In May, with Pakistan’s rupee looking particularly weak, its balance of payments parlous and election jitters increasing, Yaseen Anwar, the head of State Bank of Pakistan, quietly took advantage of a little-known clause in the bank’s central currency swap agreement with the People’s Bank of China and borrowed almost $600m. By drawing down on part of a $1.5bn line of credit, the government was able to report that far from showing a big deficit, Pakistan’s balance of payments were positive at the end of the month.

今年5月，巴基斯坦卢比汇率看上去尤为疲弱、国际收支处于危险之中，同时选举恐慌情绪加剧，在这种背景下，该国央行(State Bank of Pakistan)行长亚辛•安瓦尔(Yaseen Anwar)悄悄利用该行与中国央行(PBoC)的货币互换协议中一项鲜为人知的条款，借入近6亿美元。通过动用15亿美元信贷额度的一部分，巴基斯坦政府得以报告，5月底该国国际收支没有出现巨额赤字，反而录得了盈余。

By the end of June the rupee was under less pressure and by early September the new government of Nawaz Sharif had signed an agreement with the International Monetary Fund that further stabilised the ailing currency.

到6月底，巴基斯坦卢比面临的压力有所减轻，到9月初，以纳瓦兹•谢里夫(Nawaz Sharif)为首的新政府与国际货币基金组织(IMF)签订一项协议，进一步稳定了境况不佳的卢比汇率。

“China helped us weather the storm,” Mr Anwar says.

安瓦尔表示：“中国帮助我们度过了难关。”

Drawing down the Chinese line of credit, of course, was cosmetic: it did not change the underlying economic and financial realities. But since most market participants, including virtually every foreign banker in Karachi, had no idea that the improvement was essentially technical, it contributed to more positive sentiment.

当然，动用中国提供的信贷额度只是表面文章：它没有改变巴基斯坦根本的经济和金融状况。然而，由于多数市场参与者（包括几乎所有常驻卡拉奇的外国银行家）不清楚这种改善本质上是技术性的，此举带来了更为乐观的市场情绪。

Moreover, as a statement of friendship it marked a further warming in the relations between Pakistan and its big neighbour to the north. The gesture also signalled China’s growing determination for its central bank to play a bigger role, not merely by having its currency figure more prominently in trade settlement but in having the bank take on a greater role in international finance.

另外，作为一项友谊的声明，这标志着巴基斯坦与其北方大型邻国之间的关系进一步升温。这一姿态还表明，中国希望让中国央行发挥更重要作用的决心日益增强，不只是要让人民币在贸易结算中扮演更大角色，还要让中国央行在国际金融领域发挥更重要作用。

China is quietly but steadily increasing its footprint both in Asia and in emerging markets across the globe. It is especially effective in places such as Pakistan, which are desperately short of capital and in dire need of foreign assistance to tackle the shortcomings of their infrastructure, from telecoms equipment to turbines. The line of credit from the PBoC is largely symbolic, a small part of the billions of dollars from banks such as China Development Bank and China Export Import Bank. China’s vendor financing model has become a principal engine for the development of Pakistan at a time when few foreigners will even get on a flight to visit it.

中国正悄悄而又稳步地扩大其在亚洲乃至全球新兴市场的影响力。中国在巴基斯坦等国发挥的作用尤为有效，这些国家亟需资金，而且迫切需要国外帮助以解决本国基础设施不足的问题，从电信设备到涡轮机。中国央行的信贷额度基本上是象征性的，仅占中国国家开发银行(CDB)和中国进出口银行(China Export Import Bank)等银行提供的数十亿美元贷款的一小部分。在几乎没有什么外国投资者甚至愿意搭乘航班访问巴基斯坦之际，中国的供应商融资模式已成为巴基斯坦发展的主要推动力。

For example, one of the biggest obstacles to growth in this country of almost 200m people – soon to be the world’s fourth most populous nation – is energy. Pakistan has recently decided to develop its vast reserves of low- quality coal in the Thar desert of Sindh province to fuel its power plants. That is not exactly the fashionable choice in many parts of the world, but Pakistani executives say they rely on coal for less than 1 per cent of their power today, in contrast to say India or China, where the figure is more like 80 per cent.

例如，巴基斯坦发展的最大障碍之一是能源，该国拥有近2亿人口，很快将成为全球人口第四多的国家。巴基斯坦最近决定开发位于信德省塔尔沙漠的巨大劣质煤炭储量，为电厂提供燃料。这并非全球很多地区的流行选择，但巴基斯坦高管表示，它们的燃煤发电现在仅占总发电量的不到1%，而印度和中国的这个比例差不多接近80%。

China is promising to develop some of the Thar tracts and provide financing and equipment to help private Pakistani companies such as Engro develop other tracts.

中国正承诺开发塔尔沙漠的部分区块，并提供融资和设备，帮助Engro等巴基斯坦私营企业开发其他区块。

The Chinese are also taking over management of Pakistan’s newest port, Gwadar, in the west, and will help construct a road that leads from to its border and then on to the oil-rich “stans” of central Asia. That will give China access to yet another warm-water port in Asia and cut by half the time taken by Chinese exports to reach many parts of the world from its western regions. Like so much of what China does, that combines the strategic interests of Beijing with the ability to help its best geopolitical friends develop.

此外，中国企业正接手巴基斯坦西部最新港口瓜达尔港的管理，并将帮助修建一条公路，连接中巴边境至石油储量丰富的中亚“斯坦国”。这将让中国获得亚洲又一个不冻港，并将中国出口产品从中国西部地区运抵全球很多地区的时间缩短一半。与中国诸多举措一样，这将中国的战略利益与中国帮助其最好地缘政治盟友发展的能力结合在了一起。

For the Pakistanis, isolated from the west, that sort of self-interest is not a problem: it means that they have leverage with Beijing. Today less than 10 per cent of Pakistani exports go to China and virtually all are priced in dollars. But its biggest lender, Habib Bank, has a China desk in its Islamabad branch and a rep office in Beijing. When executives went to China for a symposium, they were courted by senior banking officials. For Pakistanis who feel that many parts of the world have turned their backs on their country, such courtship is almost painfully welcome.

对于被西方孤立的巴基斯坦方面而言，这种自私不是问题：这意味着他们可以对中国施加影响。如今，巴基斯坦流向中国的出口占巴基斯坦总出口的不到10%，而且几乎所有出口商品都以美元计价。但巴基斯坦最大银行Habib Bank在其伊斯兰堡分行有一个中国业务柜台，在北京还有一个代表处。当巴基斯坦高管们到中国参加研讨会时，中国银行业高官会刻意讨好他们。对于那些认为全球很多国家都背弃了自己国家的巴基斯坦人来说，这几乎让他们悲喜交集。