华尔街日报：德国企业顶住政府压力增加在华投资

 

德国政府和欧洲政界人士正向德国最大一些企业施压，要求它们减少对中国的敞口。但大众汽车、西门子、巴斯夫等公司却增加了对中国的投资。

BERLIN—The German government and European politicians in Brussels are leaning on Germany’s largest companies to reduce their exposure to China. The companies are instead doubling down.

德国政府和布鲁塞尔的欧洲政界人士正向德国最大一些企业施压，要求它们减少对中国的敞口。但这些公司却增加了对中国的投资。

As government pressure intensifies, German companies with sizable Chinese operations in recent months have been scrambling to insulate those businesses from possible Western sanctions. 

来自政府的压力加大之际，近几个月来，在中国有较大规模业务的德国公司已经在努力使这些业务免受西方潜在制裁的影响。

They are seeking to boost local production to rely less on imports from Germany, striking deals with Chinese suppliers to make their supply chains more local and building alliances with Chinese companies.

这些公司正寻求提高本地生产，减少对德国进口的依赖；它们与中国供应商达成协议，提高供应链本地化的程度，并与中国公司建立联盟关系。

The efforts aim to protect these businesses’ market shares, shield their profits and ride out a worsening of the political tension between China and the West—especially the U.S. 

上述措施旨在保护这些企业的市场份额，守护它们的利润，帮助应对中国与西方、尤其是中美之间政治紧张关系恶化的影响。

In the latest sign of such tension, the European Commission, the European Union’s executive body, last week announced a probe into alleged unfair subsidies of China’s auto industry. China has become one of the world’s largest car exporters and a credible competitor to German carmakers, especially in the electric-vehicle segment. Still, German carmakers have criticized the EU probe, which they fear could open them to retributions by Beijing.

作为中国与西方国家紧张关系的最新迹象，欧盟执行机构欧盟委员会(European Commission)上周宣布，将对中国汽车行业被指获得不公平补贴展开调查。中国已成为全球最大的汽车出口国之一，也是德国汽车制造商强劲的竞争对手，尤其是在电动汽车领域。尽管如此，德国汽车制造商仍对欧盟的调查提出了批评，它们担心这可能会让它们遭受中国政府的反制。

Earlier this year, the German government told German companies they should reduce their exposure to China to diminish the German economy’s reliance on exports to the country. Germany is heavily dependent on international trade, which has weakened as global tension has risen, bringing growth in Europe’s largest economy to a halt this year. 

今年早些时候，德国政府告诉德国企业应该减少对中国的风险敞口，以降低德国经济依赖对华出口的程度。德国严重依赖国际贸易，而随着全球紧张局势加剧，国际贸易已然疲软，导致这个欧洲最大经济体今年的增长陷入停滞。

On Tuesday, the Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, warned against the significant economic risks of German industry’s exposure to China, saying that more than 40% of German companies that rely on critical materials from China have done nothing to reduce their dependence on materials and components so critical to production at home that factories would stand still if their supply were interrupted. 

周二，德国央行就德国工业对中国的风险敞口可能带来的重大经济风险发出警告，该央行称，超过40%的依赖中国关键材料的德国企业没有采取任何措施来减少对一些材料和零部件的依赖，这些材料和零部件对国内生产至关重要，如果供应中断，工厂将停产。

“In view of rising geopolitical tensions and the associated risks, companies and policy makers need to rethink the structure of their supply chains and the further expansion of their direct investment activities in China,” the Bundesbank said in the report. 

德国央行在这份报告中指出，鉴于地缘政治紧张局势和相关风险升温，企业和决策者需要重新考虑供应链结构，对于进一步扩大在中国的直接投资活动也要三思。

Instead of pulling back, however, German companies with the most to lose from Western efforts to isolate Beijing have doubled down on their involvement, trying to insulate their Chinese factories so they can keep churning out products regardless of the global political climate. 

在西方孤立中国的情况下，德国企业会遭遇最大的损失，然而德企不退反进，已经加大了参与力度，试图隔绝自己在中国的工厂，以便无论全球政治气候如何，都能继续大量生产产品。

BASF, the big German chemicals company, is investing up to 10 billion euros (equivalent to about $10.7 billion) in China through 2030. As part of the push, it recently broke ground on a plant in Zhanjiang, China, to make synthetic gas and hydrogen for local use. The plant is expected to go online in 2025.  

德国大型化工企业巴斯夫公司(BASF, BF)计划从现在到2030年在中国投资不超过100亿欧元（约合107亿美元）。作为该计划的一部分，巴斯夫最近在中国湛江破土动工建设一座工厂，生产合成气和氢气以供当地使用。该工厂预计将于2025年投产。

BASF said the facility is part of its Verbund site in Nanjing, China, a large chemical production site with interlinked product chains from basic chemicals to consumer products. 

巴斯夫表示，该工厂是其位于中国南京的一体化(Verbund)基地的一部分，这是一个大型化工生产基地，拥有从基础化学品到消费品的相互关联的产品链。

The site was established in 2005, one of six Verbund plants that BASF operates around the world, including two in the U.S. The expansion ensures that BASF can produce in China what it needs to continue to grow in the Chinese market. 

该基地建于2005年；巴斯夫在全球运营六个一体化基地，其中两个位于美国。此次扩建之后，巴斯夫在中国市场持续增长需要什么，便可以在中国生产什么。

Siemens Chief Executive Officer Roland Busch said earlier this year that the company was investing around €140 million in China as part of a €2 billion global investment push this year. He vowed to defend the company’s share of the Chinese market and continue to invest there.  

西门子首席执行官博乐仁(Roland Busch)今年早些时候表示，作为今年20亿欧元全球投资计划的一部分，公司将在中国投资约1.4亿欧元。他誓言要捍卫公司在中国市场的份额，并继续在中国投资。

The main ringfencing effort has come from automakers such as Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz. 

采取围栏保护行动力度最大的是大众汽车(Volkswagen AG)、宝马汽车公司(Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW), 简称﹕宝马汽车)和梅赛德斯-奔驰(Mercedes-Benz)等汽车制造商。

Thanks to their local-for-local strategy—which gives priority to local production for foreign markets—German automakers exported 254,607 vehicles to China in 2022, a fraction of the volume of vehicles they produced there, according to the German Association of the Automotive Industry. VW alone produced 3.2 million vehicles in China, as many as it made in Europe.

据德国汽车工业协会(German Association of the Automotive Industry)的数据，2022年德国汽车制造商向中国出口了254,607辆汽车，与在中国的产量相比微不足道，其中原因就在于这些公司奉行的“在本地、为本地”战略，也就是在国外市场以本地化生产为重点。仅大众汽车就在中国生产了320万辆汽车，与该公司在欧洲生产的汽车数量相当。

In July, VW said it would invest $700 million in Chinese EV maker XPeng, taking a nearly 5% stake in the company, to jointly develop and build EVs. Ralf Brandstätter, CEO of VW’s China business, said such partnerships “are an important building block in the Volkswagen Group’s ‘in China for China’ strategy.”

今年7月，大众汽车表示将向中国电动汽车制造商小鹏汽车(XPeng, 9868.HK)投资7亿美元，持有该公司近5%的股份，共同开发和制造电动汽车。大众中国业务首席执行官贝瑞德(Ralf Brandstätter)说，这种合作关系“是大众汽车集团‘在中国、为中国’战略的重要组成部分”。

VW CEO Oliver Blume, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Munich auto show earlier this month, said the company would invest more in China, especially because VW needed Chinese technology for the Chinese market, partly in response to the growing tensions with the West and the emergence of separate technology standards.

大众汽车首席执行官奥博穆(Oliver Blume)在本月早些时候的慕尼黑车展间隙对记者说，公司将加大在中国的投资，特别是因为大众汽车需要中国技术来满足中国市场的需求，这在一定程度上是响应中国与西方关系日益紧张的形势以及独立技术标准的出现。

“The ecosystems in the West and China are growing apart,” he said. “That means we have to clearly adapt to the situation.”

“西方和中国的生态系统正渐行渐远，”他说。“这意味着我们必须明确地适应形势。”

VW said that, over the past few years, it has built up local sourcing to well over 90% of the components and materials used to manufacture its vehicles made in China.

大众汽车表示，在过去的几年里，该公司在中国生产的汽车所使用的零部件和材料中，本地采购比例已大大超过90%。BMW, the German luxury automaker, celebrated the 20th anniversary of its Chinese joint venture, BMW Brilliance Automotive, earlier this year with the announcement that its next-generation electric car, the Neue Klasse, or New Class, would be produced beginning in 2026 in China for Chinese customers, rather than exported from Germany. The joint venture sources components and materials for local production from around 430 local suppliers, BMW said.

今年早些时候，德国豪华汽车制造商宝马汽车在庆祝其中国合资企业华晨宝马汽车有限公司(BMW Brilliance Automotive Ltd.)成立20周年之际宣布，将于2026年开始为中国客户在中国生产其下一代电动车型新世代(Neue Klasse, 或New Class)，而不是从德国出口至中国。宝马汽车表示，华晨宝马从约430家本地供应商处采购本地生产所需的零部件和材料。

BMW is also investing in high-voltage EV battery development and production in China for new-generation EVs, and it has also expanded its research-and-development center in Shenyang for increased local design and development.

宝马还在中国投资新一代电动汽车所用高压电池的开发和生产，并已扩建宝马沈阳研发中心，以加强本地设计和开发。

In part as a consequence of these strategies, German investments in China have risen after years of decline, while German exports to China have softened.

一定程度上受这些战略影响，德国在华投资在多年下降后有所上升，而德国对华出口有所放缓。

Germany’s share of foreign direct investment in China by the EU and the U.K. rose to 52% in 2022 from 46% the year before, according to data provided by Rhodium, a research group. The data also show that the automotive industry accounted for 68% of EU-U.K. direct investment in China last year, up from 50% a year earlier. 

研究机构荣鼎集团(Rhodium Group)提供的数据显示，2022年，德国在欧盟和英国对华直接投资中所占份额从前一年的46%上升到52%。该数据还显示，去年，德国汽车行业占欧盟和英国对华直接投资的比例为68%，高于前一年的50%。

Citing the latest data, the Bundesbank said China-based subsidiaries of German companies generated sales of €382 billion and €23 billion in profits. The Bundesbank said China accounted for 22% of German industry’s global sales and 15% of its income. 

德国央行援引最新数据称，德国企业在华子公司实现了3,820亿欧元的销售额和230亿欧元的利润。德国央行表示，在华业务占德国工业企业全球销售额的22%，占利润的15%。

“German carmakers view China as existential, from a revenue perspective but also for the technological transition to electric vehicles. They are frogs in a slowly heating pot of water that won’t jump out, out of fear that their survival chances would be even worse outside the pot,” said Noah Barkin, a Rhodium analyst. 

“德国汽车制造商认为，无论是从收入角度还是向电动汽车的技术转型来看，中国市场都事关生死存亡。它们就像温水煮的青蛙，不会跳出来逃走，因为他们担心在锅外头更加难以生存，”荣鼎分析师Noah Barkin说。

The Rhodium report shows that automakers and their suppliers account for the largest share of European foreign direct investment in China, followed by food processors, pharmaceutical companies, chemicals and consumer-products manufacturing. 

荣鼎的报告显示，汽车制造商及其供应商在欧洲对华外商直接投资中所占份额最大，其次是食品加工商、制药公司、化学品和消费品制造业。

“It is worth remembering that Ford and GM both continued operating in Germany during World War II,” one senior industry official said, in a comment aimed at pointing out what some European executives see as a U.S. double standard when it comes to dealing with China.

一位业内高管说：“有一点值得牢记，即使是在二战期间，福特和通用汽车的德国业务都没有中断”，其评论是为了指出，一些欧洲高管认为美国在如何与中国打交道的问题上采用了双重标准。

When the U.S. went to war with Germany in 1941, General Motors and Ford Motor maintained ownership of their assets in Germany, according to historians. The companies have rejected allegations that they colluded with Adolf Hitler, saying they lost management control of the businesses. After the war, they retook direct control of their German businesses.

据历史学家称，1941年美国与德国开战时，通用汽车和福特保留了在德国的资产所有权。这两家公司否认了有关与希特勒(Adolf Hitler)勾结的指控，称他们失去了对企业的管理控制权。战后，他们重新获得了对其德国业务的直接控制权。