中英關系“黃金時代”褪色

Beijing has cooled on a series of high-profile projects aimed at fostering closer ties with the UK as concerns mount that the “golden age” between the two countries lauded by the previous British government has waned.

北京方面已在一系列旨在拉近中英關系的高調(diào)項目上態(tài)度轉(zhuǎn)冷，人們越來越擔心，英國上一任政府贊美的中英關系“黃金時代”已經(jīng)褪色。

Chinese officials said there were now no active plans to sell further renminbi-denominated sovereign bonds after last summer’s landmark Rmb3bn ($430m) auction by the Chinese finance ministry, which raised hopes about a series of follow-up deals as part of the internationalisation of China’s currency.

中國官員表示，在去年夏季具有里程碑意義的中國財政部拍賣30億元人民幣(合4.3億美元)政府債券之后，目前沒有任何銷售更多以人民幣計價的主權債券的計劃。上次發(fā)行使人們希望，中國政府為推動人民幣國際化，將啟動一系列的后續(xù)債券發(fā)行計劃。

“There is no timetable for a second government bond issuance in London,” said one Chinese official. “In any case, the next one that China issues overseas will probably go to another centre, with Hong Kong under consideration. It is only fair that China diversifies its issuance locations for government bonds.”

“目前沒有第二次在倫敦發(fā)行政府債券的時間表，”一位中國官員表示。“無論如何，下一次中國在海外發(fā)行政府債券可能將選擇另一個金融中心，香港是被考慮的目的地之一。中國實行政府債券海外發(fā)行地多元化，是非常公平的。”

In addition, Chinese financiers said that a scheme to link the London and Shanghai stock exchanges had lost momentum, damping prospects of another Sino-British project advocated by George Osborne, the former UK chancellor, who made increasing commercial ties with Beijing a centrepiece of his six-year tenure.

此外，中國金融家表示，一個連接倫敦和上海證券交易所的項目已失去動力，使英國前財政大臣喬治•奧斯本(George Osborne)倡導的另一個中英項目的前景變得暗淡。在其6年任期中，奧斯本把增進對華商貿(mào)關系作為一個核心事項。

Chinese observers blame the changing mood in Beijing to several factors, including uncertainties following Britain’s vote to leave the EU and China’s own domestic economic concerns.

中國觀察者把北京方面的態(tài)度變化歸結(jié)為幾個因素，其中包括英國公投決定脫歐引發(fā)的不確定性和中國國內(nèi)的經(jīng)濟擔憂。

But the stance of Prime Minister Theresa May’s new government, which has taken a more stand-off approach to China than predecessor David Cameron, has weighed heavily on Chinese thinking.

但英國首相特里薩•梅(Theresa May)領導的新政府的立場，對中國的想法產(chǎn)生了很大的影響。英國新政府對中國的態(tài)度比前任首相戴維•卡梅倫(David Cameron)冷淡。

“In some areas of our engagement, the Chinese side is taking a more wait-and-see attitude following the Brexit vote,” said a second Chinese official who requested anonymity. “We do not feel the same level of enthusiasm from this government as from the Cameron-Osborne team.”

“在雙方接觸的一些領域，中國在英國脫歐公投之后正采取觀望的態(tài)度，”另一名要求匿名的中國官員表示。“我們從這屆政府那里沒有感受到像卡梅倫和奧斯本這對搭檔那樣的熱情。”

The Chinese singled out Mrs May’s abrupt decision in July to review the French-led £18bn Hinkley Point nuclear power plant, indicating she had national security concerns about the project. 中國特別指出了梅在去年7月突然決定重審法國公司主導的180億英鎊的欣克利角(Hinkley Point)核電項目。當時梅暗示，她對該項目存在國家安全方面的擔憂。

CGN, a Chinese state energy group, has a 33 per cent stake in Hinkley, which it took with the explicit aim of winning the right to install its own technology in a subsequent nuclear power station planned for Bradwell in Essex.

中國國有能源集團中廣核(CGN)在欣克利角項目中擁有33%的股權。中廣核參與該項目的明確目標，是贏得在隨后計劃在埃塞克斯郡(Essex)興建的布拉德韋爾(Bradwell)核電站項目中使用自主設計技術的權利。

While Mrs May ultimately decided to go ahead with Hinkley, she also announced planned new restrictions on the foreign ownership of critical national infrastructure assets that Downing Street has yet to clarify. These could potentially imperil the Bradwell project.

盡管梅最終決定放行欣克利角項目，但她也宣布，計劃對外資入股關鍵的國家基礎設施資產(chǎn)實施新的限制。唐寧街尚未澄清具體限制是什么。這些限制可能會阻礙布拉德韋爾項目。

“Hinkley was good, but we are concerned about what comes after Hinkley with the other nuclear projects,” said one of the Chinese officials. “There is no clarity on that.”

“欣克利角項目很不錯，但我們擔心該項目之后的其他核項目，”一名中國官員說。“這存在著不確定性。”

The Cameron government was heavily criticised for being too eager to appease Beijing in order to win trade. But Mark Boleat, head of policy at the City of London Corporation, said that Mrs May’s indecision over Hinkley had courted a breach in relations by wrongfooting Beijing so publicly.

卡梅倫政府因為太渴望取悅中國以贏得貿(mào)易機會而遭到嚴厲批評。但倫敦金融城管理當局(City of London Corporation)政策主席包墨凱(Mark Boleat)表示，梅在欣克利角項目上的優(yōu)柔寡斷如此公開地讓北京方面措手不及，在英中雙邊關系中造成裂痕。

“The Chinese might decide they are dealing with someone serious and treat them accordingly,” Mr Boleat said. “But alternatively they could decide [their partners] are not predictable and draw different conclusions.”

“中國人可能判定，他們正跟認真的人打交道，并給予相應對待，”包墨凱說。“但是，也許他們會判定，(他們的合作伙伴)反復無常，并得出不同的結(jié)論。”

Others share Beijing’s puzzlement about the change of mood under Mrs May, particularly in light of the desire to seek new trading partners following the vote for Brexit.

其他人也像北京一樣對梅政府的態(tài)度變化感到困惑，尤其是英國在公投決定脫歐之后應該希望尋求新的貿(mào)易伙伴。

“The Chinese are frustrated and I am not surprised,” said a former British government official. “There’s no one in the government who gets out of bed and thinks China. It’s a very old fashioned, almost Victorian view of the world.”

“中國人感到懊喪，但我對此并不驚訝，”一名前英國政府官員表示。“當前政府中沒有一個人一早起床時，會想到中國。這是一種很老式的、近乎維多利亞時代的世界觀。”

The “golden era” was conceived by Mr Osborne as a grand bargain in which the UK would offer Chinese investors and companies access to its infrastructure markets in return for privileged treatment, including the City receiving a big share of the expanding international market for renminbi finance.

“黃金時代”是奧斯本構(gòu)想出來的一筆大交易，英國將允許中國投資者和企業(yè)進入英國的基礎設施市場，換取中國的特殊對待，比如倫敦金融城在日益擴大的人民幣融資國際市場上分到很大的份額。

The Chinese sovereign bond programme was designed to signal Beijing’s official stamp of approval for London as its key non-Asian financial centre partner. Meanwhile, the so-called stock connect programme would have allowed UK-based institutional investors direct access to trade in some of China’s largest and most liquid stocks.

中國在倫敦發(fā)行主權債券，旨在表明北京方面官方認可倫敦是其在亞洲之外關鍵的金融中心合作伙伴。同時，所謂“滬倫通”項目將允許駐英國的機構(gòu)投資者直接交易中國一些規(guī)模最大、流動性最好的股票。

London Stock Exchange said that stock connect remained on track but there was no timetable for implementation.

倫敦證券交易所(LSE)表示，滬倫通仍在進展中，但沒有開通的時間表。

“This is a long-term project, which will help domestic and international investors access markets and is a key part of the strategic partnership between our two exchanges,” said Ramesh Chhabra, head of media relations.

“這是一個長期項目，它將幫助國內(nèi)外投資者獲得市場準入，是我們兩個交易所之間的戰(zhàn)略伙伴關系的一個核心部分，”倫敦證券交易所媒體關系主管拉梅什•切布拉(Ramesh Chhabra)說。

Lord Mandelson, former Labour business secretary, said: “The relationship with China is important but it won’t be sustained of its own accord. To many in Beijing we matter less because of Brexit so we have to work all the harder to combat this perception.”

前英國商務大臣、工黨的曼德爾森勛爵(Lord Mandelson)說：“對華關系很重要，但它將不會自動維持下去。在北京的許多人看來，由于英國脫歐，我們的重要性降低了，所以我們必須盡更大努力扭轉(zhuǎn)這一看法。”

The UK Treasury said that Beijing continued to rank highly in its priorities and that chancellor Philip Hammond had visited China more than any other country since taking office.

英國財政部表示，北京方面在其重要性排序中仍位置靠前，財政大臣菲利普•哈蒙德(Philip Hammond)自上任以來訪問中國的次數(shù)多于訪問任何其他國家。