英商務大臣奧尼爾 或因核電項目波折辭職

Jim O’Neill, the Treasury minister and former Goldman Sachs chief economist, could quit the government over Theresa May’s new approach to China exposed by her handling of plans for a new Hinkley Point nuclear plant.

英國首相特里薩•梅(Theresa May)在欣克利角(Hinkley Point)核電站項目上暴露出的對華新策略，可能讓英國財政部商務大臣、高盛(Goldman Sachs)前首席經濟學家吉姆•奧尼爾(Jim O'Neill)提出辭職。

Lord O’Neill was a star signing brought into the Treasury by George Osborne to build relations with China and oversee new infrastructure. He coined the phrase “Brics” in 2001 to describe the world’s leading emerging economies, Brazil, Russia, India and China.

奧尼爾勳爵是受喬治•奧斯本(George Osborne)延攬進入英國財政部、負責打造中英關係和主管新基礎設施建設的明星人物。他在2001年創造了“金磚國家”(Brics)一詞，用於描述全球的主要新興經濟體：巴西、俄羅斯、印度和中國。

In a sign of the remaining tensions in Mrs May’s new ministerial team and concerns in Beijing that it may no longer be welcome to invest in British nuclear power plants, Lord O’Neill has told friends he will leave the government in September unless Mrs May can explain why she wants him to stay on.

奧尼爾向朋友們表示，除非梅能夠解釋爲何想讓他留下來，否則他會在9月辭職。這表明梅的新內閣團隊依然沒有磨合好，同時也表明北京方面擔心，英國可能不再歡迎中方投資英國核電站。

“He’s considering why he has been asked to stay,” said one friend, who said the minister was baffled about the government’s change of tack on China.

一位朋友表示：“他正在思考自己爲何被要求留任。”這位朋友表示，奧尼爾對新政府改變對華方針感到困惑。

Mrs May did not forewarn Lord O’Neill that she intended to put the ￡18bn project on hold; Beijing plans to invest ￡6bn in the scheme and sees it as a bridgehead to building its own nuclear power station in Britain.

梅沒有事先知會奧尼爾，她打算擱置這個180億英鎊的項目。中國計劃在該項目中投資60億英鎊，並將其視爲在英國建設自主設計核電站的橋頭堡。

Lord O’Neill considered quitting last week, but did not want to undermine another of his projects: persuading world leaders at a G20 summit early next month to act on his report on tackling drug resistant “superbugs”.

奧尼爾上週就考慮辭職，但不想破壞自己的另一個計劃，即在下月初20國集團(G20)峯會上勸說全球領導人，根據他有關處理耐藥性“超級細菌”的報告採取行動。

The minister was given free rein by Mr Osborne to court Chinese investment and told the Financial Times in Beijing last year that Britain had to “get over one of its perpetual problems of being a fair weather friend”.

此前奧斯本放手讓奧尼爾吸引中國投資，奧尼爾去年在北京向英國《金融時報》表示，英國必須“解決長期以來只能同甘不能共苦的問題”。

The son of a Manchester postman, he also led the development of Mr Osborne’s “Northern Powerhouse” project, including selling schemes in the north to Chinese investors.

奧尼爾是曼徹斯特一名郵遞員之子，他還負責推進奧斯本的“北方經濟引擎”(northern powerhouse)計劃，其中包括向中國投資者出售北部項目。

But Mrs May has criticised the Northern Powerhouse scheme for focusing regional policy too heavily on one region; Lord O’Neill believes that Chinese investors are now confused about government policy.

但梅批評了“北方經濟引擎”項目，認爲政府的地區政策過於注重單個地區。奧尼爾相信，中國投資者現在肯定對英國政府的政策感到困惑。

The new prime minister announced last week that she wanted more time to assess the Hinkley Point project, catching by surprise Beijing and the French power utility EDF, which wants to build the new power station.

梅上週宣佈，她需要更多時間來評估欣克利角項目。這讓北京方面和希望承建這座新核電站的法國電力集團(EDF)感到意外。

Two Chinese companies, CGN and CNNC, have agreed jointly to finance just over a third of the project.

中國核工業集團公司(CNNC)和中國廣核集團(CGN)同意聯手爲項目提供略多於三分之一的融資。

The real goal for Beijing in Britain is not so much Hinkley but the opportunity to build and finance another nuclear power station of its own design at another of EDF’s sites in Bradwell, Essex.

中方在英國的真正目標不是欣克利角，而是希望有機會在埃塞克斯郡(Essex)的布拉德韋爾(Bradwell)運用自己的設計建造另一個核電站並提供融資。布拉德韋爾也是法國電力集團的核電項目。

“This is all about Bradwell,” said one minister. “I’m sure Theresa would be happy to take ￡6bn off the Chinese for Hinkley but it’s not clear whether she is happy about the next stage.”

一位部長表示：“這完全與布拉德韋爾有關。我確信梅會很高興在欣克利角讓中方出60億英鎊，但不清楚她是否樂於見到下一階段。”

Mrs May’s aides insist the delay in approving Hinkley Point was “simply about this deal” and that if there were to be any different approach to China that would be a matter for the future.

梅的助手們堅稱，延遲批准欣克利角項目“僅針對該交易”，如果對華策略有所改變，那也是將來的事情。

But the statement issued by the government explaining the delay said that ministers wanted to examine “the component parts” of the deal — a form of words understood in Whitehall to refer to Chinese involvement.

但英國政府在解釋延遲批准的聲明中表示，部長們希望仔細研究該協議的“組成部分”——在白廳這種措辭被理解爲指中國的參與。

Mr Osborne promised Beijing “progressive entry” into the British nuclear market, but Mrs May’s joint chief of staff Nick Timothy wrote last year that this could put China in a position to turn off the UK’s power at will.

奧斯本承諾過讓中國“逐步進入”英國核能市場，但梅的聯席幕僚長尼克•蒂莫西(Nick Timothy)曾在去年寫道，這樣一來中國將能夠隨心所欲地切斷英國電力供應。