上世纪80年代末期，日本人开始收购像洛克斐勒中心(Rockefeller Center)这种顶级地产，这在当时引发了激烈反应。
When the Japanese began buying trophy properties like Rockefeller Center in the late 1980s, there was an intense reaction.
有天晚上，大卫‧莱特曼(David Letterman) 的节目是由播音员这么开场的：“这是来自三菱企业分公司‘纽约’的《大卫深夜脱口秀》。”《纽约时报》刊载的一篇观点与评论的文章标题则是：“经济领域的珍珠港事件？”
David Letterman began his show one evening with the announcer saying, “From New York, a subsidiary of Mitsubishi, it’s ‘Late Night with David Letterman.’ ” A New York Times Op-Ed was titled, “An Economic Pearl Harbor?”
就连唐纳‧J‧特朗普 (Donald J. Trump)也加入其中。“竞标纽约的大楼只会徒劳无功，因为那些日本人会付出不成比例的价码，就为了让我们吃鳖，”他在1990年的时候这么告诉《花花公子》(Playboy)杂志。“他们想要入主曼哈顿。”
Even Donald J. Trump got in on the act: “Bidding on a building in New York is an act of futility, because the Japanese will pay more than it’s worth just to screw us,” he told Playboy in 1990. “They want to own Manhattan.”
四分之一个世纪过后，轮到中国上场了。
A quarter-century later, it is China’s turn.
周一时， 在一连串令人注目的交易中，一年多前刚买下华尔道夫-阿斯托里亚酒店(Waldorf Astoria)的一个中国保险公司，自黑石集团(Blackstone Group)手中购入了价值65亿美元(约合423亿人民币)的房地产，还开出128亿美元的价码来收购喜达屋酒店及度假村国际集团(Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide)。
On Monday, in a head-turning series of deals, a Chinese insurance company that just over a year ago purchased the Waldorf Astoria, bought $6.5 billion of properties from the Blackstone Group and made a $12.8 billion offer to buy Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide.
这间中国公司收集到的这些名牌地产很是了得，有喜来登酒店(Sheraton),、威士汀酒店(Westin)、W饭店(W Hotels)，还有圣瑞吉斯酒店(St. Regis)。地产则包括了中央公园南(Central Park South)上的埃赛克斯酒店(Essex House)；位于加州圣地牙哥附近的科罗纳多酒店(Hotel del Coronado)，也就是电影《热情如火》(Some Like it Hot)的拍摄地；加州尼古湖的丽思卡尔顿酒店(Ritz-Carlton)，还有零星几座四季酒店(Four Seasons)和费尔蒙特酒店(Fairmont)的房产。
The collection of brands — Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels, St. Regis — is remarkable. Properties include the Essex House on Central Park South; the Hotel del Coronado near San Diego, where “Some Like it Hot” was filmed; the Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel and a smattering of Four Seasons and Fairmont properties.
当这家保险商——安邦——在2015年买下华尔道夫酒店的时候，有人对这个历史悠久的美国驻联合国大使下榻酒店落到中国企业手里感到担忧。和1947年以来的历任总统一样，华尔道夫也是奥巴马总统的例行下榻之处。不过他在这间酒店易主后就改到曼哈顿其他酒店过夜了。据称白宫是担心中国人可能在华尔道夫装设了监视系统。(奥巴马住进了纽约千禧联合国酒店[Millennium One UN New York]。后来的一次纽约行又改住韩国公司经营的皇宫大酒店[Palace Hotel]。)
When the insurer, Anbang, purchased the Waldorf in 2015, there was concern that the historic hotel — where the United States ambassador to the United Nations resides — had fallen into the hands of a Chinese company. President Obama, who used to routinely stay at the Waldorf as United States presidents had done since 1947, switched hotels the next time he stayed overnight in Manhattan. The White House was said to be worried that the Chinese could have planted surveillance. (Mr. Obama stayed at the Millennium One UN New York and on a subsequent trip stayed at the Palace Hotel, which is owned by a South Korean company.)
美国人该为安邦大举置业一事感到忧心吗？这些房产交易又是否会在总统竞选时，成为外国人抢走美国工作、买光美国资产的激烈辩题之一呢？
Should there be concern over Anbang’s aggressive real estate push? And will the deals become part of the debate raging during the presidential campaign about foreigners taking American jobs and buying up assets here?
到目前为止，尚未有任何一位总统候选人对这场交易做出评论。但是我们也不难预见它会成为话题。特朗普在一份意见书里表示：“美国把自家市场对中国完全开放了，但中国并没有投桃报李。”又称这是中国的“保护主义长城”。
So far, none of the candidates have made comments about the deal. But it wouldn’t be hard to see it become a talking point. In one of Mr. Trump’s position papers, he said: “America fully opened its markets to China, but China has not reciprocated,” describing its “Great Wall of Protectionism.”
近年来，中国企业狂热地购置海外资产，为了经营多样化而寻求并购机会。一月时，中国的万达集团同意用35亿美元收购制作了《侏罗纪世界》(Jurassic World)的美国电影公司传奇影业(Legendary Entertainment)。迄今规模最大的中国并购美国公司资产案则是在2013年，史密斯菲尔德食品公司(Smithfield Foods)以50亿美元卖给了双汇国际股份有限公司。而在上个月，中国化工集团公司花了430亿美元收购瑞士农业与化工业巨擘先正达(Syngenta)，成为中国公司有史以来最庞大的海外收购案。
Chinese companies have been on a foreign acquisition spree in recent years, looking abroad for deals in an effort to diversify. In January, the Wanda Group from China agreed to buy Legendary Entertainment, the film company behind Jurassic World, for $3.5 billion. The largest Chinese acquisition to date of an American company was Smithfield Foods’ $5 billion sale to China’s Shuanghui International Holdings in 2013. Last month, China National Chemical Corporation bought Syngenta, a Swiss agricultural and chemical giant, for $43 billion, the largest foreign purchase ever by a Chinese firm.
安邦集团与许多中国在任和前任政府官员有密切联系，它的收购案很可能受到美国外国投资委员会（Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States，简称Cfius）的审查。该委员会会审查所有涉及国家安全的对美资公司收购案。
The deals by Anbang, which has close ties to current and former Chinese government officials, will most likely be reviewed by Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, also known as Cfius, which reviews all deals for American companies that involve national security.
房地产控股看起来不太像这家跨部门机构的目标，但它的确曾审核并批准了华尔道夫酒店的出售。卫理律师事务所(Wiley Rein)律师丹尼尔·皮卡德(Daniel B. Pickard)在给客户的报告中称该交易是一个提醒，“表明在美国，即使看似无害的地产交易，也可能会牵涉到国家安全”。
Real estate holdings may not seem like a likely target of the interagency body, but it did review and approve the Waldorf sale. At the time of the Waldorf deal, Daniel B. Pickard, a lawyer at Wiley Rein, wrote in a note to clients that the transaction “is a reminder that seemingly innocuous property transactions in the United States can have national security implications.”
“国家安全”的定义是捉摸不定的。去年，由于担心被Cfius阻拦，至少十项收购案被撤回，其中大多数涉及科技领域。
And how “national security” is defined is a moving target. Over the last year, at least 10 deals, mostly related to technology, were withdrawn over concerns that Cfius would block them.
随之而来的问题是，这些收购案最终是会获得成功，还是会步日本的后尘。上个世纪80年代末日本公司以天价买下的那些知名楼盘，接下来十年基本上被大幅降价售出。
Then there is the question of whether these deals will turn out to be a success or follow the losing path of Japan. Nearly all the trophy buildings that Japanese companies acquired at stratospheric premiums in the late 1980s were sold at a steep loss within the decade.
安邦集团的收购引发许多担忧。安邦向黑石集团支付65亿美元收购酒店业务，然而黑石集团在三个月前只为此支付了60亿美元。堪称世界上最老练的地产投资商的黑石集团，十分乐意把它们迅速转手赚钱。而安邦集团对喜达屋的出价（该项目还有另两个投资方参与），看来只是阻击喜达屋与万豪并购的序幕，因此最终的收购价可能会更高。
Anbang’s deal-making raises concerns. It is paying $6.5 billion to Blackstone for its hotel portfolio, yet Blackstone paid only $6 billion for them three months ago. Blackstone, arguably the world’s most skilled real estate investor, was all too happy to quickly flip it to them. And Anbang’s offer for Starwood, in which it was joined by two financial partners, looks like an opening gambit to thwart Starwood’s merger agreement with Marriott, so it is likely the final price will go even higher.
随之而来的问题是，仅仅成立15年的安邦集团，如何担负如此巨额的收购资金。通过提供承诺会有巨大收益的投资产品，安邦集团已经涉足中国颇具风险的“影子银行”业务。已有分析师担心安邦集团可能无法偿付投资者，因为大量的资金已被投入房地产业。但随着中国经济降温，像安邦集团一样的中国企业正极力寻求机会，将现金投资海外。
Then there is the question of how Anbang, which didn’t even exist 15 years ago, is paying for all of these deals. Well, it has entered the risky business of becoming a “shadow bank” in China by offering investment products that promise large interest payments. Already, some analysts are expressing nervousness that Anbang could be unable to pay back its investors because it has plowed so much money into real estate. But as China’s economy cools, companies like Anbang are desperately trying to find places to invest cash outside of the country.
华尔街的银行家和律师希望中国公司继续收购美国的地产。安邦的收购仅仅是一个开始。如果收购节奏加快，估计在进入大选阶段的总统竞选中将成为一个话题。
Wall Street bankers and lawyers expect Chinese companies to continue to acquire assets in the United States. Anbang’s deals are only the beginning. If the pace picks up, watch for this to become an issue as the presidential campaign heads into the general election.
1989年，索尼(Sony)在好莱坞的资产收购引发了人们的惊恐，有人就此问索尼总裁盛田昭夫(Akio Morita)，他的回答是：
In 1989, Sony’s chief, Akio Morita, was asked about all the consternation over his acquisition of assets in Hollywood. His reply?
“如果你不想要日本买，那就不要卖。”
“If you don’t want Japan to buy it, don’t sell it.”