美国对中国投资的审查增加

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 Treasury¹ on last Friday.

根据美国财政部上周五公布的新数据，最近几年美国以国家安全理由审核的外国投资案件数量一直在增加，来自中国的投资成了审查的头号目标。

The disclosure contained in the annual report to Congress of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the US comes amid a number of new mergers² and acquisitions out of China being submitted for review. Those include the mooted³ $42bn takeover of Switzerland’s Syngenta by ChemChina, one of that country’s largest state-owned conglomerates⁴, and a bid announced this week for the Chicago Stock Exchange, which has already drawn⁵ calls from Congress for a review.

这一信息披露在美国外国投资委员会(Committee on Foreign Investment in the US, CFIUS)提交给美国国会的年度报告中。就在它公布之际，多笔来自中国的新并购交易正提交审核。其中包括中国最大国有集团之一中国化工(ChemChina)对瑞士先正达(Syngenta) 420亿美元的拟议收购，以及不久前公布的对芝加哥股票交易所(Chicago Stock Exchange)的拟议收购——该交易已引起了国会要求审查的呼吁。

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.

根据这份上周五公布的报告，2014年，CFIUS接到了147份来自企业的通知，主动要求接受国家安全审查。这一数字高于2013年的97份，也是2008年以来最多的一次。2008年，企业向CFIUS提交了创纪录的155份审查通知。

Less than half of those notices — 52 — were deemed worthy⁶ of a subsequent investigation⁷ on national security grounds. Just one of these transactions was rejected, while a dozen applications for review were withdrawn⁸ voluntarily by companies.

而在这147份通知中，被视为有必要开展国家安全调查的只有52起，还不到总数的一半。这些交易只有一起被否决，还有12份审核申请则被企业主动撤回。

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公布的关于其审核情况的数据滞后了一年多。该机构也没有公开发布其审核的交易的具体情况或这些交易引起了哪些关切——尽管这些信息都包含在其提交给国会的保密版本报告中。

China was the leading source of investments reviewed by CFIUS in 2014, with investors⁹ filing 24 notices, just ahead of the 21 filed by investors from the UK.

2014年，CFIUS审核的投资项目的第一大来源是中国。来自中国的投资者提交了24份通知，略高于英国投资者提交的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 scrutiny¹⁰ than others in Washington. Beijing has repeatedly expressed concerns that Chinese companies are unfairly singled out.

一名美国财政部高官表示，CFIUS对待中国投资的态度，与对待其他国家毫无区别。不过，长期以来在华盛顿，来自中国的投资在政治上始终受到更严格的审视。中国政府曾多次表示，中国企业受到了不公平的区别对待。

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 equity¹¹ trading infrastructure¹², they said.

在本周写给美国财政部的一封信中，45名国会共和党成员要求CFIUS对多个中国投资者联合向芝加哥股票交易所发出的收购要约开展“彻底而严格的”审核。他们表示，该交易一旦获批，将首次赋予中国企业对美国部分股权交易基础设施的控制权。

“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.

这些国会成员写道：“如果你方确认（重庆财信企业集团）与中国政府（从而与中国军方）关系密切，我们强烈建议CFIUS否决该交易。”

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 estate¹³.

华盛顿律师事务所Stroock & Stroock & Lavan的CFIUS专家克里斯布鲁斯特(Chris Brewster)表示，该委员会的年度报告显示，美国对外国投资依然开放。不过他警告说，该报告还表明，该委员会所审查交易的范围不断扩大，已包括房地产在内的领域。

"Deals are getting approved all the time and the US remains¹⁴ one of the best markets in the world for foreign investment. But CFIUS reviews are also getting more aggressive,” he said.

他说：“各种并购交易一直在获得批准，美国依然是全球外国投资的最好目的市场之一。不过，CFIUS的审核也在变得更加激进。”