美國對中國投資的審查增加

　　The US has been reviewing a growing number offoreign investments for national security reasons inrecent years, with investments from China the leading targets for review, according to new datareleased by the US Treasury on last Friday.

　　根據(jù)美國財(cái)政部上周五公布的新數(shù)據(jù)，最近幾年美國以國家安全理由審核的外國投資案件數(shù)量一直在增加，來自中國的投資成了審查的頭號目標(biāo)。

　　The disclosure contained in the annual report to Congress of the Committee on ForeignInvestment in the US comes amid a number of new mergers and acquisitions out of China beingsubmitted for review. Those include the mooted $42bn takeover of Switzerland’s Syngenta byChemChina, one of that country’s largest state-owned conglomerates, and a bid announcedthis week for the Chicago Stock Exchange, which has already drawn calls from Congress for areview.

　　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(bào)告中。就在它公布之際，多筆來自中國的新并購交易正提交審核。其中包括中國最大國有集團(tuán)之一中國化工(ChemChina)對瑞士先正達(dá)(Syngenta) 420億美元的擬議收購，以及不久前公布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吁。

　　According to the report released last Friday, CFIUS received 147 notices from companiesvoluntarily seeking national security reviews in 2014. That number was up from 97 in 2013and the most seen since 2008, when a record 155 notices were filed.

　　根據(jù)這份上周五公布的報(bào)告，2014年，CFIUS接到了147份來自企業(yè)的通知，主動要求接受國家安全審查。這一數(shù)字高于2013年的97份，也是2008年以來最多的一次。2008年，企業(yè)向CFIUS提交了創(chuàng)紀(jì)錄的155份審查通知。

　　Less than half of those notices — 52 — were deemed worthy of a subsequent investigation onnational security grounds. Just one of these transactions was rejected, while a dozenapplications for review were withdrawn voluntarily by companies.

　　而在這147份通知中，被視為有必要開展國家安全調(diào)查的只有52起，還不到總數(shù)的一半。這些交易只有一起被否決，還有12份審核申請則被企業(yè)主動撤回。

　　CFIUS releases data on its reviews with a lag of more than a year. It also does not releasepublicly details of the transactions it reviewed, or the concerns that were raised, although thoseare contained in a classified version of its report to Congress.

　　CFIUS公布的關(guān)于其審核情況的數(shù)據(jù)滯后了一年多。該機(jī)構(gòu)也沒有公開發(fā)布其審核的交易的具體情況或這些交易引起了哪些關(guān)切——盡管這些信息都包含在其提交給國會的保密版本報(bào)告中。

　　China was the leading source of investments reviewed by CFIUS in 2014, with investors filing24 notices, just ahead of the 21 filed by investors from the UK.

　　2014年，CFIUS審核的投資項(xiàng)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，略高于英國投資者提交的21份。

　　A senior treasury official said that CFIUS treated investments from China no differently than itdid any others. But investments from China have long drawn more political scrutiny thanothers in Washington. Beijing has repeatedly expressed concerns that Chinese companies areunfairly singled out.

　　一名美國財(cái)政部高官表示，CFIUS對待中國投資的態(tài)度，與對待其他國家毫無區(qū)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(yán)格的審視。中國政府曾多次表示，中國企業(yè)受到了不公平的區(qū)別對待。

　　In a letter sent to the Treasury this week, 45 Republican members of Congress asked for CFIUSto conduct a “full and rigorous” review of a proposed bid by a group of Chinese investors forthe Chicago Stock Exchange. The deal, if approved, would for the first time give a Chinesecompany control over part of the US’s equity trading infrastructure, they said.

　　在本周寫給美國財(cái)政部的一封信中，45名國會共和黨成員要求CFIUS對多個中國投資者聯(lián)合向芝加哥股票交易所發(fā)出的收購要約開展“徹底而嚴(yán)格的”審核。他們表示，該交易一旦獲批，將首次賦予中國企業(yè)對美國部分股權(quán)交易基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的控制權(quán)。

　　“Should you determine [that the Chongqing Casin Enterprise Group] maintains a closerelationship with the Chinese government — and therefore the Chinese military — we wouldurge CFIUS to deny this transaction,” the members of Congress wrote.

　　這些國會成員寫道：“如果你方確認(rèn)(重慶財(cái)信企業(yè)集團(tuán))與中國政府(從而與中國軍方)關(guān)系密切，我們強(qiáng)烈建議CFIUS否決該交易。”

　　Chris Brewster, a CFIUS specialist at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan, a Washington lawfirm, said the committee’s annual report showed that the US still remained open to foreigninvestment. But he warned that it also indicated the breadth of deals examined by thecommittee was growing to include things such as real estate.

　　華盛頓律師事務(wù)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(bào)告顯示，美國對外國投資依然開放。不過他警告說，該報(bào)告還表明，該委員會所審查交易的范圍不斷擴(kuò)大，已包括房地產(chǎn)在內(nèi)的領(lǐng)域。

　　"Deals are getting approved all the time and the US remains one of the best markets in theworld for foreign investment. But CFIUS reviews are also getting more aggressive,” he said.

　　他說：“各種并購交易一直在獲得批準(zhǔn)，美國依然是全球外國投資的最好目的市場之一。不過，CFIUS的審核也在變得更加激進(jìn)。”