民之间的联系。华人社区在英国城市中长久以来都受到尊重和珍视。
But today, more and more British people are visiting China to see for themselves the new dynamism of great cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. We are re-discovering China's incomparably rich cultural heritage, as well as its immense economic potential. The Chinese are re-discovering Britain, too. We are delighted to welcome more Chinese visitors to our country each year. Many more Chinese are finding out about Britain through modern media like television and the Internet.
但是今天，越来越多的英国人访问中国，亲眼目睹像北京、上海、广州这样的大城市的新活力。我们正在重新发现中国无与伦比、丰富多彩的文化遗产以及她巨大的经济潜力。中国人也正在重新发现英国。我们每年都很高兴地欢迎越来越多的中国客人来访。通过电视和因特网这样的现代媒体了解英国的中国人大大增加。
Indeed, there are more Chinese people learning the English language than there are native speakers of English in the world today. This growing relationship is measurable, too, in financial terms. British firms now have a huge presence in China, a sign of their confidence in the country and its future. The UK is the largest European investor, and a British company, BP, is investing more capital in China than any other foreign firm. The largest foreign manufacturing investment in Western China is also British. 毫不夸张地说，当今世界上学习英语的中国人已经超过了以英语为母语的人了。这种关系的发展也可以从经济角度来衡量。英国公司现在在中国有很大的规模。这表明他们对中国及其未来的信心。英国是欧洲在华的最大投资国。英国的BP公司在中国的投资超过了其他任何外国公司。中国西部最大的外国制造业投资也来自英国。
The UK is China's second largest European trading partner. British exports to China last year, at ￡3.72 billion were up 17% on the year 2000. China's exports to Britain are at an all-time high. Many Chinese enterprises now regard Britain's flexible and open economy has an ideal launching pad into the wider European market. All this is a far cry from 1972, when the UK and the PRC first exchanged Ambassadors. Then, there were virtually no Chinese students in Britain. Today, there are over 20,000--one of the largest overseas communities at our universities. 英国是中国在欧洲的第二大贸易伙伴。去年英国对华出口额达37.2亿英镑，比前年增长17%。中国对英国的出口达创记录水平。许多中国企业现在把英国灵活、开放的经济看作进军更大的欧洲市场的理想跳板。这一切与1972年英中两国首次互换在使时的情景大不相同。当时，英国几乎没有中国学生，而今天有两万多，是英国大学中人数最多的海外群体。
Then, there were no direct air services between Beijing and London. This year, more than a
quarter of a million British tourists will travel to China. Then, no serving British Prime Minister or Foreign Secretary had ever visited China. Last year, there were visits from eleven British ministers. The changing nature of international relations requires governments to work ever more closely together for their mutual benefit. In the globalised world economy, the security and prosperity of individual countries often depends on events beyond our borders.
1972年，北京和伦敦之间没有直接通航。而今年，将有25万多名英国游客前往中国。1972年，在位的英国首相或外相中没有人访问过中国。而去年，英国有11位大臣及部长到访中国。国际事务性质的变化，要求政府之间出于相互利益而更加紧密地合作。在全球化的经济中，每个国家的安全和繁荣经常受制于国界之外发生的事件。
We are interdependent as well as independent. Challenges such as fighting environmental damage, ensuring global human rights are properly observed, removing barriers to trade and investment, and reducing poverty, have become truly global issues. They loom larger on the agendas of multilateral organisations like the UN, the WTO and ASEM. In the 21st century, bilateral relations between countries will depend on progress on issues like these.
我们既相互独立，又相互依赖。对付环境破坏，确保全球人权得到应有的尊重，撤除贸易和投资的障碍，减少贫困，这些挑战都已经成为名副其实的全球问题。在联合国、世界贸易组织和亚欧会议这样的多边组织的日程上，这些问题显得越来越严重。在21世纪，国家之间的双边关系将取决于在这些问题上取得的进展。
As two of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, our governmentss work together on a daily basis on problems affecting every corner of the world. Another change in the relationship between Britain and China has been developments in Hong Kong. I am delighted that Hong Kong has prospered since 1997, and that \"On Country, Two Systems\" is proving such an effective approach.
作为联合国安理会常任理事国五位成员中的两位，我们双方政府每天都在相互合作，处理影响到世界各地的问题。英中两国关系的另一变化是香港问题的发展。令我感到高兴的是，香港自从1997年回归以来，继续保持繁荣，证明了“一国两制”是非常有效的做法。
As a signatory of the Joint Declaration, the UK has an abiding interest in te continued well-being of the Special Administrative Region. But this is only a part of our wider commitment to China. We are increasing the resources we allocate through our Department for International Development to poverty reduction in China from ￡25m this year to ￡60m by 2004.
作为《联合声明》的签约国，英国对香港特别行政区保持良好状况具有长期的兴趣。但这只是我们对中国更广泛承诺的一部分。我们通过国际发展部，把用于中国扶贫项目的拨款资金从今年的2500万英镑，增加到2004年的6000万英镑。
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