【英语财经】去年中国对美投资创纪录 China investment in the US hits record $15bn

Chinese investment in the US hit a record $15bn last year and is set to reach twice that this year despite calls for greater scrutiny and growing political sensitivities in Washington, according to a new report.

The study by the National Committee on US-China Relations and the Rhodium Group, which tracks foreign direct investment in the US, is an attempt to promote China’s growing role as an investor in the US.

At the end of 2015, more than 1,900 Chinese-affiliated companies were operating in the US across more than 80 per cent of its congressional districts and employing some 90,000 people, according to the report.

“While much of this year’s political campaign rhetoric has focused on jobs leaving the United States, Chinese investment is supporting more and more jobs this side of the Pacific,” Stephen Orlins, the committee’s president, writes in the report’s foreword.

Despite its stated goal the report nonetheless points to the way growing Chinese investment in the US is both changing and testing the relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

Chinese corporates have in recent years been rotating their overseas investment from developing economies to advanced ones such as the US. Last year, Chinese companies completed more than 100 mergers and acquisitions in the US, at a value of $13.5bn, including insurer Anbang’s acquisition of the Waldorf Astoria hotel in New York for $1.95bn.

With more than $30bn in pending deals and projects announced so far in 2016 the report predicts another record year for Chinese investment in the US.

But it also warns of a rising politicisation in the US that threatens incoming Chinese investment.

“The presidential election cycle elevates the risk that this debate may take the opposite turn in 2016,” they said. “Congress has a responsibility to ensure that the debate about appropriate responses to Chinese FDI proceeds rationally and does not damage America’s reputation for openness.”

一份新的研究报告显示，尽管在华盛顿有人呼吁加大审查力度、并且有关交易的政治敏感性日益升高，去年中国对美投资还是达到了创纪录的150亿美元，而且今年的数字有望翻番。

美中关系全国委员会(National Committee on US-China Relations)和荣鼎咨询(Rhodium Group)共同展开的这项研究，对外商对美直接投资(FDI)进行了跟踪。这项研究旨在宣传中国在美扮演的越来越重要的投资者角色。

该报告的数据显示，2015年底，有逾1900家中国附属公司在美逾80%的国会选区开展业务，聘用了约9万人。

该委员会主席斯蒂芬?奥尔林斯(Stephen Orlins)在报告序言中写道：“尽管今年有许多政治活动口号聚焦于工作岗位流出美国上，但中国的投资正在太平洋这边支撑着越来越多的工作岗位。”

虽然该报告声称要宣传中国在美扮演的投资者角色，但它也指出，中国日益加大的对美投资既改变着、也考验着世界头两大经济体之间的关系。

最近几年，中国企业已把境外投资的目标从发展中经济体换为美国等发达经济体。去年，中国企业在美完成了逾100宗并购，总价值135亿美元，其中包括保险公司安邦(Anbang)斥资19.5亿美元收购纽约华尔道夫酒店(Waldorf Astoria hotel)。

鉴于2016年迄今宣布的待定交易和项目价值逾300亿美元，这份报告预计，今年中国对美投资会再创纪录。

但该报告也提醒称，美国在此事上越来越强的政治化倾向对即将到来的中国投资产生了威胁。

该报告的作者们表示：“国会有责任确保各方理性地就如何正确应对中国对美直接投资展开争论，并确保这一争论不会损害美国开放的声誉。”

译者/简易