Germany Considers Watering Down Plan to Scrutinize Chinese Investments


这显示出在其他国家对中国政府采取更强硬态度之际，这个与中国有着千丝万缕的联系、在中国问题上分歧日益上升的国家态度正在软化。


中国国家主席习近平本月在北京接待德国总理朔尔茨之后，他准备在5月访问法国、匈牙利和塞尔维亚。

德国正在考虑减弱政府加强审查中国投资的计划，这显示出在其他国家对中国政府采取更强硬态度之际，这个与中国有着千丝万缕的联系、在中国问题上分歧日益上升的国家态度正在软化。 6park.com
Germany is considering scaling back plans to step up government scrutiny of Chinese investments, the latest example of how a country deeply intertwined with—and increasingly conflicted about—China is pulling its punches as others get tougher on Beijing.  6park.com
    
熟悉该计划的人士称，由于担心可能会损害柏林同时进行的为重振德国停滞不前的经济所做的努力，德国越来越有可能做出弱化拟议的外国投资筛查法的决定。 6park.com
People familiar with the plan said a decision to defang a planned foreign investment-screening law had become likelier because of fears that it could hurt Berlin’s parallel efforts to re-energize Germany’s stagnating economy. 6park.com
  
这一回撤可能会引发西方盟友的担忧，他们担心中国政府正在削弱西方对美国和欧盟日益激进的遏制中国全球影响力努力的支持。本月在北京接待德国总理朔尔茨(Olaf Scholz)之后，中国领导人习近平准备在5月访问法国、匈牙利和塞尔维亚。 6park.com
The backtracking could raise concerns among Western allies that Beijing is whittling down Western support for increasingly aggressive U.S. and European Union efforts to rein in China’s global influence. After hosting German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Beijing this month, Chinese leader Xi Jinping is preparing to visit France, Hungary and Serbia in May. 6park.com
  
两国外交关系趋于缓和之际，德国国内对中国间谍活动的范围和程度则日益感到担忧。上周，德国检察官就在两项独立的情报调查后拘留了四名被指控为中国工作的间谍。 6park.com
The diplomatic rapprochement comes despite mounting alarm in Germany about the extent of Chinese espionage. This week alone, German prosecutors detained four alleged spies for China as a result of two separate intelligence investigations. 6park.com
 
德国国内情报机构副局长Sinan Selen上周在柏林举行的一次关于中国日益增长的安全威胁的会议上说：“我们看到对政治、公司和科研机构的秘密干预正在增加。”他说：“企业面临的不再仅仅是不公平竞争对手的工业间谍活动，而是（中国）国家的全部影响力。” 6park.com
“We are seeing a rise in clandestine interference in politics, companies and scientific institutions,” Sinan Selen, deputy head of Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, said at a conference on China’s growing security threat in Berlin this week. “Companies are no longer just facing industrial espionage from unfair competitors, but the full power of the [Chinese] state.” 6park.com
  
上周五，中国外交部发言人汪文斌驳斥了有关四名德国公民涉嫌为中国情报机构从事间谍活动的指控，称所谓“中国间谍案”纯属无中生有。他说：“中方坚决反对针对中方的污蔑抹黑，要求德方对损害双边关系的企图保持警惕，加强约束……切实维护双边关系稳定健康发展。” 6park.com
在朔尔茨2021年当选德国总理后，柏林方面开始抵制中国的影响力，这标志着偏离德国前总理默克尔(Angela Merkel)奉行多年的对华友好政策，默克尔曾见证中国成为德国最大的贸易伙伴。 6park.com
After Scholz’s election in 2021, Berlin started pushing back against Chinese influence, marking a departure from years of friendly policies under former Chancellor Angela Merkel, who saw China become Germany’s largest trading partner.  6park.com
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作为这一立场转向的一部分，德国政府收紧了敏感技术的出口管制，为德国对外投资和出口设定了国家担保上限，并以安全为由禁止了中国在德国的一些投资。 6park.com
As part of this pivot, the government tightened export controls for sensitive technologies, capped state guarantees on German foreign investments and exports, and banned a number of Chinese investments in the country on security grounds.  


德国官员表示，德国正在努力重振疲软的经济，但柏林担心投资审查法可能会阻碍对德国的投资。

去年夏季，德国政府公布了第一份“中国战略”文件，称中国是德国的“合作伙伴、竞争对手和系统性对手”，并主张德国通过减少对中国市场以及中国进口零部件和原材料的依赖来“去风险”。 6park.com
Last summer, the government unveiled Germany’s first China strategy document, which called the country a “partner, competitor and systemic rival” and urged Germany to “derisk” by reducing its dependence on the Chinese market and imported components and raw materials. 6park.com
  
差不多在同一时间，柏林方面开始制定一项新的投资筛选法案。 6park.com
Around the same time, Berlin started work on a new investment-screening bill.  6park.com
去年夏季，德国经济部的一份文件描述了这一计划，该计划建议赋予政府新的权力，对外国投资进行安全风险筛查，并将其权限扩大到新的投资类型。虽然该文件只是隐晦地提到了中国，但官员和分析人士称，中国就是那个隐含的目标。《华尔街日报》(The Wall Street Journal)看到了这份文件。 6park.com
The plan, described last summer in an economics ministry paper seen by The Wall Street Journal, proposed giving the government new powers to screen foreign investments for security risks and to extend its purview to new types of investments. While China was only obliquely mentioned, officials and analysts said it was the implicit target. 6park.com
  
上述文件中称，可能受到审查的新投资类型包括“量子技术、尖端半导体、人工智能和关键基础设施”领域的绿地投资，即用于创建新业务而不是收购现有业务的投资。 6park.com
New investment types that could come under scrutiny included greenfield investments—which go into creating new businesses rather than acquiring existing ones—in “quantum technology, sophisticated semiconductors, artificial intelligence and critical infrastructure,” the paper said. 6park.com
 
该部门还建议增加一项全面条款，允许审查德国研究机构与外国合作伙伴在关键领域的合作项目。 6park.com
The ministry also suggested adding a catchall provision allowing the screening of cooperation projects between German research institutions and foreign partners in critical areas.  6park.com
 
现在，知情人士称，虽然没有做出最终决定，但这两个想法很可能会被放弃。一些官员说，政府可能不会起草新法案，而是修改目前界定政府投资审查权的更广泛的规则，这是一种更常见的做法。 6park.com
Now, people familiar with the discussions say that while no final decision was made, both ideas will likely be dropped. Some officials said the government might not draft a new bill but rather amend the broader rules that currently define the government’s investment-screening powers—a more commonplace exercise.  6park.com
这些官员说，这种做法虽然没那么雄心勃勃，但仍有可能赋予政府新的权力，例如审查某些公司的内部重组或向外国投资者转让专利的交易。 6park.com
While less ambitious, the officials said this approach would likely still give the government new powers, for example, to scrutinize certain internal corporate restructurings or the transfer of patents to foreign investors.  6park.com
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德国政府发言人未就相关审议情况置评，但表示“投资审查旨在避免对德国安全和公共秩序造成风险。与此同时，对外国投资保持开放也很重要”。 6park.com
A German government spokesman declined to comment on the deliberations but said “investment screening is designed to avoid risks to security and public order in Germany. At the same time, it is important to remain open to foreign investments.”


德国企业担心，中国的竞争已开始蔓延到从汽车到工业机械在内的德国最先进的工程产品。

负责相关立法工作的德国经济部门发言人说，虽然目前的审查规则是有效的，但“最近的经验表明，（它们）应该进行改革，以反映不断变化的安全形势。这项工作目前正在进行中”。 6park.com
A spokesman for the economics ministry, which is shepherding work on the legislation, said that while current screening rules were effective, “recent experience has shown that [they] should be reformed to reflect the changing security situation…This work is currently under way.” 6park.com
  
尽管德国政府以及德国企业对来自中国的日益激烈的竞争感到非常担忧，但德国人还是改变了主意。中国的竞争已开始蔓延到从汽车到工业机械在内的德国最先进的工程产品，这些产品所在的行业往往受到中国政府补贴。 6park.com
The change of mind comes despite intense fretting in Berlin—and in German boardrooms—about increasing Chinese competition that is beginning to rival even Germany’s most advanced engineering goods, from cars to industrial machines, often bolstered by subsidies from Beijing. 6park.com
 
德国安全官员称，中国加强了针对德国的间谍活动，特别是那些旨在获取先进制程芯片制造和军事技术等领域专有技术的间谍活动，这些领域受到严格的出口管制。 6park.com
German security officials say China has intensified its spying efforts against the country, especially those aimed at extracting know-how in areas such as advanced chipmaking and military technology that are shielded by strict export controls. 6park.com
 
检察官说，本周拘留的一个疑似间谍小组的成员在未经授权的情况下向中国转移了一台高功率激光器，并收集了可用于制造军舰发动机的敏感科学信息。 6park.com
Members of a suspected spying cell detained this week had transferred to China a high-powered laser without authorization and collected sensitive scientific information that could be used to build engines for military vessels, the prosecutors said. 6park.com
 
德国国内情报机构联邦宪法保卫局(Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution)在最新年度报告中指出，中国是对德国经济和科技领域构成最大间谍威胁的国家。 6park.com
In its latest annual report, Germany’s Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the country’s domestic intelligence agency, named China as Germany’s “biggest economic and scientific espionage threat.” 6park.com
这些官员说，促使柏林采取更谨慎做法的一个主要原因是，总理府越来越担心一项新的投资审查法会被外国公司和政府视为阻碍在德国投资的因素。 6park.com
One central argument driving Berlin’s pared-back approach is mounting concern in the chancellery that a new investment-screening law could be seen by foreign companies and governments as a discouragement to invest in Germany, these officials said. 6park.com
官员们表示，德国政府正计划在今年秋天召开一次高调的会议，以吸引国际投资者。朔尔茨政府还承诺提供超过150亿欧元（约合161亿美元）的激励措施，以吸引英特尔(Intel)和台积电(Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing)等芯片制造商的投资。 6park.com
Berlin is planning a high-profile conference this fall to woo international investors, officials said. Scholz’s government has also pledged more than €15 billion, equivalent to around $16.1 billion, in incentives to draw investments from chip makers such as Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing. 6park.com
 
经济学家表示，绿地投资通常是有益的，因为能带来资金和就业机会，有些情况下还能带来技术专门知识，各国政府往往欢迎此类投资。 6park.com
Economists say greenfield investments are generally beneficial and welcomed by governments since they can bring capital, jobs and in some cases technical know-how.


德国希望吸引包括英特尔等芯片制造商在内的国际投资。

中国在欧洲的绿地投资正在快速增长，目前在中国对外直接投资总额中所占比例越来越大；过去几年间，中国对外直接投资整体上有所下降。据咨询机构荣鼎集团(Rhodium Group)和德国墨卡托中国研究中心(Mercator Institute for China Studies)的一份报告，2022年，中国在欧洲的绿地投资首次超过了并购投资。 6park.com
Chinese greenfield investments in Europe are rising fast and now make up a growing proportion of total Chinese foreign direct investment, which, as a whole, has fallen in past years. In 2022, Chinese greenfield investments in Europe overtook M&A investments for the first time, according to a report by consulting firms Rhodium Group and the Mercator Institute for China Studies. 6park.com
“如果非说绿地投资会带来风险，要证明这一点并不容易，”荣鼎集团专注于中欧经济关系的高级分析师格雷Gregor Sebastian说。“这取决于你对国家安全的定义是狭义还是广义。” 6park.com
“It can be difficult to make an argument that greenfield investment presents risk,” said Gregor Sebastian, a senior analyst focused on China-EU economic relations at Rhodium Group. “It depends on how narrow or broad your definition of national security is.” 6park.com
 
绿地投资带来直接安全风险的例子并不多见。去年，在五角大楼对间谍风险表示担忧后，北达科他州的地方官员叫停了将大福克斯空军基地附近的农田出售给一家中国公司的交易；该公司原计划在那里建设一家玉米加工厂。 6park.com
Examples of greenfield investments that pose direct security risks are rare. Last year, local officials in North Dakota stopped the sale of farmlands near Grand Forks Air Force Base to a Chinese company that had planned to build a corn-milling plant there after the Pentagon expressed concern about the spying risks. 6park.com
 
不过，Sebastian说，按照较宽泛的国家安全定义，即使是一家获得大量补贴的中国电池厂，如果将当地生产商挤出市场，也会增加欧洲对中国的依赖。 6park.com
Under a broader definition of national security, however, even a heavily subsidized Chinese battery plant, for instance, could increase European dependency if it priced local producers out of the market, Sebastian said. 6park.com
 
除了制定新投资审查法的相关工作之外，德国官员还表示，柏林方面对欧盟提出的审查欧洲企业对外投资的建议仍持怀疑态度，因为这将给企业带来额外的繁文缛节。 6park.com
Separate from its work on a new investment-screening law, German officials said Berlin remains skeptical about an EU proposal to screen outbound investments by European companies because of the extra red tape it would create for business. 6park.com
 
欧盟委员会已经加大了对中国的经济施压，并且正在针对获得补贴的中国公司，威胁要取消这些公司竞标欧洲政府合同的资格，并且还在考虑对进口中国电动汽车加征关税，在这样的背景下，柏林方面制衡中国的态度软化有可能让该国与欧盟委员会发生龃龉。 6park.com
Berlin’s fading ambitions on confronting China could put it at odds with the European Commission, which has intensified its economic pressure on Beijing and is going after subsidized Chinese companies by threatening to prevent them from bidding on European government contracts and is considering tariffs on imports of Chinese electric vehicles.