中國釋放前澳大利亞礦業(yè)高管胡士泰

SHANGHAI — When Stern Hu was convicted in 2010 of corruption charges and sent to prison in China, the Australian mining executive’s fate strained ties between Canberra and an important trading partner.

上海——2010年，胡士泰因腐敗指控定罪并被關(guān)進中國監(jiān)獄，這位澳大利亞礦業(yè)高管的命運令堪培拉與其重要貿(mào)易伙伴中國之間的關(guān)系變得緊張。

Eight years later, the world has changed. But as Mr. Hu, a former Rio Tinto executive, left jail on Wednesday, having served most of a 10-year sentence, many of the concerns about a deep but fraught economic and political relationship between the two countries have not.

胡士泰曾任力拓公司(Rio Tinto)高管，在獄中度過10年刑期的大部分時間后，他于周三得到釋放。八年來，世界已經(jīng)變了。然而，在中澳兩國之間深厚但充滿危機的經(jīng)濟和政治關(guān)系當中，很多令人擔憂的事情卻沒有改變。

In fact, the tensions that framed Mr. Hu’s trial — including concerns about a Chinese industrial policy that blurs the line between politics and business — have been very much on display in recent months.

事實上，作為胡士泰審判背景的緊張局勢——包括中國模糊政治與商業(yè)界限的產(chǎn)業(yè)政策所引發(fā)的擔憂——近幾個月來得到了充分顯示。

Australia passed sweeping national security legislation just last week that bans foreign interference in politics and makes it a crime to damage Australia’s economic relations with another country. Australian politicians and news outlets have been debating whether to purchase equipment from Huawei, the Chinese telecom-equipment maker, to build out its next-generation cellular network, following American concerns about Huawei’s ties to Beijing.

澳大利亞上周通過了全面的國家安全立法，禁止外國干涉其政治，把損害澳大利亞與他國經(jīng)濟關(guān)系的行為定為犯罪。隨著美國擔心中國電信設備制造商華為與北京之間的關(guān)系，澳大利亞政界和新聞媒體也一直在爭論，是否要從華為購買設備，建設本國的下一代蜂窩網(wǎng)絡。

Mr. Hu was given a reprieve of roughly two years from his sentence because of good behavior, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. It was not clear when Mr. Hu, a naturalized Australian citizen who was born in China and later returned to work there, would go back to Australia.

根據(jù)中國外交部的說法，由于表現(xiàn)良好，胡士泰獲得約兩年的減刑。胡士泰是一位出生于中國，后來回到中國工作的入籍澳大利亞公民，目前尚不清楚他何時會回到澳大利亞。

His arrest in 2009, along with three Chinese colleagues at Rio Tinto, came soon after the company decided to back out of a $19.5 billion deal with a Chinese state-owned company. The timing contributed to concerns that Mr. Hu had been targeted in retaliation for that decision.

在力拓公司決定退出與一家中國國有企業(yè)達成的195億美元交易后不久，2009年，他和力拓的三名中國同事一起被捕。這個時機令人們擔心，因為退出交易的決定，胡士泰成了報復的對象。

As the leader of the Anglo-Australian mining giant’s iron ore operations in China, Mr. Hu was on the front lines of cutthroat negotiations over pricing of a major ingredient in steel production.

作為力拓這家英澳礦業(yè)巨頭在華鐵礦業(yè)務的領導者，胡士泰處于一個激烈談判前線，要為鋼鐵生產(chǎn)的這一主要原料定價。

Mr. Hu’s fall from the heights of the business world to the depths of a Chinese prison captivated — and scared — the international business community in China just as the country was becoming one of the world’s most important markets for all manner of companies.

當時中國正在成為世界上所有公司最重要的市場之一，而胡士泰卻從商業(yè)世界的巔峰跌落到中國監(jiān)獄的深淵，這令中國的國際商業(yè)人士極為關(guān)注——并且感到恐懼。

In Chinese courts, which are often criticized as lacking due process and transparency, Mr. Hu ultimately pleaded guilty to accepting bribes as a part of deals to provide iron ore to Chinese steel mills. He was sentenced in 2010, but the trial raised questions about China’s judicial system and whether it was being used as a tool of industrial policy, a charge China’s government has denied.

中國法院經(jīng)常被批評為缺乏正當程序和透明度，在法庭上，胡士泰最終承認曾經(jīng)接受賄賂，作為向中國鋼鐵廠提供鐵礦石交易的一部分。他在2010年被判刑，但該審判令人們質(zhì)疑中國司法制度，以及它是否被用作產(chǎn)業(yè)政策的工具，中國政府對這種指控予以否認。

Mr. Hu’s release comes as the new national security legislation has strained Australian-Chinese ties. He could prove a potent historical symbol of the risks of doing business in China just as Australia is again examining how to manage its relationship with the world’s second-largest economy.

胡士泰獲釋之際，正值新的國家安全立法令澳中關(guān)系更加緊張之時。當澳大利亞重新審視如何處理同世界第二大經(jīng)濟體的關(guān)系時，他可以充當一個有力的歷史符號，證明在中國開展業(yè)務的風險。