【2009经济学人杂志双语阅读】A souring relationship不断恶化的关系

chijiaoshunv

China and Rio Tinto

A souring relationship
不断恶化的关系

Aug 10th 2009
From Economist.com

Behind China’s accusations of spying against Rio Tinto

中国对力拓间谍活动指控的葫芦里藏着什么秘密



EACH year the world’s big steelmakers and the big suppliers of iron ore get together to fix a benchmark price for the commodity. For decades the annual negotiations generated barely a murmur of interest from outsiders. In recent years some attention was paid to talks between the big three of the seaborne iron-ore trade—BHP Billiton, Rio Tinto and Vale—and the steelmakers because of rapid price rises for iron ore on the back of rocketing Chinese demand. However this year they have been beset with uncustomary intrigue.

每年世界上大的钢铁生产商和大的铁矿石供应商聚集 一起重新调整铁矿石的基准价格。十多年来，从外部人士来看每年的谈判从来没出现过私下的抱怨。最近几年因为中国对铁矿石的需求急剧增加导致铁矿石价格大幅 上升，包括必和必拓、力拓和淡水河谷的三大海运铁矿石贸易商和钢铁制造商的谈判越来越受到关注。然而今年他们却受到不合乎常规的阴谋的困扰。

Last month four Rio employees, including an Australian, and two employees of Chinese steel companies were arrested in China. Then on Saturday August 8th China accused Rio, an Anglo-Australian mining giant, of overcharging the country for iron ore by a whopping 700 billion yuan ($102.5 billion) over six years.

上个月，包括一名澳大利亚人的力拓四名雇员和中国钢铁公司2名雇员在中国遭到逮捕。接着，在8月8号星期六中国指责英国-澳大利亚合资采矿巨头力拓在过去的六年里因铁矿石要价过高致使中国损失7000亿人民币（1025亿美元）。

It is no coincidence that the dramatic developments come as negotiations between suppliers and China’s steelmakers, which should have concluded by April, are at an impasse. China’s government is putting pressure on the foreign suppliers and showing its ongoing unhappiness with the way that iron-ore prices are set. Secret annual discussions with one ore producer (in this case Rio) and a leading steelmaker (Baosteel for China) result in a price that is, by tradition, accepted by the other miners and the world’s steelmakers.

随着供应商和中国钢铁制造商的本该在4月达成的谈判受阻，这种突然变化的出现不是偶然。中国政府对外国供应商施加压力并对铁矿石价格定价方式表示不满。照 传统，一个铁矿石生产商（如力拓）和主要的钢铁制造商（中国宝钢）每年私下的商讨达成一个其他采矿公司和世界钢铁制造商接受的价格。

This year China has been pushing for big price cuts, in response to the waning world economy. Although steelmakers in Japan and South Korea had made a deal to pay 33% less than last year, China has demanded a deeper discount. But as talks continued, spot prices, a determinant of contract prices, began to rise. Many of China’s steelmakers looked for supplies on the open market to fill hungry blast furnaces. China’s negotiating position worsened even as it made increasingly belligerent noises.

作为对全球经济衰退的响应，今年中国一直要求大幅削减铁矿石价格。虽然日本和南韩的钢铁制造商已经达成协议支付价格比去年减少33%，中国却要求更大幅度 的削减。但是随着谈判的进行，合约价格的主要决定因素即期价格开始上升。许多中国钢铁制造商在公开市场上寻找供应填急缺铁矿石的炼钢炉。尽管中国发出强硬 的声音，但中国的谈判处于更加不利的境地。

The anger turned to outrage in early July, with the arrest of Stern Hu, Rio's head of iron-ore marketing in China, and colleagues. They were accused of stealing state secrets. Although the precise accusations are unclear it seems that the Chinese suspect Rio’s people of spying on its steel industry to obtain information about China’s negotiating position. As a result of seizing computers during the arrests it seems that China believes it has found evidence of Rio’s wrongdoing. Rio denies all the charges but has otherwise kept quiet since the arrests.

7月初中国的怒火演变成了愤怒，并逮捕了位于中国的力拓营销主管胡士泰和其同事。他们被指控偷窃国家机密。尽管确切的指控还不清楚，但似乎中国怀疑力拓雇 员暗中监视中国钢铁行业，目的是获取中国谈判立场。逮捕中没收的电脑似乎使得中国发现力拓不当行为的证据。力拓否认了所有的指控，然而自中国雇员被捕后， 力拓一直保持沉默。

The latest accusations demand closer inspection. They have been made by a state-secrets watchdog, presumably with the government’s blessing. But the charges seem absurd. Suggesting that Rio extracted excess charges of over $100 billion for iron ore over the past six years is odd given that the company’s entire global revenue over the six years to 2008 is some $162 billion, of which less than a third has come from iron ore.

最近的指控需要密切调查。据推测，在政府的默许下国家安全局在调查此事。但是指控似乎是荒谬的。考虑公司截止2008以来的6年里全球总收入1620亿美元，其中不到三分之一的收入来自铁矿石，因此过去六年里力拓对铁矿石多要1000亿美元的指责是不合理的。

Perhaps the huge total reflects what the country feels it has lost because of the benchmarking system as a whole, though it still seems excessive. That too would be a strange complaint as there is no obligation to join negotiations—the system was developed to give both miners and steelmakers certainty about prices over the year. And the system is breaking down. BHP is offering a quarterly pricing system based on spot prices and Rio says that it could do something similar. China is also entitled to buy exclusively from the spot market.

尽管要价仍然过高，因为基准定价系统是一个整体，所以巨额损失反映中国感觉失去了些什么。既然没有参加谈判的义务，抱怨似乎有点奇怪。制定的基准定价体系 是为采矿公司和钢铁制造商就每年的价格提供确定性。定价体系面临崩溃。必和必拓提出基于即期价格的季度定价体系，力拓称该公司也可以这么做。中国也被授予 专门从即期市场购买的权利。

It may be that China has other motives for its pursuit of Rio. The country’s leaders were said to be furious with the mining giant for pulling out of a deal in June that would have seen Chinalco, a state-controlled aluminium firm, raise its stake in Rio from 9% to 18% in return for an investment of $19.5 billion. Rio instead raised cash to pay down hefty debts with a rights issue and also announced an iron ore tie-up with BHP (which itself had tried, and failed, to acquire Rio in 2008). Chinalco took its original stake in the hopes of blocking a merger that China feared would hand too much control of iron ore prices to one company. China worries that the new deal may lead to a similar outcome.

或许中国指控力拓有其他方面的动机。中国领导人对采矿巨头力拓退出交易相当愤怒。中国铝业原本向力拓注资195亿美元，对力拓的持股比例由9%上升到 18%。然而力拓通过增股来筹集资金偿还债务并且宣布和必和必拓铁矿石联盟（其也试图在2008年收购力拓，不过失败了）。中国铝业持有力拓原始股的原因 是阻止收购的发生，中国害怕收购会使得铁矿石定价过多的控制权集中一家公司。中国担心力拓和必和必拓的联姻可能导致同样的结果。

China may have other reasons to act tough towards Australia. Its attempts to buy assets in Australia, home to one of Rio’s two head offices and many of its mines, have met difficulties. Australians are nervous of Chinese efforts to acquire what they regard as strategic assets, and regulators have been less than welcoming (rumours suggest that the authorities in Australia were ready to block the Chinalco deal). Australian bosses also point out that China does not welcome foreign takeovers of its firms. But the latest accusations, far from easing the country’s way into investment overseas, may make foreigners more wary about doing deals with the Chinese.

中国对澳大利亚的强硬或许有其他原因。中国在澳大利亚收购资产的尝试受阻。而澳大利亚是力拓的两家分公司和许多矿区的所在地。澳大利亚人对中国试图收购被 视为战略资源的努力相当紧张。监管者一直不怎么欢迎中国（谣言说澳大利亚当局准备阻止中国铝业的交易）。澳大利亚的厂老板也指出中国不欢迎外国人收购本国 公司。但是最近的指控（远没有放松国家海外投资步伐）可能使得外国人和中国人做生意更加谨慎。