中资企业对美投资遭遇漫长审查
由于华盛顿减慢了国家安全审查进程，越来越多针对美国公司的中国投资陷入停滞。中国政府与唐纳德•特朗普(Donald Trump)政府的贸易紧张态势加剧。
Lawmakers in Washington last month introduced bipartisan bills in both chambers of Congress that, if passed next year as many expect, would mark the most significant reforms in a decade of how the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US (Cfius) operates.
华盛顿的两党议员们上月在国会两院联合提交了议案。如果这些议案像许多人预计的那样在明年通过的话，那将标志着美国外国投资委员会(CFIUS)的运作方式发生10年来最重大的改革。
Cfius already has the power to block investments for national security reasons, but the draft legislation would expand its remit to include overseas joint ventures involving US-based companies. That could subject outbound US investments to heretofore unseen scrutiny.
CFIUS已经有权力以国家安全为由阻止投资，但这些议案将其权力扩大到美国公司在海外的合资企业。这可能让美国对外投资受到前所未有的审查。
The reform push — backed by the Trump administration — is aimed largely at combating China’s growing appetite for US companies in technology and other strategic sectors. But it has coincided with an unusually protracted political transition, with most of the committee’s Trump appointees still awaiting Senate confirmation. That has left lawyers complaining of unusual delays.
这项受到特朗普政府支持的改革举措，主要是为了打击中国对科技和其他战略行业的美国企业日益增长的胃口。但它也伴随着非同寻常的漫长政治过渡，特朗普任命的CFIUS委员们大多仍在等待参议院的确认。这导致律师们抱怨延误过于漫长。
While some blame the administration’s suspicions regarding Chinese investment, people close to the process say it also reflects a shortage of political appointees. The mid-level career staff filling many of the 16-agency committee’s seats are seen as unwilling to make controversial decisions, especially when sensitivities about investments from China are high.
尽管一些人指责特朗普政府对于中国投资的疑虑，但知情人士表示，这也反映出政治任命人员的短缺。在这个由16个机构代表组成的委员会中，临时填补空缺的中层职业人员被视为不愿意作出有争议的决定，特别是在中国投资十分敏感的时候。
The delays have had a material effect on transactions involving Chinese investors. Since the start of 2016, 25 US acquisitions by Chinese companies have been announced but not yet completed, according to Dealogic. That is almost as high as the 27 stalled deals from all other G7 countries put together.
这些延误对涉及中国投资者的交易产生了实质性影响。Dealogic的数据显示，自2016年初以来，中国企业已经宣布、但迄今未完成的针对美国企业的收购达到25宗。这几乎和七国集团(G7)其他所有成员国总计27宗停滞交易一样高。
Late last month Cowen, a New York-based boutique investment bank, cancelled a $275m investment from CEFC China Energy, blaming delays and “uncertainty” in securing Cfius approval.
上月下旬，纽约精品投行Cowen以延误和取得CFIUS批准的“不确定性”为由，取消了中国华信能源(CEFC China Energy，简称“华信”)的2.75亿美元投资。
Among other deals caught up in the delays are Ant Financial’s agreed $1.3bn bid for MoneyGram, a Dallas-based money transfer company, which was announced in January, and Oceanwide’s $2.7bn acquisition of Genworth Financial, announced in October 2016.
陷入延误的其他交易包括，蚂蚁金服(Ant Financial)今年1月宣布的以13亿美元收购总部位于达拉斯的汇款公司速汇金(MoneyGram)，以及中国泛海(China Oceanwide)在2016年12月宣布的以27亿美元收购Genworth Financial。
Genworth, an insurance company based in Richmond, Virginia, has pushed back its merger deadline from November to next April, and has begun to prepare investors for a plan B. Such a move could be wise, said analysts, in view of strains between the two countries.
总部位于弗吉尼亚州里士满市(Richmond)的保险公司Genworth，已将合并截止日期从今年11月推迟至明年4月，并开始让投资者做好迎接B计划的准备。分析师们表示，考虑到中美两国关系的紧张，此类举措可能很明智。
David Malpass, the under secretary for international affairs at the US Treasury, told the FT recently that America’s main programme for bolstering economic relations with China was “stalled” because of Beijing’s failure to liberalise its economy. The Commerce Department has also self-initiated an anti-dumping case over Chinese aluminium sheeting imports, and the results of investigations into steel imports and Chinese national security practices are expected in the months to come.
美国财政部负责国际事务的副部长戴维•马尔帕斯(David Malpass)最近向英国《金融时报》表示，由于北京方面未能让其经济实现自由化，美国提升美中经济关系的主要计划“陷入停滞”。美国商务部还自主发起一宗针对中国铝板进口的反倾销调查，同时针对钢材进口和中国国家安全做法的调查结果预计在未来几个月发布。
Rod Hunter, who oversaw Cfius cases while on President George W Bush’s National Security Council and is now a partner at law firm Baker McKenzie, said the US moves were part of a broader international crackdown on record levels of Chinese investment. The EU is considering new constraints on inbound investment and Australia and Canada are among other countries implementing similar scrutiny.
曾作为乔治•W•布什(George W Bush)总统的国家安全委员会(National Security Council)代表监督CFIUS案件、现在是贝克•麦坚时国际律师事务所(Baker & McKenzie)合伙人的罗德•亨特(Rod Hunter)表示，美国的举措是更广泛的国际行动的一部分，目的是抑制中国的创纪录对外投资。欧盟(EU)正考虑针对外来投资设置新的限制，澳大利亚和加拿大等国也在实行类似的审查。
But by extending Cfius’ scrutiny to outbound investment and overseas joint ventures, the proposed US legislation would vastly expand the number of transactions facing review to thousands from the 250 or so expected this year.
但通过扩大美国外国投资委员会的审查权限，使其包括对外投资和海外合资公司，这项拟议的美国立法将使需要审查的交易数量从今年预计的250笔左右激增至数千笔。
“It basically would turn the investment regime into a technology control regime,” Mr Hunter said.
亨特表示：“这基本上将把这个投资主管机构转型为一个技术控制主管机构。”
The Trump administration has so far navigated economic relations with China more carefully than many expected. President Trump has hailed planned US investments by China’s Alibaba and Taiwan’s Foxconn, which has many of its operations in mainland China, and his trip to China earlier this year coincided with the announcement of $250bn in business deals.
到目前为止，特朗普政府处理对华经贸关系的谨慎程度超过很多人的预期。特朗普总统曾称赞中国大陆的阿里巴巴(Alibaba)和台湾的富士康(Foxconn)在美国投资的计划，富士康的很多业务设在中国大陆。今年早些时候特朗普访华时宣布了2500亿美元的商业交易。
Still, many suspect Mr Trump’s intentions. John Reynolds, a partner at Davis Polk in Washington, said he had been withholding judgment as to whether the administration’s position on China trade would affect Cfius.
话虽如此，很多人质疑特朗普的意图。华盛顿达维律师事务所(Davis Polk)合伙人约翰•雷诺兹(John Reynolds)表示，对于特朗普政府对中国贸易的立场是否将影响美国外国投资委员会，此前他不愿作出评判。
Nearly a year on, though, the record of delays, withdrawals and blocks shows “a more aggressive interpretation of US national security interests in direct foreign investment,” he said. The relationship to changes in broader US trade policy, he said, seems “more than coincidental”.
他表示，近一年后的今天，空前的推迟、撤销和否决显示出“对外国直接投资中的美国国家安全利益有了更为激进的解释”。他表示，与美国整体贸易政策变化之间的关系似乎“不只是巧合”。
Resolution of the growing list of deals in limbo may not be imminent, said Robert Hockett, a professor at Cornell Law School, without progress on matters such as North Korea.
康奈尔大学法学院(Cornell University Law School)教授罗伯特•霍基特(Robert Hockett)表示，在朝鲜等问题没有进展的情况下，日益增多的悬而未决的交易可能不会马上解决。
“My impression is that Mr Trump is much more willing to apply very crude forms of leverage like this, by essentially manipulating the processes by which unrelated matters get resolved,” he said. “They seem to me, the Trump folks, to be virtually shameless about that.”
“我的印象是，特朗普更愿意施加这种相当生硬的支配力，本质上是通过操纵一些过程，让一些不相关的问题得到解决，”他表示，“在我看来，特朗普手下的那帮人对此几乎毫无廉耻。”
