郝笛破解鱼肠剑之谜:中国对墨西哥不感冒？ Mexico: China keeps its distance

Jack Liu had plenty of time on his hands last weekend as he sat at his stand in the Mexican Oil Congress.

在上周举行的墨西哥石油大会(Mexican Oil Congress)上，Jack Liu百无聊赖地坐在自己的展位上。

“This is the third year our company has taken a stand at the [oil] congress, but we’ve never raised any business,” said Liu, a manager at Beijing-based LandOcean Energy Services, a high-tech data processor for oil companies. “It’s terribly difficult to get business with Pemex [Mexico’s oil monopoly].”

“这是我们公司第三年来这里参展了，但从未拉到过任何生意，”Jack Liu表示。他是北京恒泰艾普石油天然气技术服务股份有限公司(LandOcean Energy Services)的一名经理，该公司是一家为石油企业提供数据处理服务的高科技公司。“和Pemex（墨西哥石油垄断企业）建立业务关系难到极点。”

The company is just one example of China’s striking failure to develop strong economic ties with Mexico at a time when it is building links almost everywhere else in Latin America.

眼下，中国正在拉美几乎其它所有地区建立联系，但令人惊讶的是，中国却未能与墨西哥建立起紧密的经济往来。恒泰艾普不过是证明这点的失败例子之一。

LandOcean’s tiny display was the only Chinese stand at the whole oil show, in Puebla, Mexico City. The event sponsored by the biggest national oil industry in Latin America gathers the giants of the sector including Chevron and Halliburton from the US, and Carso, part of the business empire of Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim.

恒泰艾普狭小的展台是整个石油大会中唯一的中国展台。该石油大会的举办地位于墨西哥的普埃布拉(Puebla)，由拉美最大的国有石油行业赞助，聚集了该行业诸多巨擎，包括美国的雪佛龙(Chevron)和哈里伯顿(Halliburton)，以及墨西哥亿万富翁卡洛斯?斯利姆(Carlos Slim)商业帝国旗下的卡索(Carso)。

Indeed, the only Chinese investment in Mexican oil is a modest joint venture between Chinese oil group Sinopec and Mexico’s Grupo Diavaz.

实际上，中国在墨西哥石油业唯一的一笔投资，就是中石化(Sinopec)与墨西哥Diavaz集团(Grupo Diavaz)合资成立的一家不大的公司。

Yet China has invested billions of dollars in Latin American oil, mainly in Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela. Why not Mexico?

但中国已经向拉美石油业投资了数十亿美元，主要集中在巴西、阿根廷和委内瑞拉。为何不是墨西哥？

For one thing, Chinese business people might be communists, at least in upbringing, but they shy away from Mexico’s state monopoly of ownership of the nation’s oil.

首先，虽然一些中国商人自己也许就是共产党员，或至少受过共产主义教育，但他们却对墨西哥对该国石油所有权实行的国家垄断敬而远之。

Zeng Gang, the Chinese ambassador, raised eyebrows by openly calling for exploration contracts that provide outside investors with an ownership share of the oil produced.

中国驻墨西哥大使曾钢曾公开要求墨西哥方面在勘探合同中允许海外投资者拥有产出石油的部分所有权。此番言论引起一片哗然。

Given that these are normal in the world’s oil industry but banned in China as well as Mexico, Zeng’s call virtually amounted to a diplomatic gaffe.

虽然这种做法在全球石油业中属于行规，但它在中国和墨西哥却被禁止。鉴于这一点，曾钢的要求实际上是一种外交上的失礼。

State ownership of oil is regarded by most Mexicans as a sacrosanct symbol of national pride ever since the industry was nationalised in 1938.

自1938年墨西哥将石油业收归国有以来，石油归国家所有被大多数墨西哥人视为不可侵犯的国家尊严象征。

But the problem is about more than just oil, says Enrique Dussel, an economics professor at Mexico’s National Autonomous University. Dussel, who specializes in Sino-Mexican affairs, says there is bad blood between the two governments.

但墨西哥国立自治大学(National Autonomous University)经济学教授恩里克?杜塞尔(Enrique Dussel)表示，问题不仅仅关乎于石油。专攻中墨事务的杜塞尔表示，两国政府结怨已久。

“They’re at daggers drawn,” Dussel said, pointing to the harsh words exchange during the 2009 swine flu epidemic, when visitors to Mexico from China were forcibly quarantined.

杜塞尔表示：“双方可谓势不两立。”他指的是在2009年猪流感流行期间双方恶语相向一事。当时，来到墨西哥的中国人都被强制隔离。

In business, he added, at least two abortive investment plans have angered the Chinese.

杜塞尔补充道，在商界，至少有两项投资计划归于流产，这让中国人忿忿不已。

Most notably was the automobile assembly plant proposed by Grupo Salinas, led by the Mexican media and retail tycoon Ricardo Salinas, and China’s FAW Group. Felipe Calderón, the Mexican president, trumpeted the project, which was planned in his home state of Michoacán.

最明显的一个例子是，墨西哥媒体业和零售业大亨里卡多?萨利纳斯(Ricardo Salinas)旗下的萨利纳斯集团(Grupo Salinas)与中国一汽集团(FAW Group)计划合资成立一家汽车装配厂。墨西哥总统费利佩?卡尔德龙(Felipe Calderón)也曾大力宣传这个计划建在他家乡米却肯州(Michoacán)的项目。

But, according to the Chinese version at least, Salinas abruptly pulled the plug on the plan.

但萨利纳斯却突然终止了项目——至少根据中方的说法是如此。

“The Chinese were furious,” said Dussel. “Chinese government officials care of their companies. But now they’ve told the companies that they’re on their own if they wanting to do business in Mexico.”

“中方怒不可遏，”杜塞尔说。“中国政府官员一向关照本国企业。但现在，他们告诉本国企业，要想在墨西哥做生意，就只能靠自己。”

No surprise then that Jack Liu got no business.

难怪Jack Liu拉不到任何生意。