[08.07.21 投资者商业日报] 美孚石油成了中国棋盘的过河卒

荡漾

【08.7.21 投资者商业日报】美孚石油成了中国棋盘的过河卒
【原文标题】China Tries To Make Exxon A Pawn
【中文标题】美孚石油成了中国棋盘的过河卒
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【来源地址】http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=301532345191949
【译者】荡漾
【声明】本文翻译供ANTI-CNN使用，转载请注明译者和出处。
【原文】

INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 7/21/2008

Energy: Big Oil is easy to kick around ?just ask any Democrat in Congress. But China's threats to Exxon Mobil are in another league. Its bid to use Exxon Mobil as a wedge against its rival Vietnam is a case in point.

What China's doing in the South China Sea these days is not trade, but blackmail to assert regional dominance. On Sunday, the South China Morning Post reported Chinese officials are threatening to exclude Exxon Mobil from doing business in China if it doesn't pull out of an exploration deal with Vietnam's state oil company, PetroVietnam.

The region in question is clearly Vietnam's (see map). Exxon Mobil has been doing its homework on this area ever since the U.S. trade embargo was lifted in 1994. But China claims Vietnam's central and southern offshore coastal waters, where the exploration is occurring, is its territory. Though its claim wouldn't hold up in an international court, China seems to believe Vietnam is a wayward stepchild and, thus, China doesn't need to recognize its sovereignty.

Exxon Mobil, as a result, might have to drop the project, leaving Vietnam with no technology to extract its badly needed coastal oil.

BP bailed out on a similar project a year ago after Chinese threats. The result? Less oil on the market and higher prices.

This goes against China's reputation as a pragmatic, economically focused state, which is how conventional wisdom explains why China is scouring the Earth and sidling up to dodgy dictators to secure new oil resources. The Exxon Mobil threat calls into question China's membership in the World Trade Organization, which doesn't let members menace foreign firms for political purposes.

It's not hard to see the outlines of what's going on. Vietnam and China have a festering dispute over who rules the Spratly Islands, a group of atolls 280 miles off Vietnam, halfway to the Philippines. The 200 islands are mostly rocky and small, and worthless except as fishing stations. But after oil was discovered in their surrounding waters in 1968, six nations made claims to them.

Vietnam's case is strongest ?on historic grounds, on the continental shelf principle and because it has carefully defined its territorial claim, according to Global Security, a private forecaster. China's claim, on the other hand, is broad, vague and overarching, with little legal basis. The islands aren't even close to its coast.

The dispute has intensified since both countries shed elements of their communist regimes and moved toward authoritarian regimes with market economies.

Both countries are growing fast and need oil. But because Vietnam's claim is the one that would hold up in court, China's new tactic signals it's willing to use bullying and threats to assert its muscle. It's threatening Vietnam's ability to develop its oil through a beggar-thy-neighbor strategy, using American oil companies as leverage.

Earlier this month, China got hit hard by the WTO for its protectionist trade policies in auto parts. Now, again, it seems to be using its clout as the world's No. 1 exporter to flout the rules and norms.

In 2001, when China was on the verge of joining the WTO with strong U.S. support, it vowed to observe global trade laws and to be a law-abiding, upstanding corporate citizen.

So much for that idea. By kicking around Western oil companies and asserting its hegemony over Southeast Asia, China has become just another petrotyranny, like Venezuela or Russia.

If China won't live up to its obligations as a good global citizen, then maybe its largest market, the U.S., can remind China that two can play at this game.

Copyright 2000-2008 Investor's Business Daily, Inc.






[ 本帖最后由 ltbriar 于 2008-7-24 00:50 编辑 ]

荡漾

【中文译文】

引言
       能源：大石油公司是否容易受人摆布？国会里的民主党人士都能给出答案。但是中国对美孚石油所施加的压力则达到了另一高度，在和越南的竞争中中国竟然将美孚石油当作了一颗棋子。

正文
       中国这些天在南海所做的不是正常的贸易，而是用卑鄙手段宣告它的领土霸权。周日《南华早报》报道称中国官方正胁迫美孚石油撤销与越南国家石油公司（PetroVietnam）的合作开发项目，否则就请从中国市场出局。

       争议地区很明显属于越南（见地图）。美孚石油自1994年美国撤销对越贸易禁运之后一直在该地区进行开发。但中国宣称越南近海的中央和南部海域（恰是石油勘探地区）是属于中国的。尽管此宣称得不到任何国际法庭的支持，中国似乎胸有成竹，仅仅把越南看作一个任性的孩子（原词指前妻/夫所生的孩子）而已，中国根本就无需得到越南的承认。

       美孚石油将不得不放弃这个项目，从越南这个急需石油却缺乏开采技术的国家撤离。

       英国BP石油公司一年前也曾因中国的胁迫放弃了一个类似的开发项目，结果如何？市场上石油供应紧缺但价格却扶摇直上。

       中国的声誉因此受损。中国一贯标榜务实、以经济发展为中心，这就不难理解它何以要偷偷摸摸跑遍全世界、巧舌如簧说服独裁者们分享新的石油资源。对美孚石油所做的胁迫让人不禁质疑中国WTO成员国的身份，WTO可没允许其成员国出于政治目的胁迫国外公司。

       我们不难看出这里面的道道。越南和中国就南沙群岛（离越南280英里的环礁珊瑚岛群，中途通往菲律宾）的归属权问题多年僵持不下。那里的200个岛屿基本除了岩石就是些不值一提的基于渔业考虑的驻扎点。不过自从1968年在附近海域发现石油之后，先后有6个国家对其宣称主权归属。

       其中越南的理由最为充分。来自全球安全网（其官方网页 http://www.globalsecurity.org/）的一个私人渠道表示以历史为根据、依照大陆架原则，越南清晰地界定了它的领土范围。而中国的宣告则显得空泛模糊，最重要的是缺乏法律依据。那些岛屿甚至都不靠近中国的海岸。

       两个国家远离了原有的共产政权转向市场经济的独裁政权之后领土纷争日益加剧。

       两个国家都在快速发展，都需要石油。不过由于越南的主权宣告在国际法庭上会得到支持，因此中国使用的新方法则是肆意使用恐吓手段，武力欺凌弱小。中国想通过左右美国石油公司实现其“丐邻”策略（注：将邻国当作乞丐的意思），限制越南开发石油的能力。

       本月早些时候，WTO沉重打击了中国的汽车零部件征税政策（相关报道参见 seanhu 翻译纽约时报文章 http://www.anti-cnn.com/forum/cn/viewthread.php?tid=81696&page=1&authorid=7834）。而现在看起来中国正拿起它世界第一出口国的锤子准备（藐视）敲打WTO规则。

       2001年在美国强有力的支持下中国勉强挤进了WTO，当时它承诺将遵守世界贸易法规，做一个守法、正直的国际公民。

       原来不过说得好听。将西方石油公司赶走，宣告东南亚的霸主地位。中国紧随委内瑞拉和俄罗斯成了又一个石油暴君。

       如果中国无法履行一个世界好公民应尽的义务，或许该由它的最大市场——美国挺身而出，让中国明白这可不是一个人的游戏。


[ 本帖最后由 荡漾 于 2008-7-24 00:10 编辑 ]