英國以國家安全爲由推遲中資收購案大綱

LONDON — Fears of a Chinese takeover of companies important to national security have felled deals around the world both big and small. Now even the sale of a minor airplane parts maker is being closely examined for serious risks.
倫敦——對中國收購對國家安全有重要影響的公司的擔憂，已導致世界各地大大小小的交易流產。現在，即便是一家小型飛機零部件製造商的出售也受到了嚴密的審查，以防存在嚴重的風險。

In delaying the proposed takeover of the parts maker, Northern Aerospace, by a rival owned by a Chinese conglomerate, British government officials appear worried that even a small supplier to Airbus and Boeing could have important national security implications.
英國政府官員推遲了一家中國企業集團旗下的公司收購競爭對手北方航空(Northern Aerospace)的擬定交易。他們似乎擔心，即便只是空客(Airbus)和波音(Boeing)的一個小供應商，也可能對國家安全有重要影響。

It is the latest instance of countries around the world showing skepticism about Chinese money. Lawmakers in Washington are battling with President Trump over whether to lift penalties on ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company whose phones were barred for sale on American military bases. And in Australia, lawmakers are considering whether to block Huawei, China’s biggest telecom company, from contracts to upgrade that country’s wireless networks to the next-generation 5G standard.
這是世界各國對中國資本持懷疑態度的最新例證。華盛頓的立法者正在就是否取消對中國電信公司中興的處罰與特朗普總統鬥爭。中興的手機被禁止在美國軍事基地銷售。在澳大利亞，立法者正在考慮是否禁止中國最大的電信公司華爲參與將該國的無線網絡升級到下一代5G標準的合同。

Governments from the United States to Germany worry that China will effectively buy up the technologies it needs to create state-funded Chinese giants that would rival those from America and Europe.
從美國到德國，政府都擔心中國會有效地購買到所需的技術，以便打造接受國家資助的中國巨頭。它們將與美國和歐洲的企業巨頭一爭高低。

Over the past several years, regulators in Washington have quashed Chinese investments in American companies working on sensitive technology. This year, Mr. Trump blocked a $117 billion takeover bid for Qualcomm, the computer chip giant, amid concerns about American efforts to beat China in the race for 5G technology. And both the White House and lawmakers have proposed further tightening the process for reviewing foreign investments in American companies, with a particular eye toward China.
過去的幾年裏，華盛頓的監管機構否決了中國對從事敏感技術的美國公司的一些投資。今年，出於擔心美國在5G技術競爭中打敗中國的努力，特朗普叫停了1170億美元收購電腦芯片巨頭高通(Qualcomm)的要約。白宮和立法者都建議進一步收緊審查外國投資美國公司的程序，尤其要注意中國。

European countries have followed suit, with some calling for a stronger review process after a flurry of deals that gave Chinese purchasers access to innovative technology in areas like robotics. Even Canada, where Chinese investment has long been more welcomed, last month blocked a Chinese purchase of a construction company, citing national security.
歐洲各國紛紛效仿，一些國家呼籲加強審查程序。此前，一連串的交易讓中國買家獲得了機器人等領域的創新技術。就連長期更歡迎中國投資的加拿大，也在上月以國家安全爲由，叫停了中國對一家建築公司的收購。

Britain had sometimes seemed like an outlier, seeing Chinese investment as a way to strengthen the two countries’ economic ties. Chinese money is, for example, helping to build Hinkley Point, a new nuclear power plant on Britain’s west coast.
英國有時候看上去像個異類，視中國的投資爲加強兩國經濟聯繫的一種方式。比如，中國的資金正在參與修建位於英國西海岸的新核電站欣克利角(Hinkley Point)。

But developments this week appeared to reflect a rise in skepticism.
但本週的事態發展似乎反映了懷疑態度的加劇。

The British government on Sunday moved to intervene in the sale of Northern Aerospace by asking the country’s Competition and Markets Authority to investigate.
週日，英國政府着手介入北方航空的出售，要求英國競爭和市場管理局(Competition and Markets Authority)進行調查。

The proposed buyer is Gardner Aerospace, a bigger supplier based in Derby — but sold last year to Shaanxi Ligeance Mineral Resources, a Chinese industrial conglomerate. That deal was meant to help give Gardner greater access to the Chinese market.
擬定交易中的買家是加德納航空(Gardner Aerospace)。這是一家總部位於德比的供應商，比北方航空大。但去年，加德納被賣給了中國工業集團公司陝西煉石有色。那筆交易旨在幫助加德納進一步進入中國市場。

Gardner had offered to pay 44 million pounds, or $58 million, for Northern Aerospace. But on Monday, the competition authority stayed the deal while it investigates the transaction. It is scheduled to deliver a report on the deal by July 13.
加德納提出以4400萬英鎊的價格收購北方航空。但週一，前述競爭和市場管理局宣佈在其進行調查期間交易推遲。該機構計劃在7月13日之前提交一份有關該交易的報告。

A spokeswoman for Britain’s business department said in a statement, “This is a statutory process we have followed a number of times before to ensure national security implications of a proposed sale are fully assessed and accounted for.”
英國商務部門發言人在一份聲明中說，“這是我們以前多次遵循的一個法定程序，爲的是確保擬定的出售交易對國家安全的影響得到充分的評估和解釋。”

In a statement on Wednesday, Gardner’s executive chairman, Nick Sanders, said that his company was cooperating with the government’s inquiry into the deal. A representative for Northern Aerospace was not immediately available for comment.
在週三的一份聲明中，加德納的執行主席尼克·桑德斯(Nick Sanders)說，加德納正在配合政府對這筆交易的調查。記者未能立即聯繫到北方航空公司的代表就此事發表評論。