【英语国际】越南造船工业集团濒临破产 董事长遭停职

Vietnam's prime minister suspended the chairman of one of the country's biggest companies amid concerns it could be on the verge of bankruptcy after a period of aggressive expansion.

Pham Thanh Binh, chairman of Vinashin, a state-run shipbuilding conglomerate, was removed to allow a review of his performance while police investigate alleged wrongdoing, the government said in a two-sentence statement Wednesday.

Efforts to reach Mr. Binh and a government spokesman were unsuccessful. A receptionist at Vinashin said no one was available to discuss the matter.

The government move marked a setback for Mr. Binh and a blow to Vietnamese efforts in recent years to promote its many state companies, which continue to dominate key sectors of the economy even as Vietnam opens up to foreign investment.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung encouraged the companies, which include Vinashin, Vietnam Electricity Group, and state oil giant Vietnam Oil & Gas, or PetroVietnam, to expand rapidly in recent years in a bid to build bigger conglomerates that could better compete with international companies gaining a toehold in Vietnam. The push was modeled in part on how South Korean companies, known as chaebols, expanded in earlier years.

PetroVietnam moved into banking and tourism, while Vietnam Electricity invested heavily in telecommunications. The unlisted Vinashin, for its part, borrowed $3 billion to finance expansion into new shipping lines and manufacturing businesses to support its shipbuilding operations. It also expanded into finance, stock-trading and brewing beer, making it Vietnam's ninth-largest state-run company by assets.

Many economists criticized the push, though, saying it crowded out private investment and encouraged state entities to take risks in businesses they didn't fully understand. When Vietnam's economy showed signs of overheating in 2008, officials started to reconsider the push and told state companies to focus more narrowly on their core businesses, though many of the companies kept growing.

Some of the companies have thrived, economists say. But investors and analysts have long worried that one or more would stumble under the debts they accumulated during periods of rapid expansion. Vinashin, which has the full name Vietnam Shipbuilding Industry Group, has total debts of 80 trillion Vietnamese dong ($4.2 billion), while its total assets are 90 trillion Vietnamese dong ($4.7 billion), reported online news provider VnExpress, which is run by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

It isn't clear when the police investigation into Vinashin will be completed. In the meantime, the prime minister has assigned a deputy minister of transport to handle Mr. Binh's duties.

The government is also restructuring the company, transferring at least 13 of Vinashin's units to PetroVietnam and state-run Vietnam National Shipping Lines, according to Cong An Nhan Dan newspaper, which is run by the Ministry of Public Securities.

The moves, including the transfer of 5,000 employees from Vinashin's 60,000-strong work force, is scheduled to be completed by the end of the third quarter.

越南总理将该国最大企业之一的董事长停职，担心该公司在雄心勃勃的扩张后可能处于破产边缘。

Vinashin越南造船工业集团的船坞越南政府周三在一份只有两句话的声明中宣布，撤销国营造船综合企业越南造船工业集团（Vinashin）董事长兼党委书记范清平（Pham Thanh Binh）的职务以审查他的表现，同时警方就他被控违规展开调查。

记者希望接洽范清平和政府发言人，但没有成功。越南造船工业集团一位接待人员表示，目前没人可以就此事发表言论。

政府的举措是范清平遭遇的一次挫折，而且不利于近年来越南推动许多国营企业所作出的努力，尽管越南开放发外国投资，但国营企业依然主导着该国经济的主要行业。

越南总理阮晋勇近几年鼓励包括越南造船工业集团、越南电力集团（Vietnam Electricity Group）和国营石油巨头越南石油天然气公司（PetroVietnam）在内的企业快速扩张，组建更大的综合企业以更好地与在越南已立足的国际企业竞争。这一作法部分仿效韩国财团企业早些年的扩张方式。

越南石油天然气公司进军银行和旅游业，越南电力集团大举投资电讯业。未上市的越南造船工业集团借贷30亿美元资助新航线和制造业务的扩张，以帮助运营造船业务，它还涉足金融、股票交易和啤酒业，成为按资产计越南第九大国有企业。

但许多经济学家批评这种作法，指称这排斥了私人投资，并鼓励国有企业承担他们并不完全了解的业务的风险。2008年越南经济显示出过热的迹象，官员们开始重新考虑这一作法，并告诫国有企业要把重点更多放在核心业务上，不过许多企业仍在持续扩张。

经济学家说，一些企业繁荣起来了，但投资者和分析师长期以来担心，一家或多家企业将因他们在快速扩张期间积累的债务而出现问题。在线新闻提供商VnExpress报导，越南造船工业集团总负债为80万亿越南盾（合42亿美元），总资产为90万亿越南盾（合47亿美元）。该网站由越南科学技术部负责运营。

目前尚不清楚警方对越南造船工业集团的调查何时结束。与此同时，越南总理已指派一位交通部副部长担负起范清平的工作任务。

据《人民公安报》（Cong An Nhan Dan）消息，政府也在重组该公司，至少将越南造船工业集团的13个部门转移至越南石油天然气公司和国营的越南国家海航总公司（Vietnam National Shipping Lines）。这家报纸由越南公安部负责运营。

将越南造船工业集团60,000名员工内的5,000人转移出去等举措定于第三季度末结束。