmental protection,' Chen Baogen, mayor of the city of Xi'an, said in a recent interview. But the local government also needs to continue fast economic growth, Mr. Chen said.
西安市市长陈宝根日前在接受采访时表示，中央政府确实要求地方加强环境保护，但地方政府也需要保持快速的经济增长。
'Speeding up development creates jobs for more people and raises their income,' which in turn brings the local government more tax revenue, he said. And the Xi'an government needs that money to provide the higher standard of social services that have been promised. 'Without money we can't pay for schools or improve health care,' Mr. Chen said.
陈宝根指出，发展的提速为更多国人创造了就业机会并增加了他们的收入，从而给地方政府带来了更多税收。西安市政府需要这些钱来履行自己有关提高社会服务标准的承诺。他表示，如果没有资金，市政府就无法支持教育、改善医疗保健体系。
Indeed, continuing economic growth is necessary for the 'lasting stability of the party and the nation,' Mr. Hu said in his speech. Delivering increased prosperity has so far been the party's main method for addressing any discontent with its rule. Mr. Hu did speak about political overhauls, mentioning the Chinese word for 'democracy' at least 60 times, but he made it clear that any changes would be limited and that the Communist Party's monopoly on power must be maintained.
事实上，胡锦涛也在他的讲话中指出，保持经济增长是保证党和国家长治久安的根本要求。迄今为止，中国共产党一直将促进经济繁荣视作一副良方，用之化解任何因其执政而引发的不满情绪。胡锦涛在讲话中确实提及了政治改革，他在讲话中至少六十次提到了“民主”二字，但他明确指出，必须维护中国共产党的一党执政，未来任何可能出现的改变都将在一定限度之内。
With its leadership focused on domestic issues, China has in recent years largely avoided international entanglements and military action, and Mr. Hu said China remains committed to 'the path of peaceful development.' Taiwan, the democratically governed island that China claims as its rightful territory, is still China's most important military and foreign-policy issue, and those relations have been under strain recently. However, Mr. Hu didn't propose a significant change in strategy. He offered to discuss a 'peace agreement' with the island's leadership, but only on the condition that they acknowledge Taiwan is part of China, something the current president has ruled out.
由于近年来中国政府一直将重心置于国内事务之上，其对国际争端以及军事行动基本上采取了回避态度，而且此次胡锦涛也指出中国将坚持走和平发展的道路。解决台湾问题仍是中国军事及外交方面的最重要工作，而且近来两岸关系正处在紧张状态。不过，胡锦涛并未提议要大幅调整对台政策。他提出要和台湾当局就两岸和平展开协商，但前提是台湾领导人必须承认台湾是中国的一部分，而台湾现任领导人已经表示了不接受这一谈判前提。
