無法兌現(xiàn)的中國(guó)在英投資

Four years ago, when George Osborne visited Beijing as chancellor, there was enormous optimism that investment from China would help to regenerate Britain’s northern cities. 四年前，當(dāng)喬治•奧斯本(George Osborne)作為英國(guó)財(cái)政大臣訪問北京時(shí)，人們對(duì)于中國(guó)投資將有助于重振英國(guó)北部城市抱有極大的樂觀情緒。

In some notable cases, that optimism was unfounded. 在某些引人注目的案例中，這種樂觀毫無根據(jù)。

Wirral, on the river Mersey, for example, has finally admitted it will never see the £175m promised for an international trade centre. The deal, first mooted at the Shanghai Expo in 2010, has been quietly laid to rest. Peel, the private property conglomerate, signed an agreement with 例如，默西河(Mersey)畔的威勒爾(Wirral)(見題圖)最終承認(rèn)，永遠(yuǎn)也看不到承諾中修建國(guó)際貿(mào)易中心的1.75億英鎊了。該交易在2010年上海世博會(huì)(Shanghai Expo)上首次提出，如今已經(jīng)無人問津。私人房地產(chǎn)綜合企業(yè)沛爾(Peel)當(dāng)時(shí)與一家名不見經(jīng)傳的中國(guó)集團(tuán)森華資源控股有限公司(Sam Wa Resources Holdings)簽署建設(shè)該中心的協(xié)議。項(xiàng)目原本規(guī)模大得多，計(jì)劃斥資45億英鎊重建廢棄碼頭。

Sam Wa Resources Holdings, an obscure Chinese group, to build the centre. There was then supposed to be a much larger, £4.5bn redevelopment of disused docks. 威勒爾地區(qū)議會(huì)在聲明中承認(rèn)，“與森華共同開發(fā)的項(xiàng)目計(jì)劃已經(jīng)不再推進(jìn)。”

“The proposed development with Sam Wa is no longer going ahead,” admitted Wirral council in a statement. 森華董事長(zhǎng)邵瀚萱(Stella Shiu)曾承諾要讓成百上千家公司來此展示他們的產(chǎn)品和服務(wù)，時(shí)任英國(guó)首相的戴維•卡梅倫(David Cameron)也參觀了項(xiàng)目地址。

Stella Shiu, chairwoman of Sam Wa, had pledged to bring hundreds of companies to display their products and services and David Cameron, then prime minister, visited the site. 但是除此之外幾乎沒有任何進(jìn)展。2013年，英國(guó)《金融時(shí)報(bào)》披露，邵瀚萱因未能償還貸款而于2008年被香港一家法院宣布破產(chǎn)。

But little else happened. In 2013 the Financial Times revealed that Ms Shiu had been declared bankrupt in a Hong Kong court in 2008 for failing to pay a loan. 注冊(cè)在她曾用名下的幾家中國(guó)公司已經(jīng)解散，而森華北京辦公地位于一個(gè)戒備森嚴(yán)的部隊(duì)賓館內(nèi)。周四，邵瀚萱沒有回應(yīng)記者的置評(píng)請(qǐng)求。

Several companies registered under her former name had been dissolved in China, and Sam Wa’s Beijing offices were located in a closely guarded military hotel. Ms Shiu did not respond to a request for comment yesterday. 2015年，沛爾決定取消該協(xié)議，但威勒爾地區(qū)議會(huì)(代表著英國(guó)部分最貧困地區(qū))硬著頭皮繼續(xù)推進(jìn)。該議會(huì)反而試著向森華出售自己的土地。在花費(fèi)了數(shù)千英鎊往返中國(guó)后，現(xiàn)在它終于承認(rèn)失敗了。

Peel decided to cancel the agreement in 2015 but Wirral council, representing some of the poorest parts of the UK, pressed on. It tried to sell Sam Wa some of its own land instead. It has now finally admitted defeat, after spending thousands of pounds on trips to China. 此類令人失望的事件，讓奧斯本和卡梅倫承諾的中英關(guān)系“黃金時(shí)代”失去了些許光彩。將于今天結(jié)束三天訪華行程的英國(guó)現(xiàn)任首相特里薩•梅(Theresa May)則更加謹(jǐn)慎。

Such disappointments have taken some of the lustre off the “golden era” in Sino-UK relations promised by Mr Osborne and Mr Cameron. Theresa May, the prime minister, who finishes a three-day visit to China today, has been more circumspect. 一位曾參與威勒爾與森華磋商的知情人士表示，英方太天真了。“中國(guó)人從來都不會(huì)對(duì)你說不，”此人表示，“如果你帶來了一名商人或政客，中國(guó)人會(huì)盛情款待，你很容易會(huì)認(rèn)為你搞定了一份協(xié)議。”

One person involved in the Wirral talks with Sam Wa said the British side had been naive. “Nobody in China ever says no to you,” the person said. “If you bring over a businessman or politician, they will treat them well and it’s easy to believe you have a deal. “森華總是說‘錢就要到位了，把錢匯出中國(guó)需要一些時(shí)間’。但是錢一直沒到位。”

“With Sam Wa it was always, ‘The money’s coming, it takes time to get money out of China’. But the money was never there.” 2013年，中國(guó)企業(yè)正處于迎來空前海外投資熱潮的邊緣。但眼下，擔(dān)心資本外逃的中國(guó)政府已經(jīng)止住了這種趨勢(shì)。

In 2013, Chinese companies were on the verge of an unprecedented overseas investment drive. But that has been staunched by government concerns about capital flight. 這位知情人士稱：“我們明白了，沒有中國(guó)政府批準(zhǔn)，你就無法拿到中國(guó)投資，除非你是(中國(guó))大型跨國(guó)企業(yè)。”

“We learnt you cannot get investment from China without government approval unless you are a big [Chinese] multinational,” the person added. “而現(xiàn)在中國(guó)政府告訴企業(yè)要把資本留在國(guó)內(nèi)。”

“And right now the government is telling companies to keep capital at home.” 一筆確實(shí)得到執(zhí)行的交易是大型國(guó)有投資綜合企業(yè)北京建工集團(tuán)(BCEG)投資1200萬英鎊參建曼徹斯特機(jī)場(chǎng)附近的新商業(yè)園。該集團(tuán)在曼徹斯特設(shè)立了辦事處，曼徹斯特如今開通了飛往北京和上海的直航。

One deal that did close — a £12m investment in a new business park near Manchester’s airport — involved BCEG, a large state-owned investment conglomerate. BCEG has opened an office in the city and Manchester now has direct flights to Beijing and Shanghai. 另一項(xiàng)協(xié)議是中國(guó)西部城市烏魯木齊的華凌集團(tuán)(Hualing Group)與謝菲爾德企業(yè)家凱文•麥凱布(Kevin McCabe)合作，在利茲(Leeds)邊緣地區(qū)投資開發(fā)辦公樓、住宅樓和零售項(xiàng)目，并建設(shè)一家科技企業(yè)中心——謝菲爾德數(shù)字校園(Sheffield Digital Campus)。

Another agreement saw Hualing Group, from the western Chinese city of Urumqi, tie up with Kevin McCabe, a Sheffield entrepreneur, to invest in an office block, a housing and retail development on the edge of Leeds and the Sheffield Digital Campus, a hub for tech businesses. 華凌集團(tuán)還擁有米德伍德洛克斯(Middlewood Locks)開發(fā)項(xiàng)目25%的股權(quán)。該項(xiàng)目位于曼徹斯特市中心附近的索爾福德(Salford)，占地面積25英畝。它將提供總共2215套新住房和90萬平方英尺的商業(yè)空間。

It also has a 25 per cent stake in Middlewood Locks, a 25-acre development in Salford, close to Manchester city centre. It will provide a total of 2,215 new homes and 900,000 sq ft of commercial space. 中國(guó)駐英國(guó)大使劉曉明在去年8月發(fā)表的一篇評(píng)論文章中表示，中國(guó)對(duì)英國(guó)的非金融類投資覆蓋“各行各業(yè)”，投資總額達(dá)180億美元。

Liu Xiaoming, the Chinese ambassador in London, said in an opinion piece in August last year that $18bn of Chinese non-financial investment had been made in total to the UK, across a “wide range of sectors”. 但在謝菲爾德的其他地方，另一個(gè)教訓(xùn)是，中國(guó)的投資承諾并不總能得到落實(shí)。

But elsewhere in Sheffield there is another lesson that promises of Chinese investment cannot always be banked. 這座“鋼鐵之城”由于制造業(yè)受到廉價(jià)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)的沖擊，許多工作崗位被中國(guó)奪走了。謝菲爾德希望通過投資來重振經(jīng)濟(jì)。2016年，謝菲爾德炫耀其與四川國(guó)棟建設(shè)(Sichuan Guodong Construction)達(dá)成的10億英鎊房地產(chǎn)交易是英國(guó)最大的房地產(chǎn)交易。

The “steel city”, which has lost many jobs to China as its manufacturing industry was hit by cheap competition, hoped to get investment to kick-start its economy. In 2016 it trumpeted a £1bn property deal by Sichuan Guodong Construction as the largest in the UK. 四川國(guó)棟建設(shè)的總部設(shè)在成都，該市位于中國(guó)西南部，與謝菲爾德互為國(guó)際友好城市。交易達(dá)成時(shí)，四川國(guó)棟建設(shè)董事長(zhǎng)的女兒也在謝菲爾德讀書。謝菲爾德勞工議會(huì)(Labour council)表示，這家建設(shè)集團(tuán)的投資期限為60年，在3年內(nèi)將對(duì)首批5個(gè)項(xiàng)目投資2.2億英鎊。

Sichuan Guodong is based in Chengdu, a city in south-west China twinned with Sheffield. The daughter of its chairman was also a student in Sheffield at the time. The construction group would invest the money over 60 years, Sheffield’s Labour council said, with the first five projects attracting £220m within three years. 四川國(guó)棟建設(shè)打算買下這座城市歷史悠久的圖書館，將其改建為酒店。但它發(fā)現(xiàn)，涉及的修復(fù)工作的花費(fèi)比當(dāng)初想象的高昂得多，于是撤出了該項(xiàng)目。

Sichuan Guodong intended to buy the city’s historic library to convert into a hotel. But it discovered the remedial work involved was more expensive than first thought and pulled out. 謝菲爾德市議會(huì)表示：“我們正與四川國(guó)棟在全市范圍內(nèi)的其他項(xiàng)目上展開合作。”四川國(guó)棟建設(shè)拒絕就此置評(píng)。

Sheffield city council said: “We are working with Sichuan Guodong on other projects across the city.” Sichuan Guodong declined to comment. 除了投資于房地產(chǎn)，四川國(guó)棟建設(shè)也生產(chǎn)地板、玻璃和蘇打水。

As well as investing in property, Sichuan Guodong produces floorboards, glass and soda water. 謝菲爾德的一些人對(duì)市議會(huì)與該公司的交易提出了批評(píng)。曾擔(dān)任市議會(huì)負(fù)責(zé)人、現(xiàn)為自由民主黨(Liberal Democrats)的保羅•斯克里文(Paul Scriven)表示，與中國(guó)企業(yè)的交易就像“棉花糖”。他說：“它被繞成了一種大的、誘人的東西，但當(dāng)你觸摸它的時(shí)候，它就開始瓦解。這個(gè)投資者在戰(zhàn)略上是否適合謝菲爾德?我們確信已做了盡職調(diào)查嗎?”

Some in Sheffield have criticised the council dealings with the company. Paul Scriven, a former council leader and now a Liberal Democratic peer, said deals with Chinese companies were like “candyfloss”. He said: “It is spun into something substantial and alluring but the moment you touch it it starts to disintegrate. Is the investor a strategic fit for Sheffield? Are we sure the due diligence has been done?” 斯克里文勛爵曾根據(jù)信息自由法律，要求了解謝菲爾德與四川國(guó)棟之間協(xié)議的更多內(nèi)容，但被以商業(yè)機(jī)密為由拒絕了。

Lord Scriven has made requests under freedom of information laws to find out more about Sheffield's agreements with Sichuan Guodong but has been refused on the grounds of commercial confidentiality. 譯者/何黎