世行前经济学家：中国人来了，难题解决了

世界银行前经济学家、肯尼亚政府顾问姆旺吉·瓦奇拉 (Mwangi Wachira) 日前接受中国日报中国观察智库的专访。他表示，“一带一路”合作有力帮助了非洲解决发展瓶颈问题，成为新时代中非合作的标杆。所谓“债务陷阱”，不过是西方恶意抹黑中国的说法。他赞赏中国不干涉别国内政的政策，指出非洲应借鉴中国经验，走“非洲式现代化”道路。

回顾这些年来“一带一路”倡议的成果，令人印象最为深刻的是基础设施项目。毫不夸张地说，基础设施建设是“一带一路”建设的标志性成果。有意无意之间，这些基础设施项目已经成为中非合作的象征。这些项目直接关系到非洲发展的核心问题。如果不提“一带一路”，就很难理解非洲在过去二十年中所取得的成就。在“一带一路”框架下，一些已经落地的项目已经成为许多国家发展的龙头项目。“一带一路”倡议绝对举足轻重。

Looking back at BRI over the years, the first thing that strikes you is that the projects, especially the infrastructure projects, are, to put it mildly, iconic. Whether this is by choice or by design, I do not know, but they have become emblematic of China's cooperation with Africa. They have gone to the heart of development issues in most countries, and it is hard to understand what Africa has achieved over the last 20 years without talking about BRI. Some of the projects which have been implemented under BRI have become the flagships of development in various countries. The BRI is absolutely critical. 

说到蒙内铁路（蒙巴萨-内罗毕标准轨铁路），我有幸参与了该项目的最终评估，因此对此略知一二。它解决了一个“老大难”问题。长期以来，货物无法从蒙巴萨港运到内罗毕及周边邻国，这一直是该区域发展的瓶颈。我们早就意识到了这个问题，只是苦于没有足够的资源来修复原有的铁路。原来的旧铁路建于19世纪90年代，早已无法正常运行。如今，货物可以在蒙巴萨卸货，并在四天内运到内陆城市奈瓦沙，六天内运到乌干达首都坎帕拉。过去这段路程几乎需要两个月，现在我们可以在不到两周的时间内完成。

With respect to the (Mombasa–Nairobi) Standard Gauge Railway, I was on there to take part in the final evaluation of the standard gauge railway. So, I know a little bit about it. It has been a bottleneck. Their inability to move goods from the port in Mombasa to Nairobi and to the other neighboring countries, has been a bottleneck for the development for the subregion for a long, long time. We have known that for a long time. We simply did not have the resources put together to fix the railroad, the one which existed there was built in the 1890s. It was no longer functional. Today, goods can land in Mombasa and in four days be inland in Naivasha and in six days be in Kampala in Uganda. That process used to take almost two months. We can do it now in less than two weeks.

货物抵达蒙巴萨后，两周内就能送到消费者手中，而且不光是肯尼亚的消费者，还有周边国家的消费者。节省了时间，就是实实在在的发展，这是问题的核心所在。肯尼亚以前并没有这种内陆运输能力，直到蒙内铁路建成。因此，不仅肯尼亚人民心怀感激，整个地区的人民都会从中受益。

Goods can arrive in Mombasa, and in two weeks they are in the hands of the consumer, not in Kenya, but in the neighboring country. That the saving in terms of time is the substance of development. It's going to the heart of the matter. We did not have that inland shipping capacity in Kenya until the SGR was constructed. So the gratitude is not just from Kenya, but the entire the people who would benefit at the subregion, people in the entire community. 

图片来源：新华社

实际上，非洲的大部分债务并非是欠中国的，而是欠西方国家的。西方国家仍然是最大的债权方。如果非要说我们陷入了“债务陷阱”，那这个“陷阱”也是西方国家布下的。然而，在关于“债务陷阱”的种种讨论中，人们往往忽略了一点：是非洲国家自己主动去借债的，如果这些债务本身存在“陷阱”，我们早就知道了。在债务谈判时，坐在谈判桌前的是非洲人和亚洲人，我们清楚地知道这些债务的含义，并承诺偿还。我们并非盲目地被牵着鼻子走。事实上，我们主动提出了需要援助的项目。既然是你自己主动提出来的东西，你怎么能把它叫做“陷阱”呢？

The fact of the matter is, much of the debt that Africa owes is not owed to China. It is indeed owed to Western institutions. They are still the holders of the largest debt. In terms of trapping us in debts, if anything, it's the West which has trapped the Africans in debt. But in all the discussions about debt traps, the one thing that people forget is this: It is the Africans themselves who take the initiative to go look for these debts. If there were any traps inherent in taking these debts, we would know about them. When the debts are negotiated, the people at the table are Africans and Asians, and we commit ourselves to paying the debts, knowing very well their full implications. We are not led into the debts blindly. Indeed, we initiate the projects for which debt is provided. How can you be entrapped in something which you yourself initiated?

在我看来，西方国家和中国对非洲援助的主要区别在于，中国的援助更能解决根本问题。它从根本上改善了我们的生活质量。以基础设施为例，非洲对公路、港口、铁路的需求由来已久，但真正来到非洲帮助我们解决基础设施问题的是中国。多年来我们一直在多方求助，最后是中国伸出了援手。中国自1978年改革开放后，来到非洲承担起这一挑战，这对我们而言非常重要。非洲的基础设施缺口存在了这么多年，一直无人理睬，直到中国做出了回应。为中国叫好！

For me, the primary difference between Western aid and Chinese aid for our African development is that China's aid is more foundational. It addresses the root causes of our predicament in terms of the quality of our lives. Take for instance, infrastructure, the need for roads, ports, railroads has existed for many years. Yet. it took China to come to Africa to start working on some of the infrastructure projects. We had requested help with them for many years. Yet, it was China. After opening up in 1978, it is China which came and took up that challenge. That is very important. The needs for the infrastructure existed for many years, but nobody responded. China came and responded, bravo! 

再以通信和电信基础设施为例。虽然中国直到上世纪90年代以来才开始在非洲开展相关建设工作，但目前非洲70%的电信基础设施都是中国建造的。试想一下，整个非洲的70%啊！——这么短的时间。

Take the example of infrastructure for communication and telecommunications. China has been working in Africa since the 1990s, only since the 1990s, yet 70 percent of the telecommunications infrastructure has been built by China. Just think of that, 70 percent of the whole continent in such a short time.

图片来源：视觉中国

中国与其他国家在和非洲打交道时的一个主要区别在于，中国承诺不干涉我们的内政。与中国合作的意义在于，我们可以自主决定自己的现代化理念。现代化应由我们自己定义，为我们自己服务。我们不需要别人来替我们定义，告诉我们应该变成什么样。因此，这也是非洲许多政策制定者重视与中国关系的原因之一。

One of the main differences between China’s approach and other people’s approach to dealing in Africa is that, you promise not to interfere with my internal affairs. The value of working with China is that it leaves us free to determine our own idea of modernization. We will define that by us, for ourselves. Don't define it for me and tell me this is what you should be. So that's something that many policymakers in Africa value about the relationships with China.

习近平主席经常说“中国式现代化”，这一表述对你们来说意义重大。同样的，也存在着“非洲式现代化”。我们跟中国合作，比跟别人合作更容易实现这一目标。因为其他国家总是替我们决定我们需要什么样的现代化，并试图强加于我们，不管我们是否愿意接受。他们和中国的区别高下立判。 

Your President (Xi Jinping) has a favorite term, “modernization with Chinese characteristics”. In that word, or in that phrase means something to all of you. There is such a thing as “modernization African style”. We will achieve that much more easily working with China than working with other,because they already determined what modernization is for us, and they're going to push it down your throat whether you like it or you don’t. The difference is very clear.