中国上市国企把党委领导写入章程

China’s Communist party is writing itself into the articles of association of many of the country’s biggest companies in a blow to investor hopes that Beijing would relax its grip on the market.

中国共产党正把自己写入国内许多大公司的成立章程，此举打击了投资者对于北京方面将放松对市场掌控的期盼。

More than 30 Hong Kong-listed state-owned enterprises, representing more than $1tn in market capitalisation, have this year added lines to their central documents that place the party, rather than the Chinese state, at the heart of each group.

总市值超过1万亿美元的30多家上市国有企业今年改写了章程，把党(而不是政府)置于每一家集团的核心地位。

New phrases injected into the articles of association in recent months include describing the party as playing a core role in “an organised, institutionalised and concrete way” and “providing direction [and] managing the overall situation”.

最近几个月写入公司章程的新条款包括以下表述：将党组织发挥核心作用“组织化、制度化、具体化”以及党组织“把方向、管大局、保落实”。

The changes are being billed by the companies as part of Beijing’s efforts to improve efficiency and productivity at SOEs, which account for about a fifth of the country’s economic output. The revisions followed the annual meeting of China’s rubber-stamp parliament in March, although a handful of companies altered their articles last year.

这些改变正被相关企业说成是北京方面提高国企效率和生产率努力的一部分;这些企业占中国经济产出大约五分之一。这些修订是在中国的橡皮图章议会在3月份举行年度会议后进行的，尽管有几家公司去年就修改了章程。

While the new language makes explicit investors’ long-held assumption of party influence, the changes are the first time the party rather than the government has been named, investors said.

投资者们表示，尽管新的措辞使得投资者对于党的影响力的长期假定明朗化，但这些变化标志着首次提到党，而不是政府。

Companies acknowledging the role of the party range from state oil group Sinopec and ICBC, the world’s largest bank by assets, to steel and energy groups as well as leading brokers including Haitong Securities.

承认党的作用的公司包括：国有石油集团中石化(Sinopec)、按资产计算为世界最大银行的中国工商银行(ICBC)、众多钢铁和能源集团，以及海通证券(Haitong Securities)等领先券商。

The articles of association for China Railway Group, one of the country’s biggest construction groups, now state that “when the board of directors decides on material issues, it shall first listen to the opinions of the party committee of the company”.

中国最大建筑集团之一中国中铁(China Railway Group)的公司章程现在声明，董事会决定重大事项时，应先听取公司党委的意见。

In the case of the country’s four largest banks, the changes were proposed by a unit of CIC, China’s sovereign wealth fund and the controlling party for government stakes in many companies. 中国四大银行的公司章程变化是由中投公司(CIC)的一个子公司提议的;中投是中国的主权财富基金，也是代表政府控股许多公司。

“This is a reminder to investors they are buying into a party machine,” said David Webb, an independent investor and shareholder activist in Hong Kong. “This move to embed the party into constitutional documents of the companies puts a lie to the government’s claim they want market forces to play a greater role.”

“这对投资者是一个提醒：他们正在投资于一台党的机器，”香港独立投资者和股东活动人士戴维•韦伯(David Webb)表示，“把政党嵌入公司宪制文件的这个举动，说明政府所说的让市场力量发挥更大作用只是空话。”

Investors have voiced frustration with their inability to stop the changes.

投资者对于他们无力阻止这些变化表示沮丧。

“While it serves to formalise something investors were already aware of, this formalisation is not really the direction of travel investors wanted to see,” said David Smith, head of corporate governance at Aberdeen Asset Management Asia.

“尽管这有助于让投资者已经意识到的情况正式化，但这种正式化并不真是投资者希望看到的发展方向，”安本资产管理亚洲公司(Aberdeen Asset Management Asia)的公司治理负责人戴维•史密斯(David Smith)表示。

Amendments were passed by annual general meetings as special resolutions, which require a two-thirds majority. Beijing’s majority control of these companies lowered the bar for mustering remaining votes.

这些修改作为特别决议在公司股东年会上得到通过，它们需要三分之二多数票的赞成。北京对这些公司多数股份的控制，降低了动员剩余票数的难度。

Several companies recorded zero opposition to the motions. But others, including China Construction Bank, would have failed to gather two-thirds support if the state had not been able to vote.

有几家公司的这类动议零票反对。但中国建设银行(CCB)等其他公司要不是国家能够投票，本来是争取不到三分之二票数支持修改的。

“Of course we voted against — its like turkeys voting for Christmas,” said one fund manager. “Sometimes the party and its plans can be in direct conflict with shareholders but what can we do? Its one step forward and one step back with China.”

“我们当然投了反对票，这件事就像火鸡投票赞成过圣诞节一样，”一名基金经理表示，“有时党和党的计划可能与股东发生直接冲突，但我们能做什么呢?中国老是进一步，又退一步。”

China Railway Group said its amendments were to “integrate the reinforcement of leadership of the party with the improvement of corporate governance”.

中国中铁称，这些修改是要把加强党的领导与加强公司治理建设结合起来。

The changes are causing consternation among Hong Kong regulators, but rules blocking large shareholders from voting need to involve a financial interest in the outcome. Other officials have called for more disclosure of the people running the party committees.

这些变化引起了香港监管者的恐慌，但阻止大股东投票的股东表决权排除制度需要满足的条件是，股东与决议事项有特别利害关系。其他官员要求更多地披露执掌党委的人员。

“Its time for the magician to come out and take a bow,” said one. “Caveat emptor was OK when we were talking a majority shareholder and its voting rights. That is no longer enough here.”

“是时候让魔术师亮相并鞠个躬了，”其中一名官员说，“当我们以往谈论某个大股东及其投票权时，说一句‘购者自慎’就行了。现在这种情况下，这是不够的。”