美的收購德國機器人企業遭政治阻力

A bid for a robot maker faces mounting political opposition in Berlin and Brussels over fears the deal will deliver some of Germany’s most critical industrial know-how into Chinese hands.

對一家機器人制造商的收購要約，在德國政府和歐盟(EU)總部遭遇了越來越大的政治反對，原因是人們擔心該交易將使德國某些最關鍵的工業技術訣竅落入中國人之手。

Midea, an appliance maker based in Guangdong province, last month launched a 4.5bn offer for Kuka, which makes robots used by the carmakers Audi and BMW, and the US aircraft manufacturer Boeing.

上月，總部位於廣東省的家電製造商美的(Midea)向庫卡(Kuka)發起了45億歐元的收購要約。庫卡生產的機器人被用於汽車製造商奧迪(Audi)和寶馬(BMW)，以及美國飛機制造商波音(Boeing)。

Politicians fear technology seen as central to Germany’s “fourth industrial revolution” will end up in China. Kuka is a leading light in the “Industrie 4.0” drive to digitise industrial processes and create fully automated and networked factories.

政界人士擔心，被視爲德國“第四次工業革命”核心的相關技術將因此流入中國。庫卡是“工業4.0”努力的領軍者；這項努力的目的是把工業過程數字化，打造完全自動化和聯網的工廠。

Markus Ferber, a German MEP, told the Financial Times: “We really need to think about whether we want to give such a key enterprise to the Chinese, or try to keep it in European hands. My concern is that as a result of deals like this, the cars of the future will no longer be built in Stuttgart.”

來自德國的歐洲議會議員(MEP)馬庫斯•費貝爾(Markus Ferber)向英國《金融時報》表示：“我們真的有必要考慮一下，我們要不要把這麼關鍵的企業交給中國人，還是試圖將其留在歐洲人手中。我的顧慮是，類似這樣的交易會導致未來的汽車不再在斯圖加特生產。”

He said Kuka should be taken over by a consortium of technology companies such as the Swiss group ABB, creating a pan-European entity along the lines of Airbus, the aircraft manufacturer.

他說，庫卡應該由類似瑞士集團ABB等高科技企業組成的的財團收購，從而打造一個類似飛機制造商空中客車(Airbus)的泛歐洲實體。

Critics say Beijing would never allow foreigners to invest in strategically important companies.

批評人士指出，中國政府永遠不會允許外國人投資於具有戰略重要意義的企業。

On a weekend trip to Beijing, Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor, called on China to open its market to western investment. “We expect reciprocity on the Chinese side too,” she said.

德國總理安格拉•默克爾(Angela Merkel)在週末訪問北京時呼籲中國向西方投資開放市場。她說：“我們期望中國方面也會開放。”

Authorities have been trying to head off Midea’s approach. Sigmar Gabriel, deputy chancellor, said this month that efforts were under way “to come up with an alternative offer”. His economics ministry said yesterday that no alternative had been formally proposed, “but we’d be pleased if there was one”.

當局一直在試圖阻止美的收購。德國副總理西格馬爾•加布里爾(Sigmar Gabriel)本月曾表示，有關方面正努力“提出替代的收購方案”。他執掌的經濟部昨天表示，目前還沒有正式提出替代方案，“不過如果有的話我們會十分高興”。

In a newspaper interview last month, Günther Oettinger, Germany’s EU commissioner in Brussels, said a bid from Kuka’s other shareholders, such as the privately held engineer Voith, with 25 per cent, “could be a better solution”.

在上月接受報紙採訪時，德國的歐盟專員岡瑟•厄廷格(Günther Oettinger)曾表示，由庫卡其他股東——比如持有25%股份的私有的工程集團福伊特(Voith)——提出收購要約“可能是更好的解決方案”。