英国以国家安全为由推迟中资收购案

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.

伦敦——对中国收购对国家安全有重要影响的公司的担忧，已导致世界各地大大小小的交易流产。现在，即便是一家小型飞机零部件制造商的出售也受到了严密的审查，以防存在严重的风险。

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.

英国政府官员推迟了一家中国企业集团旗下的公司收购竞争对手北方航空(Northern Aerospace)的拟定交易。他们似乎担心，即便只是空客(Airbus)和波音(Boeing)的一个小供应商，也可能对国家安全有重要影响。

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.

这是世界各国对中国资本持怀疑态度的最新例证。华盛顿的立法者正在就是否取消对中国电信公司中兴的处罚与特朗普总统斗争。中兴的手机被禁止在美国军事基地销售。在澳大利亚，立法者正在考虑是否禁止中国最大的电信公司华为参与将该国的无线网络升级到下一代5G标准的合同。

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.

从美国到德国，政府都担心中国会有效地购买到所需的技术，以便打造接受国家资助的中国巨头。它们将与美国和欧洲的企业巨头一争高低。

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.

过去的几年里，华盛顿的监管机构否决了中国对从事敏感技术的美国公司的一些投资。今年，出于担心美国在5G技术竞争中打败中国的努力，特朗普叫停了1170亿美元收购电脑芯片巨头高通(Qualcomm)的要约。白宫和立法者都建议进一步收紧审查外国投资美国公司的程序，尤其要注意中国。

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.

欧洲各国纷纷效仿，一些国家呼吁加强审查程序。此前，一连串的交易让中国买家获得了机器人等领域的创新技术。就连长期更欢迎中国投资的加拿大，也在上月以国家安全为由，叫停了中国对一家建筑公司的收购。

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.

英国有时候看上去像个异类，视中国的投资为加强两国经济联系的一种方式。比如，中国的资金正在参与修建位于英国西海岸的新核电站欣克利角(Hinkley Point)。

But developments this week appeared to reflect a rise in skepticism.

但本周的事态发展似乎反映了怀疑态度的加剧。

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.

周日，英国政府着手介入北方航空的出售，要求英国竞争和市场管理局(Competition and Markets Authority)进行调查。

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.

拟定交易中的买家是加德纳航空(Gardner Aerospace)。这是一家总部位于德比的供应商，比北方航空大。但去年，加德纳被卖给了中国工业集团公司陕西炼石有色。那笔交易旨在帮助加德纳进一步进入中国市场。

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.

加德纳提出以4400万英镑的价格收购北方航空。但周一，前述竞争和市场管理局宣布在其进行调查期间交易推迟。该机构计划在7月13日之前提交一份有关该交易的报告。

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.”

英国商务部门发言人在一份声明中说，“这是我们以前多次遵循的一个法定程序，为的是确保拟定的出售交易对国家安全的影响得到充分的评估和解释。”

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.

在周三的一份声明中，加德纳的执行主席尼克·桑德斯(Nick Sanders)说，加德纳正在配合政府对这笔交易的调查。记者未能立即联系到北方航空公司的代表就此事发表评论。