The Boao Forum for Asia annual conference has been going for years, but never has China’s aspiration for a greater role on the world stage been more in evidence, nor its growing clout in the global economy and financial markets more visible.

一年一度的博鳌亚洲论坛(Boao Forum for Asia)已经举办了多年，但中国在世界舞台上扮演更大角色的抱负，以及中国在全球经济和金融市场不断增长的影响力，都从未像这次博鳌论坛所展现得这样明显。

China has a lot of money and the (perhaps artificially) low cost of capital is one of its advantages in contrast to, say, India, the other giant of the region. In the past, other nations have used money to buy friends, but never on the scale of China.

中国有大量资金和（也许是人为的）较低的资本成本，这是它与亚洲另一个巨人印度相比的优势之一。过去，其他国家也曾砸钱买朋友，但在这方面从未达到中国的手笔。

Little did it matter that China has yet to work out some of the finer logistical points of organising the annual equivalent of Davos. Nor did it seem relevant that some analysts are downgrading their assessment of China’s might, noting that the economic slowdown is broader and deeper than the numbers indicate. (They also suggest that the mainland will be one more case study of an economy that failed to break through the so-called middle income trap and achieve truly high standards of living for the bulk of its people.)

中国尚未解决主办这一媲美达沃斯论坛的年度论坛的某些细小后勤问题，但这根本不重要。一些分析师正在下调对中国实力的评估，指出经济放缓的广度和深度均超出数据反映的程度（他们还提出，中国大陆将成为一个经济体不能突破所谓“中等收入陷阱”、让大部分人民达到真正的高生活水平的又一个案例），但这似乎也是无关紧要的。

Never mind. The confidence of government officials was palpable. “We see no sign that jobs are an issue,” said one. “And as long as that is the case, we are not so obsessed with growth and whether the number is 7 per cent or 6 per cent.”

没关系。政府官员的信心溢于言表。“我们看不出有任何迹象表明就业是一个问题，”其中一名官员表示。“而只要是这样，我们就不那么迷恋增长，以及纠结增速为7%还是6%。”

There was little discussion of topics that potentially may prove more divisive, such as tensions over the rivers that start in Tibet and flow into south and Southeast Asia, or China’s increased military spending and its territorial claims.

各方很少在博鳌讨论那些可能造成意见对立的主题，比如围绕着某些发源于西藏、流经南亚和东南亚的河流的紧张局势，或者中国不断增加的军费开支、中国的领土要求等。

The subject of Chinese plans to help Asia get its infrastructure act together came up at almost every panel, whether in the context of China’s oddly named “One Belt, One Road” initiative tying it to the rest of the region via central Asia to the borders of Europe, or the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.

几乎每一个专家讨论小组都会谈到中国帮助亚洲发展基础设施的计划，无论是中国所提出的名称古怪的“一带一路”倡议，还是亚洲基础设施投资银行（Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank，简称“亚投行”）。

The new development bank in particular has become a gauge of China’s rise in financial markets and of the corresponding decline of US influence. It is also a litmus test of loyalty from China’s neighbours. Representatives of virtually every country in attendance at Boao pledged support, including allies of the US, such as Australia.

特别是亚投行这家新的开发银行，已经成为中国在金融市场异军突起、而美国影响力相应下降的标志。对中国来说，它还是考验邻国忠诚度的试金石。出席博鳌论坛的几乎每一个国家的代表都表示支持亚投行，就连澳大利亚这样的美国盟友也不例外。

Many officials say they believe that the International Monetary Fund will include the Chinese yuan as part of its special drawing rights currency basket in June — a significant step forward in China’s determination to promote the redback as a reserve currency. Speaking in Hong Kong just before Boao, Stuart Gulliver, chief executive of HSBC, described the yuan as “a viable alternative to the US dollar”.

很多官员表示，他们相信，国际货币基金组织(IMF)将在6月份把人民币纳入其“特别提款权”货币篮子；对于中国推动人民币成为一种储备货币的决心，这将是向前迈出的一大步。博鳌论坛开幕前夕，汇丰(HSBC)首席执行官欧智华(Stuart Gulliver)在香港发表讲话时就称人民币“是一种可行的美元替代品”。

Moreover, countries whose leaders have been somewhat lukewarm about the Chinese, such as the new Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena — who promised to inquire into possible corruption on big infrastructure projects such as the Chinese-funded Columbo port during his election campaign — came to pay homage. As did the Zambians, notwithstanding an anti-Chinese backlash in that African nation.

此外，此前对中国有点冷淡的某些国家的领导人也来捧场，比如斯里兰卡新总统迈特里帕拉•西里塞纳(Maithripala Sirisena)，他曾在竞选期间承诺对大型基建项目（比如中国出资建设的科伦坡港）可能存在的腐败展开调查。赞比亚方面也是这样，尽管这个非洲国家出现了一场反华风波。

Even more striking was the large contingent from Japan and the warm reception it was accorded. Most of the Japanese participants also expressed support for the AIIB.

更令人瞩目的是日本代表团阵容强大，而且得到热情接待。日本的多数与会者也表达了对亚投行的支持。

It was a China-Japan roundtable that provided the starkest image of the forum: many of the Japanese delegates were, perhaps unsurprisingly for such a hierarchical society, quite elderly. A few arrived in wheelchairs, several carried canes. The translators complained repeatedly that they could not hear the frail voices, and even the Japanese resorted to listening to the devices with the volume turned up. The Chinese delegation was far younger.

正是一场中日圆桌会议展现了博鳌论坛最令人感叹的一幕：日方的多名代表是老人（对这样一个等级森严的社会来说也许并不奇怪），一些人坐着轮椅，还有数人拄着拐杖。翻译人员多次抱怨听不清虚弱的话音，就连一些日本人也借助音量调高的设备聆听。中方的与会代表年轻得多。

Somehow, it seemed an appropriate symbol of the relative status of two powers, one whose time has passed and one whose turn has come.

不知怎么，这似乎是两个大国相对地位变迁的合适象征：其中一个大国已经过气，另一个大国刚刚登场。