中國批准東芝芯片業務交易,釋放對美和解信號

In a prelude to an easing of trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, Chinese officials ended a monthslong delay by approving Toshiba’s sale of a majority stake in its lucrative microchip unit to an American-led group.

在華盛頓和北京之間貿易緊張緩解的序幕拉開之際，中國官員批准了東芝將其利潤豐厚的微芯片部門的大部分股權出售給一間美國牽頭的集團，結束了該交易長達數月的拖延。

A lack of approval by Chinese regulators had held up the deal in what was widely seen as a signal from Beijing about how it might punish American businesses if the Trump administration acted on threats to impose tariffs on $150 billion in Chinese-made goods.

外界普遍認爲，缺乏中國監管機構的批准導致交易拖延是北京發出的一個信號，表明如果特朗普政府真像其所威脅的那樣，對中國製造的1500億美元商品徵收懲罰性關稅的話，中國可能用哪些方式來懲罰美國企業。

In a statement on Thursday, Toshiba said it had received “all required antitrust approvals” for the deal with a consortium led by the United States investment firm Bain Capital. Bain confirmed in its own statement that Chinese authorities had approved the deal.

東芝在週四的一份聲明中表示，公司已經收到與美國貝恩資本(Bain Capital)牽頭的一個財團進行交易的“所需的所有反壟斷審批”。貝恩在自己的聲明中證實，中國當局已經批准了這筆交易。

Chinese officials could not be reached for comment late Thursday, and the country’s official media and websites were silent on the matter. The reasons for the approval after the lengthy delay were not immediately clear.

週四晚間，記者未能聯繫到中國官員請其置評，中國官方媒體和網站也沒有報道此事。因此無法馬上了解批准的理由、以及當初拖着不批的原因。

The approval was likely to be seen as a positive sign by the Trump administration, and it hinted at the two countries’ efforts to defuse tensions over trade issues. A senior Chinese government official, Liu He, is in Washington for trade talks this week.

特朗普政府很可能把批准視爲一個積極的信號。中國批准這筆交易也暗示，雙方正在尋找化解緊張局勢、達成協議協議的途徑。中國政府高級官員劉鶴本週正在華盛頓進行貿易談判。

The approval of the Toshiba deal came just days after the White House appeared to make its own peace offering to Beijing.

就在中國批准東芝交易的幾天前，白宮似乎已向北京獻上了自己的和平禮物。

President Trump, in a surprise tweet on Sunday, said he had asked American officials to find a way to help ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company. Officials in Washington last month prohibited United States companies from selling much-needed technology to ZTE to punish the Chinese company for violating American sanctions against selling goods made in the United States to Iran, North Korea and other countries. ZTE’s factories ground to a halt, spurring anger from Beijing.

週日，特朗普總統出人意料地發推文表示，他已要求美國官員尋找幫助中國電信公司中興通訊(ZTE)的方式。上個月，華盛頓的官員下令，禁止美國企業賣給中興其急需的技術，以懲罰這家中國公司違反美國禁止向伊朗、朝鮮及其他國家銷售產品的制裁。中興的工廠陷入停頓狀態，引發了北京方面的憤怒。

China’s approval raised questions about another big deal before antitrust regulators: Qualcomm’s $44 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors, a company based in the Netherlands. That deal has also been delayedpending Chinese approval, stirring speculation that Beijing was looking for ways to warn Washington of the potential consequences of a full-blown trade war.

中國批准東芝交易引發了人們對另一筆重大交易的問題，這筆交易仍擺在中國反壟斷監管機構面前：高通(Qualcomm)想花440億美元收購總部位於荷蘭的NXP半導體公司。這筆交易也已拖延了很長時間，仍在等待中國批准，外界對此的猜測是，北京正在尋找方法警告華盛頓，全面爆發貿易戰可能有哪些後果。

The approval of the Toshiba deal will probably come as a major relief for the Japanese conglomerate, which once symbolized the country’s technological might but more recently has been scrambling to survive.

東芝交易的批准，很可能會讓這家日本企業集團鬆一口氣。這家日本企業曾經是該國技術實力的象徵，但最近一直面臨生存問題。

After months of difficult negotiations, Toshiba reached an agreement in September to sell most of its microchip business to a group led by Bain. The deal would give Toshiba $14 billion in cash it desperately needs after a bad bet on nuclear power. Toshiba officials could not be reached for comment late Thursday.

經過數月的艱難談判，東芝於去年9月達成協議，將自己利潤豐厚的芯片業務出售給由貝恩資本牽頭的一個財團。這筆交易將讓東芝得到140億美元的現金，東芝押注核電失利後急需現金。記者週四晚間無法聯繫到東芝官員請其置評。

The Toshiba chip business had been one of the company’s crown jewels. The unit makes a type of microchip, called NAND flash memory, that cellphones and digital devices use to store data. The business is profitable and attracted considerable interest from buyers.

東芝的芯片業務曾是公司皇冠上的一顆明珠。它製造一種NAND類型的快閃存儲器，手機和數碼設備用之存儲數據。東芝的芯片業務仍然盈利，吸引了來自買家的大量興趣。

Bain and Toshiba are not Chinese companies, but antitrust regulators in China still had considerable say over whether the deal would go through. Like American and European regulators, Chinese antimonopoly officials can punish foreign companies through fines or other measures if they believe a deal beyond China’s borders give the resulting business too much market power.

貝恩和東芝都不是中國公司，但中國反壟斷監管機構對這筆交易是否能做成仍有相當大的發言權。與美國和歐洲的監管機構一樣，如果中國的反壟斷官員認爲，一筆中國境外達成的交易將讓交易形成的新企業擁有太多的市場力量的話，他們可以通過罰款或其他措施來懲罰有關的外國公司。

China has been flexing those relatively new regulatory muscles in recent years as it becomes a major consumer of the world’s goods.

近年來，隨着中國成爲全球商品的主要消費國，中國也一直在施展其相對較新的監管權力。