Cristina Nambendi receives training on farming techniques from an American-funded program in Angola. But when asked if she had ever heard of President Biden or knew much about the United States, she looked stumped.

克里斯蒂娜·南本迪在安哥拉接受美國資助項目的農業技術培訓。但被問及她是否聽說過拜登總統或對美國了解多少時，她顯得很困惑。

When asked about China, however, her eyes lit up.

然而，被問及中國時，她的眼睛亮了起來。

“What I hear and what I see is that they are building tall buildings and houses, and they are selling stuff,” said Ms. Nambendi, 47, who has been farming corn and beans for more than two decades in this southern African nation.

「我聽到和看到的是，他們正在建造大廈和住宅，他們在賣東西，」47歲的南本迪說。她在這個非洲南部國家種植玉米和豆類已有20多年。

Mr. Biden visits Angola on Monday in his only trip to Africa as president and what is scheduled to be his last foreign trip in office. He will be there to promote the Lobito Corridor, an 800-mile railway project funded in part by the United States that is meant to be his signature initiative on the continent and an answer to China’s outsize influence across many African nations.

拜登於週一訪問安哥拉，這是他作為總統唯一一次訪問非洲，也是他任期內最後一次出訪。他將在當地推廣「洛比托走廊」，這是一個約1300公里的鐵路項目，部分資金由美國提供，將是他在非洲大陸的標誌性倡議，也是對中國在許多非洲國家巨大影響力的回應。

United States officials say the corridor will encourage private investment in Angola and provide the West with better access to minerals necessary for electric vehicles and other clean energy technologies. Yet China has already spent decades funding projects in the country and around the continent, leaving some to wonder whether America can compete with its rival.

美國官員說，這條走廊將鼓勵在安哥拉的私人投資，並為西方國家提供獲得電動汽車和其他清潔能源技術所需礦產的更好途徑。然而，中國已經花了幾十年的時間，在該國和整個非洲大陸資助項目，這讓一些人懷疑美國是否能與其對手競爭。

Beijing has built ostentatious shopping malls and roads with Chinese logos and signs. Angolans say the Chinese have made life easier and created jobs. Rather than funding such development projects, the United States has sought to create conditions that will attract private investment, though there’s no telling how long that will take or when Angolans might see the benefits. Some are skeptical those benefits will come at all.

中國在這裡修建了許多華麗的購物中心和帶有中國標識與標誌的道路。安哥拉人說，中國人讓他們的生活更加便利，創造了就業機會。美國沒有為這些發展項目提供資金，而是尋求創造條件，吸引私人投資，但不知道這需要多長時間，也不知道安哥拉人什麼時候能看到好處。一些人對這些好處能否實現持懷疑態度。

“What is real is real,” said Edu Xiong, the spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Luanda, the capital. “To speak loudly is easy, but to make it real is another thing. Some people are talking about this corridor. ‘We will hire a lot of people.’ But we have not seen that.”

「真的就是真的，」首都羅安達的中國駐安哥拉大使館發言人埃杜·熊（音）說。「高談闊論是很容易的，但讓它成為現實是另一回事。有人談起這條走廊。『我們會僱用很多人。』但我們還沒有看到。」

Angola is the second largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa. When it emerged from a devastating civil war in 2002, the government knocked on the doors of wealthy nations to ask for help rebuilding. America said no. China said yes. Angolans remember that.

安哥拉是撒哈拉以南非洲第二大石油生產國。2002年，正在從慘痛的內戰恢復的安哥拉去敲富國的門，請求他們幫助重建家園。美國拒絕了。中國同意了。安哥拉人記得這件事。

Thus far, America’s only significant economic investment in the country has been in its oil and gas industries. Those who are critical of the corridor say oil and gas remain America’s true interest.

到目前為止，美國在安哥拉唯一的重大經濟投資是在石油和天然氣工業領域。對該走廊持批評態度的人說，石油和天然氣仍然是美國的真正利益所在。

The election of Donald J. Trump has deepened uncertainty about how the United States will engage here, and there is no shortage of skepticism about what America is really after.

川普的當選加深了美國將如何參與當地事務的不確定性，人們對美國的真正目的也不乏懷疑。

“Sometimes they say, ‘We do care about agriculture as well,’” Beto Pinheiro, a 48-year-old farmer in the coastal city of Benguela, said of American officials. “But at the end of the day, it’s only petrol and minerals.”

「有時他們會說，『我們也關心農業，』」在沿海城市本格拉，48歲的農民貝托·皮涅羅談到美國官員時說。「但歸根結底，他們只關心汽油和礦。」

Despite the skepticism among Angolans, the country’s president, João Lourenço, has bullishly pivoted toward the United States in recent years, in some cases spurning traditional allies like China and Russia to do so.

儘管安哥拉人持懷疑態度，但該國總統若昂·洛倫索近年來還是堅定地轉向了美國，在某些情況下，甚至不惜拋棄中國和俄羅斯等傳統盟友。

Since Mr. Lourenço took office in 2017, he has met with Mr. Biden twice. Rather than selecting a Chinese company to oversee the Lobito railway, his government chose a consortium of European companies, even though it was China that rebuilt the century-old rail line after the Angolan civil war. Mr. Lourenço has also turned to the United States to help modernize his country’s aging military, which has historically been aligned with Russia.

自2017年洛倫索上任以來，他與拜登兩次會晤。他的政府沒有選擇一家中國公司來負責洛比托鐵路，而是選了一個由歐洲公司組成的財團，儘管是中國在安哥拉內戰後重建了這條有百年歷史的鐵路線。洛倫索還求助美國幫助該國老化的軍隊實現現代化，儘管其軍方歷來與俄羅斯結盟。

Many Angolans still harbor resentment toward the United States for not supporting its fight against Portuguese colonizers. The United States also supported the opponents of Angola’s largest anticolonial movement, which had embraced communism, during the civil war that came after independence in 1975.

許多安哥拉人仍然對美國心懷怨恨，因為美國沒有支持該國反抗葡萄牙殖民者的鬥爭。1975年安哥拉獨立後的內戰期間，美國支持的力量反對該國最大的反殖民運動，該運動採納了共產主義主張。

Mr. Lourenço, in an interview, said Angola should be more like Japan or Vietnam, countries that were once at war with the United States but had moved on and now welcomed American investment.

洛倫索在接受採訪時表示，安哥拉應該更像日本或越南，這兩個國家曾經與美國交戰，但已經放下過去，現在歡迎美國的投資。

“Angola also could be one more of those countries that have turned the page,” he said. “We joined the market economy, and today there is no country in the world that has joined the market economy without having good relations with the U.S.”

 「安哥拉也可以成為翻過這一頁的國家之一，」他說。「我們加入了市場經濟，今天，世界上沒有一個國家在加入市場經濟後不與美國保持良好關係。」

Critics have argued that the Lobito Corridor is another example of foreign powers stripping African nations of their resources. The line runs from Angola’s border with the Democratic Republic of Congo to the port city of Lobito, on the Atlantic Ocean. From there, minerals can be more easily shipped to the United States, Europe and other countries.

批評者認為洛比托走廊是外國勢力剝奪非洲國家資源的又一例證。這條鐵路線從安哥拉與剛果民主共和國的邊境一直延伸到大西洋上港口城市洛比托。從那裡，礦產可以更容易地運往美國、歐洲和其他國家。

China is far ahead of the United States in its access to critical minerals in Africa. But the corridor could reduce that advantage, which may appeal to Mr. Trump, said J. Peter Pham, an Africa policy expert who worked in the first Trump administration.

在獲得非洲關鍵礦產方面，中國遠遠領先於美國。但曾在川普第一屆政府任職的非洲政策專家J·彼得·范說，該走廊可能會削弱這一優勢，因此可能引起川普的興趣。

“It’s in no one’s interest that any one country lock up the supply chain,” Mr. Pham said. “If you want to make America great again and rebuild the industrial base, you’re not going to do that without critical minerals.”

「任何一個國家封鎖供應鏈都不符合任何人的利益，」范說。「如果你想恢復美國偉大榮光，重建工業基礎，沒有關鍵的礦產，你將無法做到這一點。」

Mr. Biden has pitched the corridor as a catalyst that will help Angola diversify its economy. It will entice manufacturers to build factories along the railway because they can use it to ship goods, U.S. officials say. And it won’t bury the country in debt. (Since 2002, Angola has accumulated more than $42 billion in Chinese debt, more than any other African nation.)

拜登稱這條走廊是幫助安哥拉實現經濟多樣化的催化劑。美國官員說，這將吸引製造商在鐵路沿線建廠，因為他們可以利用鐵路運輸貨物。而且它不會讓安哥拉陷入債務之中。（自2002年以來，安哥拉累積了超過420億美元的中國債務，比其他任何非洲國家都多。）

U.S. officials say the corridor could allow small, subsistence farmers to ship their harvests overseas, rather than selling them at roadside markets as most currently do. The United States has also introduced programs that teach agricultural best practices, like the one helping Ms. Nambendi in Cubal, a village that the Lobito railway cuts through.

美國官員們表示，這條走廊可以讓自給自足的小農戶將收成運往海外，而不是像目前大多數人那樣在路邊市場出售。美國還引進了一些傳授最佳農業實踐的項目，在洛比托鐵路途經的庫巴爾村幫助了南本迪的項目就是其中之一。

Women in the program said they had learned how to produce their own fertilizer and properly space seeds when planting. They were also taught to read and write so they could run a business.

Ms. Nambendi, a mother of seven, said she earned so much in her first harvest since joining the program that she was able to buy a goat, invest in her modest house constructed from mud blocks and build an outdoor, wood-burning oven to support her other business, baking bread.

南本迪是七個孩子的母親，她說，自從加入這個項目以來，她第一次收穫農作物就賺了很多錢，讓她能夠買一隻山羊，投資建造她用泥磚蓋起來的簡陋房子，並建造了一個戶外木柴烤箱，支持她的另一項生意——烤麵包。

These are small inroads that American officials hope will add up.

這些都是美國官員希望累積起來的小進展。

It’s important that Angolans understand these U.S.-backed initiatives are supporting them, said William Butterfield, the representative to Angola of the United States Agency for International Development, which funds the program.

為該項目提供資金的美國國際開發署駐安哥拉代表威廉·巴特菲爾德說，重要的是安哥拉人要明白，美國支持的這些舉措是在支持他們。

“It helps us create the good will that’s necessary to do a lot of our other business,” such as trade and defense, he said.

他說：「這有助於我們營造善意的氛圍，這是我們開展其他許多業務所必需的，」比如貿易和國防。

Some Angolans are starting to take note.

一些安哥拉人開始注意到這一點。

Antonio Andrade, the deputy administrator for Cubal, stood on the farm where the women received their training, envisioning a future in which America’s efforts led to neat rows of crops resembling large commercial farms, factories that produce fruit juice and corn flour and slaughterhouses for cattle.

庫巴爾的副行政官安東尼奧·安德拉德站在女人們接受培訓的農場上，展望著這樣的未來：在美國的努力下，一排排整齊的莊稼如同大型商業農場，還有生產果汁和玉米粉的工廠，以及牛的屠宰場。

“America has a name to protect,” he said. “They don’t just go for quick profit.”

「美國要保守自己的名聲，」他說。「他們不只是為了快速獲利。」

Along Via Expressa, a busy highway that cuts through Luanda, billboards with Chinese characters advertise Beijing’s presence. “Tough world, tough equipment,” read an ad for LiuGong heavy machinery. China City, a massive, open-air mall, occupies several blocks along the highway.

在途經羅安達的繁忙高速公路Via Expressa上，隨處可見寫著漢字的廣告牌，宣傳著北京方面的存在。柳工中國重型機械的一則廣告寫道：「艱難的世界，堅固的設備。」中國城是一個大型露天購物中心，佔據了高速公路沿線的幾個街區。

But with economic challenges at home, China has decreased its investment in Africa in recent years. Many African nations are also less willing to take on more Chinese debt. Private Chinese entrepreneurs are turning to industries like green energy, mining and manufacturing. Some also say they, too, could reap the benefits of the Lobito Corridor.

但由於國內經濟面臨挑戰，中國近年來減少了對非洲的投資。許多非洲國家也不太願意承擔更多中國債務。中國民營企業家正轉向綠色能源、礦業和製造業等行業。一些人表示，他們也可以從洛比托走廊中獲益。

“This Lobito project is a very good project for Angola’s development,” said Zheng Gang, a Chinese entrepreneur who has been doing business in Angola for 18 years. “Angola’s economy grows, which means that we will have more opportunities.”

「洛比托項目對安哥拉的發展來說是一個非常好的項目，」在安哥拉經商18年的中國企業家鄭剛（音）說。「安哥拉的經濟在增長，這意味著我們將有更多的機會。」