Italy’s business elite – senior executives from blue-chip companies such as Telecom Italia and Vodafone plus high-ranking government officials – filled a renaissance palazzo across from Milan’s gothic cathedral this summer to court one of the country’s biggest foreign investors.
今年夏季，意大利商界精英——来自意大利电信(Telecom Italia)、沃达丰(Vodafone)等蓝筹公司的高管们——以及政府高官在哥特式的米兰大教堂对面一座文艺复兴时期的建筑汇聚一堂，出席中国电信设备制造商华为(Huawei)举办的活动。华为是意大利最大的外国投资者之一。

Huawei, the Chinese telecoms equipment maker, opened its only microwave research and development centre outside China in Milan in 2008. The company, whose name means “splendid achievement” in Chinese, had brought people together to announce plans to double the size of its R&D staff in Europe to 1,700 by 2017.
2008年，华为在米兰开设了一家微波技术研发中心，这是该公司在中国以外地区建立的唯一一家微波研发中心。“华为”在中文中是“辉煌成就”的意思，该公司邀请人们齐聚一堂，宣布了到2017年将欧洲研发人员增加一倍至1700人的计划。
The company, which is effectively excluded from doing business in many sectors in the US because of lawmakers’ concerns over its technology and potential national security implications, has invested 500m in Europe and there is a hunger for more, says William Xu, a Huawei board member in charge of marketing and strategy. Prime minister Matteo Renzi’s Italian government is particularly “open and collaborative”, he says. For China, the country offered an evocative base.
由于美国议员们对华为技术及其对国家安全的潜在影响感到担忧，华为实际上被排斥在美国的许多领域之外。华为负责市场营销和战略的董事徐文伟(William Xu)表示，华为已在欧洲投资了5亿欧元，并且渴望加大投资。他说，马泰奥•伦齐(Matteo Renzi)总理领导下的意大利政府尤其“开放、富有合作精神”。对中国来说，意大利是一个让人想起昔日中欧友谊的国家。
“Six hundred years ago it was Marco Polo who built the bridge [between Europe and China],” Mr Xu says. “Two thousand years ago it was the Silk Road. Now the road is paved with telecoms. We are building the Silicon Road to bring the west and east closer together.”
徐文伟表示：“600年前，正是马可•波罗(Marco Polo)搭建起了(欧中之间的)桥梁。2000年前，欧中的桥梁是丝绸之路。现在这条路以电信铺就。我们正在建设让东西方更紧密联系在一起的丝绸之路。”
In recent months – to follow Mr Xu’s metaphor – the road from China to Europe has become swollen with cash.
近几个月来，这条从中国通往欧洲的道路——借用徐文伟的隐喻来说——“铺上了厚厚的现金”。
Chinese investors have snapped up assets across the continent, from a concession to build and operate container terminals at Greece’s port of Piraeus, to the Three Gorges Corporation’s acquisition of a fifth of Portugal’s national energy company Energias de Portugal and China Investment Corp, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, purchasing a 9 per cent stake in Thames Water.
中国投资者在欧洲大陆各地大肆收购资产，从获批在希腊比雷埃夫斯(Piraeus)港口建造并运营集装箱码头，到中国长江三峡集团公司(Three Gorges Corporation)收购葡萄牙国有能源集团——葡萄牙电力公司(EDP) 20%的股权，以及中国主权财富基金中国投资公司(CIC)收购泰晤士水务(Thames Water) 9%的股份。
For 15 years the Chinese state has sought to expand its markets and labour opportunities.
15年来，中国一直寻求扩大海外市场和劳务机会。
But with the 2010 debt crisis, China adjusted its focus from mostly natural resource-related deals in Asia, Africa and Latin America. It trained its sights instead on struggling Europe to realise a once-in-a-century opportunity to buy world-class brands and shares in pivotal national infrastructure assets.
但随着2010年欧洲债务危机爆发，中国调整了海外投资重点，不再像以往那样着重在亚洲、非洲和拉美签署主要与自然资源有关的协议，而是将目光瞄准陷入困境中的欧洲，利用这种百年一遇的机遇，收购世界级的品牌，入股关键性的国家基础设施资产。
This week, the Financial Times is exploring Chinese expansion and ambition in Europe and its interest in the most vulnerable economies. The eurozone’s periphery is benefiting from some deals, with Italy this year reaping the most in large-scale contracts: almost 3.5bn worth, according to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think-tank.
英国《金融时报》最近推出了“中欧新丝绸之路”（Silk Road Redux）专题，着力探讨中国资本在欧洲的扩张和抱负以及对最脆弱经济体的兴趣。保守派智库美国传统基金会(Heritage Foundation)表示，欧元区外围国家正在受益于部分交易，意大利今年在重大合同方面收获最大：总共签署了价值近35亿欧元的合同。
The phenomenon has been described as the dawn of a second Marshall Plan. Luigi de Vecchi, chairman of continental Europe for Citigroup, says the historic shift in investment is severing some relationships formed in postwar Europe.
这种现象被称为第二个“马歇尔计划”(Marshall Plan)的开端。花旗集团(Citigroup)欧洲大陆主席路易吉•德韦基(Luigi de Vecchi)表示，中国投资的历史性转变正在切断战后欧洲形成的某些关系。
Government officials and diplomats explain the change in approach as partly driven by necessity but say it also reflects Europe’s response to changes in the balance of global economic power.
政府官员和外交官们认为，这种方法上的转变一定程度上是必要之举，但他们表示，这也反映出欧洲对全球经济实力平衡变化做出的回应。
The Marshall Plan supported investment in Europe – and especially Italy – after the second world war. That balance has changed with the eurozone crisis, says Mr de Vecchi, and the flight of US capital. “It destabilised the historic links of European governments, especially in Italy, with the US. So they looked east and have opened up to China as a way of diversifying their risk.”
“马歇尔计划”在二战后支持了对欧洲（尤其是意大利）的投资。德韦基表示，这种平衡随着欧元区危机和美国资本逃离而发生了改变。“它扰乱了欧洲各国政府（尤其是意大利）和美国的历史联系。因此他们将目光投向东方，并向中国开放以便分散风险。”
The buying spree has allowed the Chinese to adjust their horizons.
这场收购盛宴使得中国人调整了他们的视野。
“Chinese companies used to be only interested in buying European-listed resource companies with assets elsewhere like Latin America or Africa but now they are much more interested in buying things that are actually based in Europe,” says Derek Scissors, compiler of an independent database on Chinese outbound investment at the American Enterprise Institute, the think-tank.
美国智库——美国企业研究所(American Enterprise Institute)的中国对外投资独立数据库编撰人史剑道(Derek Scissors)表示：“中国公司过去仅仅有意收购在欧洲上市、拥有拉美或非洲等地资产的资源公司，但现在它们很有兴趣收购那些位于欧洲的资产。”
“An extended period of economic stress in Europe combined with the fact that Chinese companies have tons of money mean there are a lot more opportunities for Chinese purchases than before.”
“欧洲经济长期低迷，再加上中国公司持有大量资金，这意味着中国收购机遇比过去多得多。”
But the attention of the Chinese investors is provoking some anxiety. “Is China nibbling at Europe’s soft underbelly?” asks Francesco Galietti, founder of the Rome-based think-tank Policy Sonar, hinting that some believe Europe is giving up too much.
但中国投资者的关注点让一些人感到不安。罗马智库Policy Sonar创始人弗朗西斯科•加列蒂(Francesco Galietti)问道：“中国正在蚕食欧洲的软肋？”暗示一些人认为欧洲放手太多。
The answer is unclear. But investment in the country has spiralled over the past two years and appears to be part of a deliberate Chinese strategy, say bankers and government officials.
实际情况是否如此不得而知。但银行家和政府官员们表示，中国对意大利的投资在过去两年急剧上升，似乎是精心制定的战略的一部分。
Investors have swooped on symbols of Italian elegance – acquiring majority stakes in luxury yachtmaker Ferretti, a company that defaulted on its debt in 2009 – as well as buying into the country’s vast power grid.
中国投资者大肆收购象征着意大利高雅风格的资产——他们收购了曾于2009年债务违约的豪华游艇制造商法拉帝集团(Ferretti)的多数股权，并入股该国庞大的电力网络。
In July China’s State Grid, the world’s largest utility with 2m employees, bought a 35 per cent stake in CDP Reti, a subsidiary of Italy’s state financing agency that controls the country’s electricity grid operator and gas distribution. It also picked up a 25 per cent stake in Portugal’s grid operator REN and is looking to buy into the Greek grid operator ADMIE, bankers familiar with the deal told the FT.
今年7月，中国国家电网(State Grid)收购了CDP Reti 35%的股权。中国国家电网是全球最大的公用事业企业，拥有200万名雇员，而CDP Reti是意大利控制着该国电网运营商和天然气分销的国有融资机构的子公司。熟悉相关交易的银行家向英国《金融时报》表示，中国国家电网还收购了葡萄牙电网运营商REN的25%股份，并寻求入股希腊电网运营商ADMIE。
European utilities offer Chinese state-owned investors safe, long-term investments that provide steady, predictable returns and strong legal protections. But the infrastructure deal with Italy is one that officials admit would have been unthinkable before the crisis since they would have balked at selling shares in a strategic asset to a foreign investor.
欧洲公用事业企业为中国国有投资者提供了安全的长期投资，让后者获得稳定而可预测的回报以及有力的法律保护。但官员们承认，与意大利签署的基础设施协议在危机爆发之前是不可想象的，因为他们不愿将战略资产的股份出售给外国投资者。
“The CDP Reti deal is but the latest episode of China’s ‘charm offensive’ in the Italian energy sector,” wrote Policy Sonar in September, “and arguably gives State Grid unprecedented access to Italy’s energy technology and networks, as well as a chance to gain first-hand knowledge of how [partly] deregulated power markets function.”
Policy Sonar在9月份的报告中写道：“CDP Reti交易只不过是中国对意大利能源领域发动‘魅力攻势’的最新篇章，可以说让中国国家电网史无前例地接触意大利的能源技术和网络，而且还让其有机会获得有关（部分）去监管化的电力市场如何运作的一手知识。”
The consultancy went on to say that: “Italy represents a gateway to the pan-European electricity grid.”
这家咨询机构继续写道：“意大利代表着泛欧电网的门户。”
A statement on State Grid’s website described the Italian purchases as good deals, saying: “When we make overseas investment, we are not doing charity.”
中国国家电网在其网站上发文称，收购意大利资产是一项很好的交易：“我们到国外投资，不是做公益事业。”
China’s interest shows no sign of waning. The State Administration of Foreign Exchange, which manages the country’s $4tn in reserves, snapped up 2 per cent stakes in Italian blue-chip companies Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Telecom Italia and Prysmian, worth a total of about 670m in July.
中国对意大利资产的兴趣没有呈现出任何减弱的迹象。今年7月，管理着4万亿美元外汇储备的中国国家外汇管理局(Safe)分别买进了菲亚特克莱斯勒汽车公司(Fiat Chrysler Automobiles)、意大利电信(Telecom Italia)以及普睿司曼(Prysmian)等意大利蓝筹公司的2%股份，总价值约为6.7亿欧元。
Those deals came after Safe had invested an estimated 2bn to buy stakes in state-controlled energy groups Eni and Enel earlier this year.
今年早些时候，中国外管局斥资约20亿欧元收购了意大利国有能源集团埃尼(Eni)和意大利国家电力公司(Enel)的股份。
Pier Carlo Padoan, Italy’s finance minister, says the country is well placed to act as a link in the process of “the internationalisation” of the communist country’s economy. The relationship will be on full display next week when Li Keqiang, China’s premier, attends the Asia-Europe summit in Milan.
意大利经济部长皮耶•卡洛•帕多安(Pier Carlo Padoan)表示，在中国这个社会主义国家推动经济“国际化”的过程中，意大利很适合充当一条纽带。这种关系将在本周得到充分展现——中国总理李克强将出席在米兰举办的亚欧首脑会议。
The US and resource-rich countries in Africa and South America remain the primary recipients of Chinese investment. By the middle of this year, total Chinese investment in sub-Saharan Africa was worth $150.4bn, investment into North America totalled $124bn while Europe received $104bn, according to the Heritage Foundation.
美国以及资源丰富的非洲和南美国家依然是中国投资的主要接受国。美国传统基金会的数据显示，到今年年中，中国对撒哈拉以南非洲地区的投资总额为1504亿美元，对北美的投资总额为1240亿美元，对欧洲的投资为1040亿美元。
But European bankers who have negotiated deals say Chinese investors are keen to reassure that theirs is a collaborative approach, seeking large minority stakes – such as the 35 per cent in Italy’s grid network – rather than controlling ones. Or, as with private companies such as Huawei hiring Italians at a time when the jobless rate among young people hovers at 40 per cent, to emphasise that they are contributing rather than just “buying” in to the country.
但参与交易谈判的欧洲银行家们表示，中国投资者迫切希望让意大利相信，他们采取的是合作的方式，是为了寻求获得大笔少数股权（比如意大利电网35%的股份），而不是控股权。或者，在意大利青年失业率高达40%的时期雇佣当地劳动力——就像华为等私营企业——以强调他们也在为意大利做贡献，而不仅仅是“收购”意大利。
Individual Chinese businessmen, interviewed by FT reporters across Italy, Spain and Portugal, say they are heading to Europe armed with better skills and intent on buying companies.
在意大利、西班牙和葡萄牙各地接受英国《金融时报》记者采访的中国商人表示，他们带着更好的技能来到欧洲，并有意收购公司。
At the end of 2012, 195 small and midsized Italian companies, with combined total revenues of 6bn and 10,000 employees, had been wholly or partly taken over by Chinese or Hong Kong investors, according to Fondazione Italia-Cina, a not-for-profit group that promotes relations between the two countries.
意中基金会(Fondazione Italia-Cina)的数据显示，截至2012年年末，意大利有195家中小企业（这些企业的年收入总计为60亿欧元，拥有1万名雇员）被中国内地或香港的投资者全部或部分收购。意中基金会是一家旨在促进两国关系的非营利性组织。
Such enterprises are predominantly in the classic “Made in Italy” manufacturing sectors of clothing, furnishings, motorcycles and yachts. Hong Kong Chinese investors largely acquired telephone and perfumery businesses, according to data from the organisation.
这些中小企业主要属于制衣、家具、摩托车和游艇这些典型的“意大利制造”行业。意中基金会的数据显示，香港的华人投资者大多收购电话和香水企业。
The Chinese move into Europe has not just involved money and acquisitions. An EU Commission-funded report in 2013 suggested that Chinese low-income and illegal migration may have slowed after the eurozone crisis as entry-level opportunities dried up. But national statistics from individual countries show that legal Chinese migration, especially in the periphery, appears to be on the upswing, if at a slower pace.
中国人进入欧洲不仅仅与资金和收购有关。2013年，一份由欧盟委员会(EU commission)出资编写的报告显示，随着低等级的机遇枯竭，低收入中国人在欧元区危机之后向欧洲的非法移民步伐出现放缓。但个别国家的官方统计数据表明，合法的中国移民数量（尤其是在欧元区外围国家）呈上升趋势，不过增速较慢。
Official data from Italy’s national statistics agency shows the Chinese population tripled to more than 200,000 between 2003 and 2013. The interior ministry puts the figure higher at over 300,000. Spain and Portugal have seen similar increases.
意大利国家统计局发布的官方数据显示，从2003年到2013年期间，该国华人人口增长两倍至逾20万人。内务部的估计数字更高，为超过30万人。西班牙和葡萄牙的华人人口出现了类似的增长。
Alfonso Giordano, an expert in migration at the University of LUISS in Rome, says that Chinese workers are still finding opportunities in Italy because they are “young and work hard”. They took up the slack from an ageing population and, he says, they are willing to do what some Italians have refused to do: accept lower pay and fewer benefits during the downturn.
罗马路易斯大学(University of LUISS)的移民专家阿方索•乔达诺(Alfonso Giordano)表示，中国工人仍然在意大利寻找机遇，因为他们“年轻而勤奋”。他说，这些工人弥补了意大利人口老龄化带来的劳动力缺口，而且愿意干一些意大利人不愿干的工作：在经济衰退期间接受较低的工资和福利。
“Italians need to lower their expectations about the labour market. And they have not done this. The Chinese have therefore come in to take their place, particularly in the lower wage market,” says Mr Giordano.
乔达诺表示：“意大利人需要降低对劳动力市场的预期，但他们还没有这样做。中国人因此进来取代了他们，尤其是在薪酬较低的岗位方面。”
Carlo Calenda, Italy’s vice-minister for economic development, describes the Chinese as “serious investors” who did not flinch at the economic woes spilling across Europe. “I don’t have any problem with the Chinese coming in to buy,” he says. “We have had many industrial crises and the solution has come from outside of Italy”.
意大利经济发展部副部长卡洛•卡伦达(Carlo Calenda)形容中国人是“严肃的投资者”，对波及欧洲各地的经济危机毫不退缩。他说：“我对中国人前来收购没有什么意见。我们遇到过多次工业危机，解决办法来自意大利以外。”
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Nonetheless, China’s push into Europe is causing tension. Lorenzo Stanca, managing partner for Mandarin Capital, which advises Italian and German companies on entry to China, says Chinese companies have found it difficult to make European acquisitions.
然而，中国企业进军欧洲正引起不安。曼达林基金(Mandarin Capital)的管理合伙人洛伦佐•斯坦察(Lorenzo Stanca)表示，中国公司已经发现在欧洲进行收购很困难。曼达林基金为意大利和德国公司进入中国市场提供咨询服务。
“The culture gap means there are problems with handling human resources, and also in dealing with banks,” he says. “It is not easy for Chinese companies to have success in Europe.”
他说：“文化差异意味着在处理人力资源以及与银行打交道方面存在困难。中国企业在欧洲取得成功不容易。”
Furthermore, bankers and business leaders complain that a lack of governance and transparency in Chinese actions causes tensions in deal making. But their main concern is that the new Silk Road is going just one way.
此外，银行家和企业领导人抱怨称，中国企业治理不善，缺乏透明度，这一点在交易达成的过程中会让人感到不安。但他们最担忧的是新丝绸之路仅仅是单向的。
Safe is now the second-largest shareholder after the Italian state, which owns 30 per cent, in Enel.
中国国家外汇管理局现在是意大利国家电力公司的第二大股东，仅次于持股30%的意大利政府。
Patrizia Grieco, Enel’s chairman, says Chinese investors are welcome – “benvenuti”, she says – with a caveat, widely shared in Europe: “They are welcome, but . . . they should improve their transparency and governance in order for Europeans to invest in China, too.”
意大利国家电力公司董事长帕特里齐亚•格里艾克(Patrizia Grieco)表示，中国投资者受到欢迎——“benvenuti”。她说：“他们受到欢迎，但……要让欧洲人也到中国投资，他们应该提高透明度和治理水平。”这样的告诫在欧洲得到普遍认可。
Additional reporting by Jamil Anderlini in Beijing, Peter Wise in Lisbon, Kerin Hope in Athens, Tobias Buck in Madrid, and Gavin Jackson and Robin Kwong in London
吉密欧(Jamil Anderlini)北京、彼得•怀斯(Peter Wise)里斯本、克林•霍普(Kerin Hope)雅典、托拜厄斯•巴克(Tobias Buck)马德里、加文•杰克逊(Gavin Jackson)和邝彦晖(Robin Kwong)伦敦补充报道