印度政府禁止中國企業(yè)投資于印度電網(wǎng)的舉動,突顯了該國吸引外資的愿望和其懷疑中國在南亞的動機之間的緊張。
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.
電力部長皮尤什•戈亞爾(Piyush Goyal)本周表示,本國電網(wǎng)不允許印度企業(yè)投資的國家,其企業(yè)也將被禁止投資印度電網(wǎng)。
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”.
戈亞爾表示,目前的投資制度讓印度成為一個“挨打的沙袋”,在這個制度下,“只要你想這么做,你就可以來印度投資賺錢,而印度企業(yè)不能在你國賺錢”。
“We believe in reciprocity,” he said, and the move was a “show of strength”.
“我們信奉互惠,”他表示。他稱,此舉是“實力展示”。
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.
雖然這名部長堅稱,印度政府的政策不是專門針對某個國家,但分析人士表示,受此影響最大的國家將是不允許外國投資于國內電網(wǎng)的中國。
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.
印度總理納倫德拉•莫迪(Narendra Modi)的政府承諾向全國13億人提供可靠的電力,這一承諾要求電纜和電網(wǎng)的質量大幅提高。目前印度的電網(wǎng)處于如此糟糕的失修狀態(tài),以至于該國大約五分之一的發(fā)電量在配電和輸電環(huán)節(jié)被白白損耗。
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.
莫迪的政策重點之一是承諾政府將承擔印度配電企業(yè)的大部分債務,以換取基礎設施的改善。但是,此前政府的政策還包括向有意投資印度電網(wǎng)的外國公司保持開放。
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.
那項政策是吸引更多外資的全面努力的一部分,這幫助印度的外商直接投資(FDI)在截至2017年3月的一年里達到創(chuàng)紀錄的435億美元,比上年增長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,印度曾經(jīng)在境外企業(yè)投資該國電力網(wǎng)絡方面遇到問題。20世紀90年代,美國安然公司(Enron)利用印度新近自由化的經(jīng)濟,在馬哈拉施特拉邦(Maharashtra)投資于先進的達博爾(Dabhol)電廠項目。邦政府同意購買該電廠輸出的全部電力,但其同意的電價如此之高,以至于世界銀行(World Bank)拒絕參與項目融資。
Enron shut the plant in 2001 after an argument with the government over how much the two owed each other.
2001年,在與政府就誰欠誰多少金額的問題上發(fā)生爭執(zhí)后,安然關閉了該電廠。
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.
印度和中國多年來經(jīng)歷了坎坷的關系,但中國將在巴基斯坦投資550億美元的計劃加劇了印中關系緊張。新德里方面擔心,中國對巴基斯坦的投資是為了在南亞擴大自己的政治和軍事力量。
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,印度仍允許中國企業(yè)投資其電信行業(yè)。中國企業(yè)在印度電信市場已占據(jù)較大份額,以至于印度的智能手機制造商請求政府制止中國競爭對手的低價競爭。
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、環(huán)境和水資源委員會(Council on Energy, Environment and Water)行政總裁阿努納巴•戈什(Arunabha Ghosh)表示:“即使沒有中國投資,電力系統(tǒng)也能保持穩(wěn)定和安全。”