译言网 | 交易很简单。澳大利亚赚钱，中国赚整个澳大利亚

How's that supposed to make a country feel?

对于这样的交易，一个国家应作何感想？

By Malcolm Knox

作者：Malcolm Knox

Everythird Wednesday, Michael Box gets up at 3:30 in the morning to catch aflight out of Perth. Isolated in the south-west of Australia, Perth(pop. 1.6 million) is 1,700 miles from the next large city, Adelaide,which isn't even that big. Box and about a dozen co-workers fly twohours north to a yet more remote section of Australia, the Pilbara, a193,000-square-mile hump of territory arcing into the Indian Ocean. Theywill land on this patch of iron-rich red earth and spend the next twoweeks sending as much of it as they can, about a million tons a day, toChina.

每月的第三个周三，迈克尔.伯克思都要在凌晨3:30起床，赶飞机离开珀思。珀斯在澳大利亚西南部的偏远地区，人口160万。离它最近的大城市是阿德莱德（实际上也没多大），两城相距1700英里。而伯克思和他的十几个同事要坐两小时的飞机往北到更偏远的皮尔巴拉地区去。皮尔巴拉占地面积19.3万平方英里，丘陵地貌，一直延伸至印度洋。他们要在这片含铁量丰富的红土地上待上两周，每天将一百万吨左右的红土运往中国。

ThePilbara—the word is Aboriginal for mullet, a type of fish running inthe mountain creeks—is both the end of the earth and the wellspring ofAustralia's future. The desolate region was home to indigenous peoplefor millennia, then to the stockmen and adventurers who populatefantasies of the outback. It is the last place you would expect to find abusinessman from China, let alone several thousand native Chinese.

皮尔巴拉在当地土语里是“鲻鱼”的意思，指一种在山涧里游走的鱼。现实中，皮尔巴拉既象征着土地的尽头，也象征着澳大利亚未来财富的源泉。这片荒凉的土地曾是澳洲土著人数千年的家园，然后变成了畜牧主和探险者的乐园，充满了他们的各种奇幻想象。你绝不会想到会在这种地方遇到中国商人，更别提好几千个中国人了。

Here,representatives of Chinese companies Chinalco, CITIC, Sinosteel,Ansteel, and China Metallurgical Group work alongside employees of BHPBilliton (BHP) and other mining companies, like Box's employer, RioTinto (RTP), in which China has an interest. Among their jobs—whichinclude building power stations, desalination plants, and otherinfrastructure around the mines—is overseeing the removal of the ironore, which is loaded onto 325-yard-long bulk carriers waiting bypurpose-built wharves 500 yards long. (Construction has begun on a stilllarger installation, including a 1.1 mile long jetty.) About eight ofthese massive ships leave every day.

在这里，来自中国铝业、中信、中钢集团、鞍钢和中国冶金科工集团的业务代表们与必和必拓和其它矿业公司一起工作。伯克思的雇主力拓也在内，而中国恰恰也有力拓的股份。他们的工作包括建电站、脱盐厂，以及其它基础设施，但最重要的是监督铁矿石的运输 -铁矿石先被运到325码长（约298米）的散装货轮上，这些货轮停靠在500码长(约457米)的专用码头。（更大规模码头的建设工程已经开始了，其中包括一个1.1英里的码头。）每天大约有八艘这样的巨轮驶离港口。

Thered earth here contains an estimated 24 billion tons of iron ore. Inthe 1970s it left in smaller quantities and returned to Australia inToyotas and Mazdas; now the dirt is going offshore forever, to house andtransport workers in the cities of China. In this earth liesAustralia's miracle economy, which has seen its gross domestic productgrow 3.2 percent in the last year.

这里的红土含有大概240亿吨的铁矿。上世纪70年代，红土的开采和运输量很小，而且被做成丰田或马自达后又都回到了澳洲。而现在，红土则会永远离开澳洲，被运到中国的城市里建设房屋和公共交通。去年澳大利亚的GDP增幅为3.2%，而这个经济奇迹就蕴藏在澳大利亚的红土里。

Ifyou were searching for someone who has handled as much of this dirt asanyone in the past 40 years, you would find Box, 53, one of the 45,000Australians who live and work in the Pilbara region. Everyone calls him"Boxy," as he is named on his navy-blue overalls and dayglo vest. "Callme any other name, I won't know who you're talking to," he says.

如果你想找个在过去四十多年一直跟这些土壤打交道的人，那么53岁的伯克思，四万五千个在皮尔巴拉地区生活和工作的澳大利亚人之一，是最合适的人选。所有人都叫他"盒子"(Boxy),就像他的深蓝色工装裤和反光背心上印的一样。他说，“如果你管我叫其它名字，那我是不会知道你是在跟谁说话的。”

Asa teenager in the 1970s, Boxy came up here to work for Hamersley Iron,building the town of Paraburdoo to support workers in the Pilbara mines.For 92 cents an hour he was one of "a tribe of dogsbodies," as he callsmanual laborers, "carting sand and rocks, planting lawns, buildingretaining walls, then moving into the mine, crushing and screening ironore, then loading it onto the trains."

70年代，Boxy在他十几岁的时候开始为哈默斯利铁矿公司工作，为在皮尔巴拉铁矿工作的工人们建设Paraburdoo镇。那时他的工钱是每小时9毛2分，是被他称呼为“一群杂役”的体力劳动者中的一员。“我们搬运沙石，种草坪，砌挡土墙，然后到矿上碾筛铁矿石，再把筛好的矿石运到火车上。”

Thirty-fiveyears later Boxy is still here, now earning A$145,000 ($129,000) a yearas a truck operator for Rio Tinto, his waist thickened by his love ofbeer, his eyesight aided by thick-rimmed glasses, and with a "hole in myhair that grew as big as my head."

三十五年后的今天，Boxy还在这里工作。他现在是力拓的卡车司机，年收入为14万5千澳元（约12万9千美元）。他的身材已经因为爱喝啤酒而渐渐发福，鼻梁上也多了副厚边眼镜，而且“头顶谢掉的那个洞快跟我的头差不多大了。”

By7:30 a.m. he is in his room in a three-bedroom prefab donga in theminers' camp. A donga is a rudimentary shack, dusted with red dirt butfitted out with flat-screen TVs, sophisticated communications, andcreature comforts. After breakfast and a change, he arrives at the WestAngeles mine, one of a cluster of mega-mine sites in the HamersleyRanges. By 8:30 he's at work.

7点半的时候，他就已经在他矿工营地的房间里了，那是一个有三间卧室的活动房中的一间。活动房就是个很简陋的棚屋，浮着红色的尘土，但里面有平板电视和先进的通讯设备，并且生活用品一应俱全。吃过早餐，换了衣服，他来到位于哈默斯理山脉的大型矿区之一 - West Angeles铁矿。八点半，开始工作。

Inhis time, Boxy has done "just about every job in mining," but his greatlove is driving big trucks. "After 11 years, I got to drive a 100-tonWabco truck, working with loaders and bulldozers," he remembers. "Wewere just like boys in a sandpit." He now oversees a test project ofdriverless Komatsu trucks that cart out 300 tons at a time, moving80,000 tons over two 12-hour shifts. When the drilling is good, he says,they can shift 120,000 tons in 24 hours. Without drivers, the trucksare more reliable, with radar sensors stopping them from crashing. Theyroll 24 hours a day.

在这几十年中，Boxy“差不多干过矿区的每一种工作，”但他最喜欢的是开大卡车。“11年之后，我开始开一辆威伯科卡车，和装货机和推土机一起工作，”他回忆到。“我们那时就像泡在沙坑里的男孩一样。”他现在正在监督一项日本小松无人驾驶卡车的实验项目，每次装卸量为300吨，两个12小时的班次共可搬运8万吨。无人驾驶卡车更加可靠，雷达系统可以使卡车避免撞车事故，并且它们一天24小时不间断工作。

Whileit's a complex industry, at the basic level mining is dead-simple: Dirtis dug from the ground, loaded onto trucks, taken to trains, then puton boats. It is the scale that stuns, particularly in this operation.The trucks are two stories tall. The trains are two miles long, and theypour like rivers down the mountains to the coast, where the carrierships await. The million tons of ore the ships carry away each day is upby 70 percent in the past five years, and most of it is bound forChina.

虽然这个行业非常复杂，但是采矿实际上极其简单：挖出土壤，装上卡车，运送到火车上，然后再装上船。让人震惊的是它的规模，尤其是在这个环节。所有卡车都有两层楼高。火车总长度为两英里，在海岸卸下土壤的时候就像河水从山顶奔流而下一般。货船每天在海岸边等待着将百万吨的矿石运走。在过去五年中，铁矿石运输量上升了70%，其中多数都是运往中国。

Aslarge as the Pilbara project is, it is just one of many China hasfunded in a boom that has both enriched and troubled Australia. TheChinese aluminum company Chinalco owns about 9 percent of Boxy'semployer Rio Tinto, which has been transformed by China's demand foriron ore into the second-largest miner in the world. Rio Tinto, whichhad a net income of $1.4 billion in 2003, now earns more than $10billion a year, and 70 percent of those profits are from iron ore. Untillast year, China was trying to buy more of the company, a move resistedby Rio, which would have had its largest customer even more involved indecision-making.

皮尔巴拉工程的规模相当大，但这只是中国投资潮许多项目中的一个。这股投资潮既为澳大利亚带来了财富，也带来了困扰。中国铝业公司拥有Boxy的雇主力拓9%的股份，而力拓也已被中国对铁矿石的需求改造成了世界第二大矿业公司。力拓2003年的净收入为14亿美元，而现在的年收入超过100亿美元，其中70%来自铁矿石。直至去年，中国一直试图购买力拓更多的股份，但遭到力拓拒绝。如果交易成功，那么这个力拓最大的客户将会更积极地参与到公司的决策过程中来。

Chinabuys A$22 billion worth of iron ore from Australia each year. In 2009,according to the Australian government, nearly a quarter of thecountry's exports, A$42.4 billion worth, went to China. The year-on-yeargrowth was 31 percent.

中国每年向澳大利亚购买价值220亿澳元的铁矿石。澳洲政府公布的数据显示，2009年该国有大约四分之一的出口（价值424亿澳元）是运往中国。这一数字与去年同期相比增长了31%。

Thebillions pouring in from China have helped Australia escape the globalrecession and enjoy a national unemployment rate of just 5.1 percent,about what it was before the financial crisis crushed many othereconomies.

来自中国的百亿财富让澳大利亚躲过了全球经济衰退，全国失业率也仅为5.1%，与经济危机开始冲击其它国家前的水平不相上下。

"A20-year-old off the street can come up to the Pilbara and earn A$92,000a year," says Boxy. The median household income in Australia isA$67,000. "He can fly in and fly out 17 times a year for two-weekstints, like I do, and he'd be silly not to."

“一个无所事事的20岁青年也可以到皮尔巴拉来找一份年收入九万二澳元的工作，”Boxy说。而澳大利亚的家庭平均年收入为六万七千澳元。“他可以像我一样每年来回17次，每次工作两周。如果他不干，那他就是傻瓜。”

Thebenefits for Australia in becoming China's quarry are quantifiable andvisible, says Tim Harcourt, the chief economist for the government tradeorganization Austrade. "Our economic relationship with China addsA$3,400 per annum to every Australian household through exports,imports, and foreign investment," he says.

澳大利亚贸易委员会首席经济学家蒂姆. 哈考特说，澳大利亚成为中国采石场的好处是可以计算并清晰可见的。他说，“我们与中国的经济关系，包括出口、进口和外商投资，每年为每个澳洲家庭增加3,400澳元的收入。”

Thegreater part of China's interest in Australia lies in the ground.Chevron's Gorgon natural gas project at Barrow Island, off the northwestcoast of Western Australia, will cost $37 billion to build and employ6,000. China has committed to buying gas from the project for 20 years.Chevron (CVX) is also developing a liquefied natural gas (LNG) projectat Wheatstone in the same area that will produce an estimated 8.6million tons of LNG annually. As a consequence, property prices incentral Pilbara rose by 230 percent last year, according to RP Data.

中国对澳大利亚更大的兴趣是在地底下。雪佛龙公司在巴罗岛（西澳州西北海岸附近）的Gorgon天然气项目需要370亿美元的资金，并且提供6000个就业机会。中国已承诺将购买该项目天然气二十年。雪佛龙目前还在同一地区的惠特斯通开发一个液化天然气项目，年产量预计将达860万吨。RP Data公布的数据显示，受天然气项目带动，皮尔巴拉中部的房价去年上涨了230%。

Chineseresource investment comes in three main forms: In the year leading upto July 2009, Australia saw A$42.4 billion in export demand, A$3 billionof direct investment in Australian companies, and more than A$4.9billion in other project financing. More than 60 new direct Chineseinvestment projects have been approved this year by Australia's ForeignInvestment Review Board and are expected to total A$23 billion overtheir lives. Huge mining projects need the type of capital that is noteasily available within Australia, and 99 percent of current Chineseinvestment in the country is in the resources sector.

中国的资源类投资主要有三种形式：截至2009年7月的一年中，澳大利亚到中国的出口额为424亿澳元；中国向澳企直接投资额为30亿澳元；向其它项目投资额超过49亿澳元。今年，澳洲外国投资委员会已批准了60%的中国直接投资的新项目，项目期间预计投资总额为230亿澳元。巨型矿业项目需要的投资在澳洲本土是不太容易筹到的；而中国向澳大利亚的投资中，有99%都是投向资源业。

Directinvestment has been politically charged, with Chinese bids to take overor increase their shares in miners such as Rio Tinto and Oz Mineralsblocked by management and the government, respectively. (A portion of OzMinerals was purchased in June 2009 for $1.35 billion, however.) TheAustralian Foreign Investment Review Board has issued guidelinessuggesting that Chinese direct investment in Australian companies remainbelow 50 percent, but no such law has been passed. This has not harmedChinese financing. In June the China Development Bank signed a $1.1billion loan facility for the $1.8 billion Karara iron ore project inWestern Australia, developed by Australia's Gindalbie Metals and China'sAngang Steel, as well as deals to fund Aquila Resources' A$5.8 billionWest Pilbara iron ore project and Fortescue Metals' various Pilbara ironore projects.

直接投资已经产生了政治效应。中国对力拓和Oz Minerals的收购或增购股份的尝试分别受到了公司管理层和政府的抵制（虽然2009年6月OzMinerals的部分股份还是被以13.5亿美元的价格收购）。外国投资委员会已发布指导意见，将中国在澳企的直接投资份额限制在50%以下，但它并无法律效力。这些行动并未影响中国注资。六月份，中国国家开发银行签署协议，将为在西澳州价值18亿美元的卡拉拉铁矿石项目提供11亿美元的贷款。此项目由澳洲的Gindalbie Metals和中国鞍钢共同开发。此外，国开行还将为AquilaResources的西皮尔巴拉铁矿石项目和Fortescue Metals的多个皮尔巴拉铁矿石项目注资。

Theconsequences of a A$6.6 billion trade surplus with China are evident onAustralia's streets as much in what is unseen as what is seen: Thereare no dole lines, no rash of real estate foreclosures, and little ofthe social unrest that has followed economic downturns elsewhere.

与中国66亿澳元的贸易顺差给澳大利亚带来的影响同样体现在那些看不到的事情上：没有领失业救济金的长队，没有大批的房屋止赎，也很少有经济危机后在其它国家出现的社会动荡。

Politically,China treats Australia as a serious partner. Three of its politburostanding committee members have visited Australia in the past 15 months,including Vice-President Xi Jinping in June, who noted the "advancementof the China-Australia relations at large." Talks are under way for afree-trade agreement, and an annual Australia-China Strategic Dialoguehas been inaugurated.

政治上来说，中国一直与澳大利亚保持着严肃的伙伴关系。过去15个月中，中国政治局有三名常委曾访问过澳大利亚，包括国家副主席习近平六月份的访问。他在访问中称“中澳关系呈现良好发展势头。”目前两国正在就一项自由贸易协定进行磋商，并已经启动了一年一度的澳中战略对话。

Economicand diplomatic advances, however, have not fueled a warm national glow.Australia's proposal to increase taxes on mining became a nationalissue, precipitating a three-month barrage of anti-government campaignspaid for by the mining industry, which in part led to the removal inJune of Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, a Chinese-speaking former diplomat.In the August federal election, the ruling center-left Australian LaborParty lost its majority due in large part to massive swings against itin the resource-rich states of Western Australia and Queensland.Supporters of the tax argue that the resources are not coming back andthat Australia should participate more fully in the outsize profits.Those against include the mine operators and the many who work in themines; mining salaries are, on average, Australia's highest, accordingto the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

然而，经济和外交方面的成果并未让国内气氛缓和。政府拟给矿业增税的提案迅速升温并扩大到全国，由此引发了由矿业提供资金支持、反政府阵营发起的轮番炮轰，时间长达三个月，并间接导致了六月份前首相陆克文，这位中文流利的前外交官的下台。八月份的联邦选举中，中左派执政党劳工党失去其多数席位，直接原因就是资源丰富的西澳州和昆士兰州大批选民的倒戈。增税计划的支持者表示资源将一去不复返，并且政府应更多参与到这项巨大财富的使用中来。而反对者包括矿业主和在矿区工作的人员；澳国家统计局数据显示，矿业的平均收入是澳大利亚所有行业中最高的。

Thecountries' diplomatic ties were also strained in early 2010 with theopaque trial and imprisonment in China of Stern Hu, an Australianconvicted of accepting bribes and spying while working for Rio Tinto. Heis to spend 10 years in prison. Hu was arrested a month after Rio Tintorebuffed state-owned Chinalco's attempt to double its stake in thecompany.

澳中两国的外交关系在2010年初随着胡士泰被捕案的扑朔迷离也经历了一段紧张时期。胡士泰为澳大利亚籍，被判在为力拓工作期间犯有受贿罪和间谍罪，并处以有期徒刑十年。胡士泰是在力拓断然拒绝中国国企中铝加倍收购力拓股份邀约的一个月后被捕的。

Miningexecutives and other Australian businesspeople dealing with China werereluctant to comment on the Hu case. The Chinese embassy in Australiadid not respond to a request to make a spokesman available.

矿业高管们以及其他和中国有往来的澳洲商人不愿就胡士泰一案多做表态，中国驻澳使馆也未应邀由发言人出面做出回复。

China'shunger for Australian resources has aggravated the deepest divisions inAustralian society over population size, immigration rates, taxation,and infrastructure. Bob Kinnaird, formerly of the Department ofImmigration and Citizenship and now a private consultant, warns: "Thehuge growth of the Chinese presence in Australia, through the miningboom, students, tourism, and permanent migration, has been mismanaged toan incredible degree. The industries involved have urged extraordinarygrowth, but there hasn't been the infrastructure support to cope withit, and the result is that large numbers of Australians in the citiesare worried that while the economic indicators are going one way, theirreal living standards feel like they are going the other."

中国对澳大利亚资源的渴求已使澳洲社会在人口、移民率、税收以及基础设施方面的分歧变得更加恶化。鲍勃.金奈尔德（前移民及公民部官员，现为独立咨询师）警告说，“矿业潮、教育、旅游以及移民使中国人的数量在澳大利亚急速增长，而澳大利亚政府对此的管理极为不力。虽然这些行业增长迅速，但配套的各项基础设施却没有跟上，这就给众多澳洲居民造成了心理负担。他们担心经济指数虽然向好，但真正的生活水平却会朝着相反的方向发展。”

Publicopinion reflects this ambivalence. In new polling conducted by the LowyInstitute for International Policy, an Australian think tank, 73percent of Australians say Chinese economic growth has been positive,but 57 percent say there is now too much Chinese investment. Economicpower has brought fear, too: 46 percent believe China will pose amilitary threat within the next 20 years.

舆论的声音也反映了这种矛盾心理。澳洲智库洛伊国际政策学院的最新调查显示，有73%的澳大利亚人认为中国经济的发展是积极的，但57%认为目前中国对澳投资过度。经济实力同时也带来了恐惧：有46%的澳人认为中国在未来20年中会对澳大利亚造成军事威胁。

FergusHanson conducted the polling. "In some ways," he says, "these pollsrepeat what was happening with Japan two decades ago. In 1988, 70percent of Australians said we had too much Japanese investment, eventhough they thought it had been good for Australia. The difference nowis that the ambivalence over the future comes with fears about themotivations of an authoritarian central government."

此项调查的负责人弗格斯.汉森说，“某种程度上，这些调查结果重复了20年前对日本的看法。1988年的时候，有70%的澳洲人认为日本对澳投资过度，但他们也承认投资对澳大利亚有利。不同的是，现在这种对未来担心的矛盾心理，是由于无法判断一个中央集权政府背后的动机而造成的。”

Inthe markets, speculators, unable to bet on a yuan pegged to the U.S.dollar, use the currencies of China's main trading partners instead.That has helped make the Australian dollar the fifth-most-tradedcurrency in the world—after the U.S. dollar, the yen, the pound, and theeuro—even though Australia is the 18th largest economy. It has alsomade it more volatile. In May it fell by almost 10 percent in one daywhen traders sold it as a proxy for China, after Chinese growthforecasts were downgraded.

市场中的投机商们无法在紧盯美元的人民币身上下注，就把眼光投向中国主要贸易伙伴国的货币。这使澳元交易量跻身世界前五，位列美元、日元、英镑及欧元之后，虽然澳大利亚的经济规模只排在世界第18位。然而这也使澳元变得更不稳定。五月份，当对中国的经济预期有所下调的时候，交易员将澳元作为人民币的代替品大量抛售，致使澳元在一天时间内下跌了10%。

It'sin the towns, however, where the boom is most powerfully felt—and leasttrusted, especially as projects are prepared for and sometimesabandoned. In Ravensthorpe, in the Pilbara, the shelving of a nickelmine cost a projected 6,000 jobs. ("When I first went to Paraburdoo inthe Pilbara in the 1970s," remembers Box, "the place was only half-builtfrom the 1960s boom. It had been shut down when the boom ended.")

然而，对目前的经济繁荣感受最强烈的是那些城镇，但它们对这样的繁荣也非常没有安全感，尤其在一些项目的准备工作完成，即将上马的时候又被放弃掉。在皮尔巴拉的雷文斯索普，一个镍矿项目的半途而废让6000名工人丢掉了工作。（“我在70年代刚来到皮尔巴拉的Paraburdoo时，”伯克思回忆到，“这地方只完成了一半。60年代的繁荣期过去之后，这个矿就被关闭了。”）

Wandoan,a hamlet of 300 homes in outback Queensland, on the eastern side ofAustralia, is hanging by a Chinese thread right now. Life there hasbecome contingent on decisions in steel towns in China or at theheadquarters of Mainland-based multinationals. Mining giant Xstrata, totake one example, has been planning a A$6 billion coal mine that is partof a A$150 billion complex of projects in central Queensland to exportcoal and LNG to Asia.

Wandoan位于澳洲东部昆士兰州内陆，住着300户居民。现在这个镇子的命运就系在中国身上，而决定权在中国的产钢基地或总部设在大陆的跨国公司手里。例如，矿业巨头Xstrata最近一直计划开始一个60亿澳元的煤矿项目，这个项目作为昆士兰中部一个1500亿澳元项目的一部分，将向亚洲国家出口煤和液化天然气。

RayMortimer is a local real estate agent and head of the town's businesschamber. "The mine's been on the drawing board for a long time," hesays, "and people feel like they're being strung along. Xstrata hasbought 70,000 acres of the most beautiful grazing land for seven mines.Forty families were coming to grips with whether to take the money orstay where they've been for generations and didn't really want to leave.When they did leave, it caused the local supermarket to close down.Then Xstrata stopped buying. Then two months ago it was on again, butnow it's up in the air again."

雷.莫蒂默是本地的地产经纪人，也是镇商会的主席。“煤矿项目已经计划了很长时间，人们也都觉得在被它牵着鼻子走，”他说，“Xstrata买下了7万英亩最美的牧场用以开发七座煤矿，当时四十个家庭面临着拿钱搬家或继续留在他们世世代代生活的土地上的选择，而他们并不想走。当他们真走了之后，当地的超市也随即关门了。然后Xstrata停止了收购。两个月以前项目筹备又开始了，但现在又暂停了。”

The consequence, in the small towns whose livelihoods hinge on those decisions, is a sense of helplessness.

这些商业决策在很大程度上决定着小城镇居民们的生计，而现在的状况则让他们感到很无助。

"Thereare deeply mixed feelings over the mine," says Mortimer. "Older peoplehave no sense that this is going to be good for the district, becauseall they see is their communities being decimated. For the businesseswho are meant to profit, whether it's mine mechanics or hardware or allthe small businesses in the towns, they don't know from one week to thenext whether they're going to have a job or not."

"人们对煤矿的感觉很复杂，"莫蒂默说。“年纪大些的人完全不觉得煤矿会给当地带来什么好处，因为他们只能看到他们生活的社区被毁掉了。对于本应从中牟利的生意人，包括机械制造商、硬件商和镇上的小企业来说，他们也不能确定过了这周之后，下周还能不能有活干。”

DinaFraser, whose family has owned the local pharmacy in Wandoan for 40years, says the mine project has been anything but a blessing. "A lot ofpeople have lost their properties to acquisitions by the mine and somehave left town," she says. "If the mine doesn't happen, the town mightjust fade away. There's great upheaval about it and a happy farmingcommunity has been turned into something else, and you could say a lotof people wish the resources were somewhere else."

迪娜.弗雷泽一家在Wandoan开药房已经有40多年了。她认为煤矿没给小镇带来一点好处。“很多人的房产都被矿业公司买走，有些人还离开了这里，”她说。“如果煤矿最后没能开起来，那这个镇子可能也会慢慢消失。煤矿给这里带来了剧烈的变化，让一个原本幸福满足的农业大家园变了味儿。我觉得很多人甚至希望这里根本没有过这些资源。”

Unpredictabilitybrings anxiety and hope in equal measure to the 8,000 Aborigines in thePilbara, who hope their third-world living conditions might be raisedby the China boom. Tony Wiltshire, an indigenous mechanic who runs aguild of Aboriginal businesses and tradesmen in the Pilbara, says themining boom's benefits could sidestep the local population.

对于皮尔巴拉的八千名澳洲土著居民来说，这种不确定性既给他们带来了不安，也带来了希望。他们希望这场中国潮能提高他们贫穷的生活水平。托尼.维特谢尔是一名土生土长的机械工，并管理着一个皮尔巴拉的澳洲土著企业和商人的行业协会。他说，矿业潮的好处很有可能不会落到本地人的手里。

"Thereality is that industrial discrimination against local people ishuge," he says. "The big corporations fly workers in and out, and seethese mines as short-term projects."

“现实是，对本地人的行业歧视非常严重，”他说。“大公司让他们的工人飞过来又飞回去，而且这些矿只是他们的短期项目。”

CharlieWilliams, a 55-year-old Aboriginal electrician who had worked on theeast coast all his life, decided to fly west and try his luck threeyears ago. "I went to Perth and qualified as an electrical contractor,"says Williams, who now works on electrical maintenance in BHP Billiton'srail yards at Nelson Point, on the Pilbara coast. "My main aim is toget Aboriginal apprentices into work," he says. "There's a terriblecycle of poverty for Aboriginal people, and the mining industry caneither break that cycle or it can pass us by."

55岁的查理.威廉姆斯是一名澳洲土著电工，他从参加工作开始就一直在东岸，但三年前他决定到西边去碰碰运气。“我去了珀斯，当上了电力承包商，”威廉姆斯说。他现在在必和必拓位于皮尔巴拉海岸NelsonPoint的铁路围栏场做电力维护。“我的主要目标是让澳洲土著学徒们找到工作，”他说。“土著人的生活一直在贫困中循环，矿业要么可以打破这种循环，要么就会和我们擦肩而过。”

Williams,a graying, bespectacled, and fair-skinned Aboriginal man, has Chineseblood on his mother's side. Chinese immigration to Australia started inthe 1850s gold rushes, and that diaspora spread through the country,including to north Queensland, where Williams' people come from. "I'mcolor-blind on these things," he says. "China is just a customer, and ifthey can bring us jobs, that's what China means to me."

威廉姆斯是个头发斑白，带着眼镜，皮肤颜色较浅的土著男人，母亲这边有中国血统。中国人往澳洲的移民潮从十九世纪五十年代的淘金热时期开始，逐渐向澳洲其它地区扩展，其中包括昆士兰北部，威廉姆斯的家乡。“我不会带有色眼镜去看这些事情，”他说。“中国只是个客户，而且如果他们能给我们带来工作，那中国对我来说也就意味着工作。”

Butif it's just a customer, what are its obligations to the supplier? TonyWiltshire asks a question that is a perennial for citizens of a landthat is used as a quarry: "Are they just here to make a buck and go, orbuild something sustainable? The question is whether we're going to havemines with towns, or towns with mines."

但如果中国仅仅是个客户，那么它应该对供应商负些什么责任？托尼.维特谢尔道出了长期困扰生活在这片采石场上的公民的问题：“他们只是来赚一桶金就走，还是来建设一些可持续发展的东西？问题是，我们到底要以矿为中心来建设城镇，还是要以城镇为中心来开矿。”

Thatquestion speaks to the rest of Australia. In June, Wiltshire was one ofmany locals surprised to see the Sino mine project in the Pilbaraadvertise for riggers, crane operators, and fitters who speak Mandarin.As an unhappy union official named Joe McDonald put it: "The only bloke Iknow who can speak Mandarin is Kevin Rudd."

这个问题也同样困扰着澳洲其它地区。六月份，包括维特谢尔在内的许多本地人惊讶地看到皮尔巴拉的一些中资矿区正在招聘说普通话的装配工、起重机手和钳工。乔.麦特唐纳，一位对此很气愤的工会官员说，“我知道的唯一会说普通话的家伙就是陆克文。”

JohnSutton, the national secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Miningand Energy Union (CFMEU), the biggest representative of Australian mineworkers, voices a widely held concern: "As more Chinese investment comesin, it's inevitable that they'll want to bring in their own workforce,with lower costs and conditions than the locals. Why else would acompany advertise in a way that shuts out pretty much every Australianjob applicant?"

澳洲建设、林业、矿业和能源工会是澳洲矿工的最大后盾。工会的全国事务主席约翰.萨顿说出了一个澳人的普遍担忧：“随着更多的中国投资进入澳洲，他们肯定会想把自己的队伍带过来，以保证比雇佣本地人更低的工资待遇。除了这个原因，还有什么能让一个公司的招聘广告将所有澳大利亚求职者拒之门外？”

Or,as Kinnaird puts it: "We've seen it before in the 1980s, when Japanesecompanies brought in Japanese-speaking workers. When the Japaneseeconomy busted and they pulled out of Australia, they left nothing forthe local workforce."

或者如金奈尔德所说，“我们在上世纪80年代见过这种情况，那时日本公司引进了大批说日语的工人。当日本经济垮台，这些人离开澳大利亚的时候，什么也没给本地工人留下。”

Itis all a jarring turnaround in a long relationship. For most of the20th century, Australia had an immigration policy that was biasedagainst non-Europeans. Although Australia recognised the People'sRepublic of China in 1972, ahead of many Western governments, trade withcommunist China was minimal until this decade. A precedent existed,however, in Japan, which went from Australia's No. 1 military threat toits biggest trading partner in the space of a generation.

这些都是一段长期关系中刺耳的急转弯。20世纪的很长一段时间内，澳大利亚的移民政策对非欧洲人都持有偏见。虽然澳大利亚先于许多西方国家政府在1972年承认了中华人民共和国，但是和共产党领导的中国之间的贸易往来直到近十年间才展开。但这之前并非没有先例。日本就是在一代人之间从澳大利亚最大的军事威胁变成了最大的贸易伙伴。

Withsuch an unexpected and rapid windfall, from a country with a suspectrecord on human rights and unknown intentions for its trading partners,it is perhaps normal for many Australians to look for a catch. FergusHanson's polling shows a recent pushback against China. "Record numbersof Australians support our alliance with the USA," he writes. "Part ofthat is the popularity of Barack Obama, but a bigger part is fear ofChina." These findings were backed up by a survey of 2,000 investors inJanuary 2010 by Fairfax Media newspapers, in which only one in five hadpositive feelings about Chinese investment. Others were worried byChina's human rights record, or that China's state-owned enterpriseswould act against Australia's interests.

从一个人权状况和对其贸易伙伴动机受到质疑的国家一下子得到大笔的财富，这自然让许多澳洲人觉得蹊跷。弗格斯.汉森的民意测验显示出了最近澳洲对中国产生的抗拒。“从没有这么多澳洲人支持我们与美国结盟，”他写到。“这一部分是由于巴拉克.奥巴马非常受欢迎，但更大的原因是出于对中国的恐惧。”2010年1月FairfaxMedia旗下的报纸对两千名投资者所做的调查也印证了这些结果。调查显示，每五人中只有一人对中国投资持积极态度。其他人或为中国的人权状况担忧，或担心中国国有企业有可能将澳洲利益弃而不顾。

Atstreet level, there is little evidence of ethnic tension. Chinesebusinesses are long-established not only in Australian cities but insmall rural towns. "Chinese immigrants were here very soon after theEuropeans," says Kinnaird, "They've long been a part of Australianlife."

从表面上看，还没有什么明显的民族矛盾出现。中国企业不管在澳洲大城市还是小乡镇都已经发展了很长时间了。“中国移民在欧洲人来到这里后不久就来了，”金奈尔德说，“他们早已成为澳大利亚生活的一部分了。”

Therehas been no recent reporting of race-related violence against Chinesein Australia, as compared with the well-publicized attacks on Indianstudents in 2009, the riots directed at Middle-Eastern immigrants in2005, and national anxiety over asylum seekers from South Asia. SaysKinnaird, "The tension you do see is related to labor marketsspecifically, through workers coming in from China on short-term visas,rather than a broader social phenomenon directed atChinese-Australians."

最近并没有针对在澳华人的种族暴力事件发生，像2009年被广泛报道的袭击印度学生事件，2005年针对中东移民的暴乱，或由来自南亚的寻求庇护者引起的广泛不安那样。金奈尔德说，“你所能感觉到的紧张气氛主要是跟劳动力市场有关，是由拿短期签证的中国工人引起的，而不是更广泛的针对澳洲华人的社会现象。”

Forunion leader Sutton, it boils down to what the Chinese companies buildand leave here. "The big mining companies have tended to see themselvesas visitors to an area, flying in and flying out," he says. "What'sneeded is for governments to insist on them contributing to the buildingof schools, roads, hospitals, permanent housing, all the things thatare going to leave these towns better than before. As long as thecompanies aren't doing that, the fear for Australia workers is thatChinese companies will just be building camps to fly in and fly outChinese workers on temporary visas, to work for less pay and worseconditions, and deprive Australians of the benefits that they are due."

对于工会领袖萨顿来说，问题在于中国公司会建些什么和留下什么。“矿业巨头们只把自己当成短期的访客，”他说。“而现在政府应该让这些公司出钱建学校、马路、医院、长期住房等等会让这些乡镇变得更好的设施。如果他们不这么做，那么澳洲工人就会担心中国公司只会建些营地，用短期签证把中国工人运过来，拿更低的工资，在更差的条件下工作，并且剥夺澳洲人应得的权益。”

Oneof the local councils in the Pilbara, Shire of Ashburton, recentlyrefused permission to Rio Tinto to expand its camp around the Tom Pricemine. Instead the company has been asked to invest in facilities thatwill remain after the mine is closed, to spend $247 million on housing,an air strip, and other infrastructure at the town of Pannawonica. Thiskind of investment, and the employing of locals, is the only move thatis going to convince skeptics like Tony Wiltshire.

皮尔巴拉的阿什伯顿郡最近拒绝了力拓在TomPrice矿周围扩大营地的请求，并且要求力拓支付2.47亿美元用以在Pannawonica镇建设房屋、一条机场跑道以及其它基础设施，直到矿关闭之后仍可继续使用。这样的投资和雇用本地人是能说服像托尼.维特谢尔这样的怀疑派的唯一方法。

"Wewere at a town meeting the other day when a representative from amining company said, 'Come on, we're all up here to make a dollar.' Thelocals in the room looked at each other and thought, 'What?' We livehere. We can cope with the hot summers. We're here for the long term. Weare actually better for the multinationals than the contractors theyfly in and fly out. We just need them to wake up to the fact that they,and we, are all in it for the long haul."

“我们那天去参加镇民大会，会上一个矿业公司的代表说，‘说白了吧，咱们都是来这儿赚钱的。’会议室里的本地人看着彼此想，‘什么？’我们生活在这里。我们能适应炎热的夏天。我们会一直在这里待下去。我们比那些整天飞来飞去的承包商更适合那些跨国公司。我们只是要他们能醒过来想明白，他们，和我们一样，都是为了长久的发展而努力。”

Like many miners making money off the boom, though, Michael Box is optimistic.

然而像许多其他从这场矿业热中挣钱的矿工一样，迈克尔.伯克思是乐观的。

"I'ma simple man, but I've had a good life," he says. "My total salary andsuperannuation is A$145,000 a year, and when I'm in the Pilbara I don'thave to put my hand in my pocket. I have a house in the city and aninvestment property and a 1972 Falcon pickup. I couldn't have had thislife without mining."

“我是个简单的人，但我一直生活得不错，”他说。“我每年的总工资加上养老金一共是14万5千澳元，而且我在皮尔巴拉的时候都是公司出钱。我在城里有座自己住的房子，还有个投资的房产和一辆1972年的Falcon小货。如果没有矿业，那我是不会过上这样的生活的。”

Andthough he has seen booms go bust, his confidence stretches as far overthe horizon as Australia's economy seems to. "When my 18-year-old sonChristopher was wondering what to do with his life, I showed himeverything I've got from driving trucks and carrying dirt," says Box."He's decided to study mining engineering. I'll be proud as punch if heends up being one of my bosses."

而且，虽然他也看到过繁华过后一场空的景象，但他似乎仍然信心满满，就像澳大利亚的经济一样。"我18岁的儿子克里斯托弗考虑未来职业方向的时候，我给他数了数我这些年开卡车运泥土所挣到的一切，"伯克思说。“他已经决定学采矿工程了。如果他最后变成了我的众老板之一，那我可就得意死了。”