印度禁止中企投资该国电网

An Indian move to ban Chinese companies from investing in its power grid has highlighted the tension between the country’s desire to attract foreign capital and its suspicion of China’s motives in the region.

印度政府禁止中国企业投资于印度电网的举动，突显了该国吸引外资的愿望和其怀疑中国在南亚的动机之间的紧张。

Piyush Goyal, power minister, said this week that companies from countries that did not allow Indian busin­es­ses to invest in their power grids would be barred from investing in India’s.

电力部长皮尤什•戈亚尔(Piyush Goyal)本周表示，本国电网不允许印度企业投资的国家，其企业也将被禁止投资印度电网。

Mr Goyal said the current investment regime made a “punching bag” of India, whereby “if you want, you can come and invest in India and earn, and Indian companies cannot come and earn in your country”.

戈亚尔表示，目前的投资制度让印度成为一个“挨打的沙袋”，在这个制度下，“只要你想这么做，你就可以来印度投资赚钱，而印度企业不能在你国赚钱”。

“We believe in reciprocity,” he said, and the move was a “show of strength”.

“我们信奉互惠，”他表示。他称，此举是“实力展示”。

While the minister has insisted his government’s policy is not specifically aimed at one country, analysts said the country most affected by such a move would be China, which does not allow any foreign investment in its power grid.

虽然这名部长坚称，印度政府的政策不是专门针对某个国家，但分析人士表示，受此影响最大的国家将是不允许外国投资于国内电网的中国。

The government of Narendra Modi has promised to supply reliable power to all the country’s 1.3bn people, a pledge that requires huge improvem­ents in the quality of cables and networks. India’s power grid is in such bad repair that about a fifth of the electricity it produces is lost in distribution and transmission.

印度总理纳伦德拉•莫迪(Narendra Modi)的政府承诺向全国13亿人提供可靠的电力，这一承诺要求电缆和电网的质量大幅提高。目前印度的电网处于如此糟糕的失修状态，以至于该国大约五分之一的发电量在配电和输电环节被白白损耗。

One of the key planks of Mr Modi’s policy has been a promise that government will take on most of the debt of Indian electricity distribution companies in return for improvements to inf­ra­structure. But the government has so far had a policy of openness to foreign companies wishing to invest in the grid.

莫迪的政策重点之一是承诺政府将承担印度配电企业的大部分债务，以换取基础设施的改善。但是，此前政府的政策还包括向有意投资印度电网的外国公司保持开放。

That policy is part of a wider push to woo more overseas capital, which helped foreign direct investment into India hit a record high of $43.5bn in the year to March 2017, up 9 per cent on last year.

那项政策是吸引更多外资的全面努力的一部分，这帮助印度的外商直接投资(FDI)在截至2017年3月的一年里达到创纪录的435亿美元，比上年增长9%。

However, India has had problems with companies from overseas investing in its power network. In the 1990s US company Enron used India’s newly liberalised economy to invest in the state of the art Dabhol power project in Mah­arashtra. The state government agreed to buy all the power the plant produced at a price that was so high the World Bank refused to help finance it.

然而，印度曾经在境外企业投资该国电力网络方面遇到问题。20世纪90年代，美国安然公司(Enron)利用印度新近自由化的经济，在马哈拉施特拉邦(Maharashtra)投资于先进的达博尔(Dabhol)电厂项目。邦政府同意购买该电厂输出的全部电力，但其同意的电价如此之高，以至于世界银行(World Bank)拒绝参与项目融资。

Enron shut the plant in 2001 after an argument with the government over how much the two owed each other.

2001年，在与政府就谁欠谁多少金额的问题上发生争执后，安然关闭了该电厂。

India and China have endured tough relations for years, but these have been exacerbated by China’s planned $55bn investment in Pakistan, which New Del­hi fears is aimed at expanding its political and military power in the region.

印度和中国多年来经历了坎坷的关系，但中国将在巴基斯坦投资550亿美元的计划加剧了印中关系紧张。新德里方面担心，中国对巴基斯坦的投资是为了在南亚扩大自己的政治和军事力量。

Even so, India still allows Chinese companies to invest in its telecoms sector, which they have done to such an extent that Indian smartphone makers have asked the government to stop their Chinese rivals from undercutting them.

即使如此，印度仍允许中国企业投资其电信行业。中国企业在印度电信市场已占据较大份额，以至于印度的智能手机制造商请求政府制止中国竞争对手的低价竞争。

Arunabha Ghosh, chief executive of New Delhi’s Council on Energy, Envir­on­ment and Water, said: “The power sy­stem can and will remain stable and sec­ure even without Chinese investment.”

新德里的能源、环境和水资源委员会(Council on Energy, Environment and Water)行政总裁阿努纳巴•戈什(Arunabha Ghosh)表示：“即使没有中国投资，电力系统也能保持稳定和安全。”