中英关系“黄金时代”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关系的高调项目上态度转冷，人们越来越担心，英国上一任政府赞美的中英关系“黄金时代”已经褪色。

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.

中国官员表示，在去年夏季具有里程碑意义的中国财政部拍卖30亿元人民币(合4.3亿美元)政府债券之后，目前没有任何销售更多以人民币计价的主权债券的计划。上次发行使人们希望，中国政府为推动人民币国际化，将启动一系列的后续债券发行计划。

“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.”

“目前没有第二次在伦敦发行政府债券的时间表，”一位中国官员表示。“无论如何，下一次中国在海外发行政府债券可能将选择另一个金融中心，香港是被考虑的目的地之一。中国实行政府债券海外发行地多元化，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，中国金融家表示，一个连接伦敦和上海证券交易所的项目已失去动力，使英国前财政大臣乔治•奥斯本(George Osborne)倡导的另一个中英项目的前景变得暗淡。在其6年任期中，奥斯本把增进对华商贸关系作为一个核心事项。

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.

中国观察者把北京方面的态度变化归结为几个因素，其中包括英国公投决定脱欧引发的不确定性和中国国内的经济担忧。

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.

但英国首相特里萨•梅(Theresa May)领导的新政府的立场，对中国的想法产生了很大的影响。英国新政府对中国的态度比前任首相戴维•卡梅伦(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.”

“在双方接触的一些领域，中国在英国脱欧公投之后正采取观望的态度，”另一名要求匿名的中国官员表示。“我们从这届政府那里没有感受到像卡梅伦和奥斯本这对搭档那样的热情。”

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. 中国特别指出了梅在去年7月突然决定重审法国公司主导的180亿英镑的欣克利角(Hinkley Point)核电项目。当时梅暗示，她对该项目存在国家安全方面的担忧。

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.

中国国有能源集团中广核(CGN)在欣克利角项目中拥有33%的股权。中广核参与该项目的明确目标，是赢得在随后计划在埃塞克斯郡(Essex)兴建的布拉德韦尔(Bradwell)核电站项目中使用自主设计技术的权利。

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.

尽管梅最终决定放行欣克利角项目，但她也宣布，计划对外资入股关键的国家基础设施资产实施新的限制。唐宁街尚未澄清具体限制是什么。这些限制可能会阻碍布拉德韦尔项目。

“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.”

“欣克利角项目很不错，但我们担心该项目之后的其他核项目，”一名中国官员说。“这存在着不确定性。”

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.

卡梅伦政府因为太渴望取悦中国以赢得贸易机会而遭到严厉批评。但伦敦金融城管理当局(City of London Corporation)政策主席包墨凯(Mark Boleat)表示，梅在欣克利角项目上的优柔寡断如此公开地让北京方面措手不及，在英中双边关系中造成裂痕。

“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.”

“中国人可能判定，他们正跟认真的人打交道，并给予相应对待，”包墨凯说。“但是，也许他们会判定，(他们的合作伙伴)反复无常，并得出不同的结论。”

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.

其他人也像北京一样对梅政府的态度变化感到困惑，尤其是英国在公投决定脱欧之后应该希望寻求新的贸易伙伴。

“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.”

“中国人感到懊丧，但我对此并不惊讶，”一名前英国政府官员表示。“当前政府中没有一个人一早起床时，会想到中国。这是一种很老式的、近乎维多利亚时代的世界观。”

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.

“黄金时代”是奥斯本构想出来的一笔大交易，英国将允许中国投资者和企业进入英国的基础设施市场，换取中国的特殊对待，比如伦敦金融城在日益扩大的人民币融资国际市场上分到很大的份额。

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.

中国在伦敦发行主权债券，旨在表明北京方面官方认可伦敦是其在亚洲之外关键的金融中心合作伙伴。同时，所谓“沪伦通”项目将允许驻英国的机构投资者直接交易中国一些规模最大、流动性最好的股票。

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

伦敦证券交易所(LSE)表示，沪伦通仍在进展中，但没有开通的时间表。

“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.

“这是一个长期项目，它将帮助国内外投资者获得市场准入，是我们两个交易所之间的战略伙伴关系的一个核心部分，”伦敦证券交易所媒体关系主管拉梅什•切布拉(Ramesh Chhabra)说。

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.”

前英国商务大臣、工党的曼德尔森勋爵(Lord Mandelson)说：“对华关系很重要，但它将不会自动维持下去。在北京的许多人看来，由于英国脱欧，我们的重要性降低了，所以我们必须尽更大努力扭转这一看法。”

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.

英国财政部表示，北京方面在其重要性排序中仍位置靠前，财政大臣菲利普•哈蒙德(Philip Hammond)自上任以来访问中国的次数多于访问任何其他国家。