美國對中國投資的審查增加壁壘
The US has been reviewing a growing number of foreign investments for national security reasons in recent years, with investments from China the leading targets for review, according to new data released by the US Treasury on last Friday.
根據美國財政部上週五公佈的新數據，最近幾年美國以國家安全理由審覈的外國投資案件數量一直在增加，來自中國的投資成了審查的頭號目標。
The disclosure contained in the annual report to Congress of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US comes amid a number of new mergers and acquisitions out of China being submitted for review. Those include the mooted $42bn takeover of Switzerland’s Syngenta by ChemChina, one of that country’s largest state-owned conglomerates, and a bid announced this week for the Chicago Stock Exchange, which has already drawn calls from Congress for a review.
這一信息披露在美國外國投資委員會(Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, CFIUS)提交給美國國會的年度報告中。就在它公佈之際，多筆來自中國的新併購交易正提交審覈。其中包括中國最大國有集團之一中國化工(ChemChina)對瑞士先正達(Syngenta) 420億美元的擬議收購，以及不久前公佈的對芝加哥股票交易所(Chicago Stock Exchange)的擬議收購——該交易已引起了國會要求審查的呼籲。
According to the report released last Friday, CFIUS received 147 notices from companies voluntarily seeking national security reviews in 2014. That number was up from 97 in 2013 and the most seen since 2008, when a record 155 notices were filed.
根據這份上週五公佈的報告，2014年，CFIUS接到了147份來自企業的通知，主動要求接受國家安全審查。這一數字高於2013年的97份，也是2008年以來最多的一次。2008年，企業向CFIUS提交了創紀錄的155份審查通知。
Less than half of those notices — 52 — were deemed worthy of a subsequent investigation on national security grounds. Just one of these transactions was rejected, while a dozen applications for review were withdrawn voluntarily by companies.
而在這147份通知中，被視爲有必要開展國家安全調查的只有52起，還不到總數的一半。這些交易只有一起被否決，還有12份審覈申請則被企業主動撤回。
CFIUS releases data on its reviews with a lag of more than a year. It also does not release publicly details of the transactions it reviewed, or the concerns that were raised, although those are contained in a classified version of its report to Congress.
CFIUS公佈的關於其審覈情況的數據滯後了一年多。該機構也沒有公開發布其審覈的交易的具體情況或這些交易引起了哪些關切——儘管這些信息都包含在其提交給國會的保密版本報告中。
China was the leading source of investments reviewed by CFIUS in 2014, with investors filing 24 notices, just ahead of the 21 filed by investors from the UK.
2014年，CFIUS審覈的投資項目的第一大來源是中國。來自中國的投資者提交了24份通知，略高於英國投資者提交的21份。
A senior treasury official said that CFIUS treated investments from China no differently than it did any others. But investments from China have long drawn more political scrutiny than others in Washington. Beijing has repeatedly expressed concerns that Chinese companies are unfairly singled out.
一名美國財政部高官表示，CFIUS對待中國投資的態度，與對待其他國家毫無區別。不過，長期以來在華盛頓，來自中國的投資在政治上始終受到更嚴格的審視。中國政府曾多次表示，中國企業受到了不公平的區別對待。
In a letter sent to the Treasury this week, 45 Republican members of Congress asked for CFIUS to conduct a “full and rigorous” review of a proposed bid by a group of Chinese investors for the Chicago Stock Exchange. The deal, if approved, would for the first time give a Chinese company control over part of the US’s equity trading infrastructure, they said.
在本週寫給美國財政部的一封信中，45名國會共和黨成員要求CFIUS對多箇中國投資者聯合向芝加哥股票交易所發出的收購要約開展“徹底而嚴格的”審覈。他們表示，該交易一旦獲批，將首次賦予中國企業對美國部分股權交易基礎設施的控制權。
“Should you determine [that the Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group] maintains a close relationship with the Chinese government — and therefore the Chinese military — we would urge CFIUS to deny this transaction,” the members of Congress wrote.
這些國會成員寫道：“如果你方確認（重慶財信企業集團）與中國政府（從而與中國軍方）關係密切，我們強烈建議CFIUS否決該交易。”
Chris Brewster, a CFIUS specialist at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, a Washington law firm, said the committee’s annual report showed that the US still remained open to foreign investment. But he warned that it also indicated the breadth of deals examined by the committee was growing to include things such as real estate.
華盛頓律師事務所Stroock & Stroock & Lavan的CFIUS專家克里斯布魯斯特(Chris Brewster)表示，該委員會的年度報告顯示，美國對外國投資依然開放。不過他警告說，該報告還表明，該委員會所審查交易的範圍不斷擴大，已包括房地產在內的領域。
"Deals are getting approved all the time and the US remains one of the best markets in the world for foreign investment. But CFIUS reviews are also getting more aggressive,” he said.
他說：“各種併購交易一直在獲得批准，美國依然是全球外國投資的最好目的市場之一。不過，CFIUS的審覈也在變得更加激進。”
