【英语中国】印度政府对待中国投资态度暧昧不清

Even as India's foreign minister, S.M. Krishna, gets set to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for a 'strategic dialogue' on Thursday, it is India's prickly relationship with China, its largest trading partner, that has been front and center for weeks, most recently because of President Pratibha Patil's visit there.

'To representatives of Chinese businesses who are present here today, my message is that India stands ready to do more business. We welcome investment by Chinese companies in India,'said Ms. Patil in Shanghai on the last day of her trip Monday. 'India's infrastructure modernization offers significant opportunities as well. For a long-term partnership, it is important that we develop models of cooperation that take into account the concerns of both parties.'

Ms. Patil's words were probably meant to reassure Chinese firms that have found their attempts to invest in Indian infrastructure, particularly in power, stalled by steps to protect local industry even as the country faces power deficits. Last fiscal year India added 9,585 megawatts of new power capacity, far short of what it had planned. China, meanwhile, generates over 80,000 megawatts of new power capacity a year. Indian power companies have increasingly been looking to China for help building power plants because of a low domestic supply of engineers and a shortage of equipment like boilers and turbines.

'There are mixed messages going out,' said Ravi Bhoothalingam, founder of Manas Advisory, which fosters business and cultural contacts between India and China as part of its consulting work.

Mr. Bhoothalingam sees two factors at work--lack of coordination on China between India's security and commercial establishments and protectionism in specific fields. An Indian minister, while visiting China, went as far as to call New Delhi's attitude to Chinese investment 'paranoid,' but had to apologize profusely once he was back home.

But the need to balance investment with protection for Indian firms and workers should be relatively easy to solve, Mr. Bhoothalingam said.

'I think we can take a leaf from the Chinese book,' said the business consultant. 'When China was building these high-speed railways they imported a whole lot of locomotives from West Germany. What they also did was they said, 'Hey, look, this time we are importing this large number of locomotives. But we want you to give us the technology so we will start making these things ourselves.''

To counter the Chinese concern that their firms won't be able to keep costs low if training Indian employees becomes part of the equation, India should offer Chinese firms long-term contracts, he added.

'Instead of building two plants, build 20 over 10 years,' he said. 'Bring 1,000 employees in year one, 500 in year two, by year five take back your people.'

It isn't clear that India is thinking that long-term on China yet. Just as the president's trip got under way the Power Grid Corporation of India announced fresh restrictions on foreign firms bidding for its equipment contracts. The firm's chief managing director, S.K. Chaturvedi, confirmed the move to India Real Time on Wednesday.

'We have made it mandatory to have production in India,' said Mr. Chaturvedi. 'It is for after-sales maintenance and helping operation efficiency.'

The rules will affect companies setting up power plants in India, as many of them import equipment from China.

Still, there was one sign in the wake of President Patil's China visit that India is trying to iron out some of the kinks. On Wednesday the Economic Times reported that while India is in the process of setting up its own security certification center, the government will allow imports of Chinese telecom gear from firms like Huawei if the equipment has been certified by international security firms.

尽管印度外交部长克里希纳(S.M. Krishna)将于周四与美国国务卿希拉里•克林顿(Hillary Clinton)进行“战略对话”，但印度与其最大贸易伙伴中国之间的敏感关系却是近几周众人瞩目的焦点，原因在于印度总统帕蒂尔(Pratibha Patil)近期访问了中国。

AFP/Getty Images印度总统帕蒂尔周四在北京会见中国国家主席胡锦涛周一，帕蒂尔在上海说，我向在座的中国商界代表发出的信息是：印度已经准备好加强与中国的经贸合作。我们欢迎中国公司在印度投资。印度基础设施的现代化进程也提供了重要的机遇。在重视双方所关心问题的基础上发展多种合作模式对两国的长期伙伴关系非常重要。周一是帕蒂尔访华行程的最后一天。

尽管印度面临电力不足的问题，但欲投资印度基础设施项目（特别是电力项目）的中国公司却发现他们受阻于印度对本土产业的保护措施。帕蒂尔的讲话或许意在消除这些中国公司的疑虑。上一财年，印度新增装机容量9,585兆瓦，远低于原定计划。同期，中国年新增装机容量超过80,000兆瓦。由于印度本土工程人员供应不足且缺乏锅炉和涡轮等设备，印度各电力公司越来越期待中国帮助其修建发电厂。

咨询公司Manas Advisory的创始人布塔林加姆(Ravi Bhoothalingam)说，印度向外界传达了各种不同的信息。这家公司的工作之一是推动中印之间的商业和文化交流。

布塔林加姆认为有两种因素在起作用：印度的安全与商业机构之间在中国问题上缺乏协调以及特定领域的保护主义。印度的一位部长在访华期间甚至称新德里对待中国投资的态度是偏执狂的表现，但他一回国就不得不进行大量的道歉。

布塔林加姆说，但平衡投资与保护印度公司和工人之间的需求应相对易于解决。

布塔林加姆说，我认为我们能够学习中国的经验。中国建造高速铁路时从德国进口了大量的机车。此外他们还说，看我们进口了这么多的机车，但我们希望你把技术给我们，这样我们将开始自己制造这些设备。

他还说，中国担心如果协议要求其培训印度员工，中国公司将无法保持低成本。为了打消中国的疑虑，印度应当向中国公司提供长期的合同。

他说，不是只修建两家电厂，而是在10年内修建20家电厂。第一年带到印度1,000名员工，第二年带来500名，到第五年要把你的人撤走。

尚不清楚印度在中国问题上是否考虑的那么长远。就在印度总统访华之际，印度国家电网公司(Power Grid Corporation of India)宣布了新的规定，用以限制外国公司投标其电力设备合同。周三，该公司首席董事总经理查图维迪(S.K. Chaturvedi)向“印度实时报”栏目证实了这一举动。

查图维迪说，我们强制要求它必须在印度生产，这是为了易于售后维护和提高运营效率。

这些规定将对在印度修建电厂的公司产生影响，因为其中许多公司从中国进口设备。

尽管如此，在印度总统帕蒂尔访华后，也出现了印度试图抹平两国摩擦的迹象。印度报纸《经济时报》(Economic Times)报道称尽管印度正在成立自己的安全认证中心，政府将允许从华为等公司进口拥有国际安全认证的中国电信设备。