Beijing was pushed into launching the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank by US lawmakers’ refusal to give China greater clout in existing multilateral institutions, Ben Bernanke has said.
本•伯南克(Ben Bernanke)表示，北京之所以推动发起亚洲基础设施投资银行（Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank，简称亚投行），是因为美国国会议员拒绝在现有多边机构中给予中国更大投票权。
“The US Congress is largely at fault for all that’s happening,” the former chairman of the Federal Reserve said in Hong Kong yesterday.
美联储(Fed)前主席昨日在香港表示：“发生这一切主要是美国国会的错。”

America’s legislature blocked a 2010 International Monetary Fund agreement to shift 6 per cent of quota — and voting rights — to emerging economies, which Mr Bernanke believes would have “better reflected the increasing role of China” and other nations.
2010年国际货币基金组织(IMF)达成一份协议，将6%的配额（以及投票权）转移给新兴经济体，但遭到美国国会的阻止，伯南克认为，该协议“原本可以更好地反映出中国（及其他国家）日益重要的作用”。
“The US Congress has not approved it. They should, they haven’t,” Mr Bernanke said.
伯南克说：“美国国会没有批准该协议。他们应该批准，却没有这么做。”
“So I understand why other countries say, ‘well let’s take our marbles and go home’.”
“所以，我理解为什么其他国家说，‘那咱们就收拾一下回家吧’。”
The AIIB, which will be capitalised at $100bn, now has 57 members, including most big European economies.
资本金将达到1000亿美元的亚投行，目前有57个成员国，包括欧洲多数大经济体。
Mr Bernanke’s remarks add to those of other senior US figures who argue that Washington has mishandled its response to China’s ambition to play a bigger role in the global economy.
伯南克的言论呼应了美国一些高层人物的观点，他们提出，对于中国在全球经济中发挥更大作用的雄心，华盛顿回应不当。
Lawrence Summers, the former US Treasury secretary, wrote recently that US cold-shouldering of the AIIB may be remembered as the moment it “lost its role as the underwriter of the global economic system”.
美国前财长劳伦斯•萨默斯(Lawrence Summers)最近撰文表示，美国给予亚投行的冷遇，也许会被记载为美国“失去全球经济体系担保人的角色”的一刻。
Mr Bernanke said those remarks were “a little strong”, but agreed it was “unfortunate” China had felt the need to go its own way. “It would be better to have a globally unified system and allow resources to go where they are needed,” he said.
伯南克认为此言可能“有些言重”，但伯南克同意，中国感到有必要走自己的路是“不幸的”。他说：“更好的安排是建立全球统一的体系，让资源流向需要的地方。”
However, the former Fed chairman played down the practical implications of the AIIB, saying the bank was largely symbolic. “There’s now a huge amount of private capital flows going in and out of emerging markets, including money that goes into infrastructure projects,” he said.
不过伯南克淡化了亚投行的实际影响，称该行的意义主要还是象征性的。他说：“现在有大量私人资本流入和流出新兴市场，包括投向基础设施项目的资金。”
According to a former senior official at the Asian Development Bank, which is dominated by Japan and the US, ADB lending accounts for less than 2 per cent of Asia’s infrastructure needs.
根据亚洲开发银行（Asian Development Bank，简称：亚开行）一名前高官的说法，亚开行发放贷款不足亚洲基础设施需求的2%。亚开行由日本和美国两国主导。
Mr Bernanke also said too much attention was being focused on the internationalisation of the renminbi, which was as much a matter of “national prestige” as of practical economic value. In reality, he said, the Chinese currency’s share of global reserves was “very tiny”, and even its share of trade settlement was “modest”.
伯南克还表示，人民币全球化引起了过多关注，这件事既关乎实际经济价值，也关系到“国家威望”。他表示，在现实中，人民币在全球储量占比“非常小”，就连在贸易结算中的比例也“不大”。
China should continue gradual steps to open up its capital account to deepen its bond markets and to allow a bigger role for the private sector, Mr Bernanke advised.
伯南克建议，中国应继续循序渐进地开放资本账户，深化债券市场，允许私营部门发挥更大作用。
These were all preconditions to make the renminbi a reserve currency, he said, but they were more important as a means of improving capital allocation. The ultimate goal, he said, was to shift China’s economic model from one dominated by industry and investment to one in which the consumer and the service industry played a much bigger role.
他说，这些都是使人民币成为储备货币的前提条件，但更重要的是将它们作为提高资金配置效率的一种手段。他说最终目标是将中国经济模式从以工业和投资为主，转型为让消费者和服务业发挥更大作用。