India's diplomat shortage leaves it far behind

印度的外交官短缺，使之远远落后于

by Iain Marlow

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Pentagon chief Jim Mattis are heading to New Delhi next week for an inaugural set of high-level meetings -- one more sign the West wants to deepen cooperation with India as a hedge against .

美国国务卿迈克•蓬佩奥和国防部部长吉姆•马蒂斯下周将前往新德里，参加一系列首次高层会晤。这再次表明，西方希望深化与印度的合作，以防范。

But former Indian officials say an understaffed foreign ministry is holding back Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to seek greater global influence in line with his country’s fast-growing $2.6 trillion economy. The nation of 1.3 billion people only deploys around as many diplomats as New Zealand, which has a population of around 5 million.

但印度前官员表示，人员不足的外交部阻碍了印度总理莫迪寻求扩大全球影响力的计划。印度经济增长迅速，规模达2.6万亿美元。这个拥有13亿人口的国家，其外交官数量仅相当于拥有500万人口的新西兰。

"We’re woefully under-equipped," said former junior foreign minister Shashi Tharoor, an opposition lawmaker who chairs India’s parliamentary committee on foreign affairs. "This is not worthy of a country of India’s size and ambition."

前初级外交部长沙希•塔鲁尔（印度议会外交事务委员会主席，反对党议员）表示：“我们人手严重不足，这配不上印度这么雄心勃勃的大国。”

The need for a well-staffed foreign ministry in New Delhi is only growing more urgent, particularly as US President Donald Trump’s administration emphasizes outreach to the “Indo-Pacific” region in a bid to elevate India as a counterweight to . New Delhi has started to take a leading role in pushing back against ’s Belt and Road infrastructure initiative, which is encroaching on India’s South Asian backyard.

新德里需要一个人手充足的外交部，这一点正变得越来越迫切，尤其是在美国总统唐纳德•特朗普领导的政府强调向“印太”地区伸出橄榄枝、试图将印度提升为制衡的力量之际。印度政府已开始在反击的“一带一路”基础设施倡议方面发挥主导作用。

India also has lots of unfinished goals. It’s angling for a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council and membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group, while trying to defend the global mobility of its IT workers overseas as protectionism rises.

印度也有许多未完成的目标。印度正在寻求联合国安理会常任理事国席位和核供应国集团成员的资格，同时试图在保护主义抬头之际，捍卫海外IT工作者的全球流动性。

With roughly 940 foreign service officers, India has one of the most understaffed diplomatic corps of any major country -- just slightly higher than New Zealand’s 885 officers, or Singapore’s 850. It’s vastly outnumbered by the Japanese and Australian services of around 6,000 people, the estimated 7,500 diplomats of rival and the US State Department’s service of nearly 14,000.

印度约有940名外交官员，是所有主要国家中人员最不足的外交使团之一，略高于新西兰的885名，新加坡的850名。据估计，日本和澳大利亚约6000名外交官，外交官人数为7500名，都远远超过印度。而美国国务院的外交官人数则接近14000人。

India’s foreign ministry is aware of the shortage and it’s working to bolster staffing, according to one government official, who asked not to be identified to speak about sensitive matters. It has increased recruitment to around 35 new officers annually and borrowed defense and economic experts from other ministries on deputation, the official said.

一位不愿具名的印度政府官员表示，印度外交部意识到这一短缺，正在努力增加人手。这名官员称，外交部每年增加招聘约35名新官员，并从其他部委借调防务和经济专家。

Foreign ministry spokesman Raveesh Kumar declined to comment.

印度外交部发言人拉维什库马尔拒绝置评。

印度经济时报读者评论：

来源：三泰虎 http://www.santaihu.com/46012.html   译者：Jessica.Wu

外文：https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/indias-diplomat-shortage-leaves-it-far-behind-/articleshow/65617912.cms

Suchindranath Aiyer

"Diplomat" shortage? India has never had any diplomats since "independence". It has had accredited bureaucrats looking for ways to enrich themselves and asserting theri power over the helpless Indian abroad.

“外交官”短缺?自“独立”以来，印度从未有过外交官，印度的官僚们正在寻找致富途径。

Arnab Ghosal

two words: lateral hiring

一句话：横向招聘

Arvind Chitale

Its true. This crippling deficiency ( which negatively impacts us on many fronts)  was pointed out many former diplomats many times but Congress never cared and BJP is yet to learn lessons. Hope MHA wakes up.

这是真的。很多前外交官多次指出这一严重缺陷(这在许多方面对我们产生了负面影响)，但国大党从未在意，而人民党至今仍未吸取教训。

Saji Antony

Get rid of stupid IAS/IFS requirements and hire people with flare in these positions.

摒弃外交官系统的那些愚蠢要求，聘用能在这些岗位上施展才华的人。

Derebail Bharath

despite shortage our honorable pm managed lot of foreign diplomat visits, but we need lot more of diplomats to make our foreign embassies work now efficiently

尽管外交官缺乏，我们尊敬的总理也成功进行了大量的外交访问。单我们需要更多的外交官以提升我们的外国大使馆的工作效率。