Late last summer, officials working for a secretive US government committee that vets foreign takeovers on national security grounds came across a puzzling find during what one insider said was a routine review of Huawei, a company that was prominent on the government’s radar screen.
去年夏末，美国政府一个秘密委员会的官员们在对华为(Huawei)进行的、被一位内部人士称为“例行检查”的评估中，无意间得到了一个令人费解的发现。这个委员会专门以国家安全为依据，调查外国企业的收购案。而华为一直是美国政府高度关注的目标。
The officials stumbled across the LinkedIn page of one of the founders of a company called 3 Leaf, a California-based maker of cloud computing technology, who was listed as a “Huawei consultant”, according to the person’s account.
这些官员偶然发现了一家名为3 Leaf的公司的创始人之一在社交网站LinkedIn上的页面。3 Leaf总部位于加州，是一家云计算技术制造商，而这位创始人的账户资料显示，他的职务为“华为顾问”。
The discovery was the first indication for the Committee on Foreign Investment (Cfius) that Huawei, a company that had been forced to abandon a bid for a US technology company two years earlier because of objections by the review panel, had made another – albeit minor – acquisition without informing the panel.
这一发现让美国外国投资委员会(Cfius)意识到，华为在没有告知该委员会的情况下，又进行了另一宗收购，尽管交易的规模不大。就在两年前，由于该审查小组的反对，华为被迫放弃了对一家美国技术公司的竞购。
It was especially confounding because Huawei officials had recently made assurances to the Department of Defence that it was embarking on a new era of transparency. At the time, Huawei was pushing to win a large telecommunications contract with Sprint of the US, and the company’s activities were being closely monitored.
由于此前不久，华为高管曾向美国国防部保证，自己将迈入一个更加透明的新时期，因此这一发现就格外令人不解。那段时间里，华为正积极活动，以期赢得美国Sprint公司的一份巨额电信合同，因此行动一直受到密切监视。
A flurry of activity followed, including a move by Cfius to force Huawei to file the $2m deal, which it had already closed. There were tense exchanges between the company’s attorneys and officials within the US government, which culminated in a virtually unprecedented move by Huawei on Monday night.
随后美国方面采取了一系列行动，Cfius强迫华为上报了这宗200万美元、已完成的交易。华为律师与美国政府官员之间发生了摩擦，而华为周一晚采取的一个可谓前所未有的举动，把事情推向了高潮。
The company decided to bypass the recommendation of Cfius that it walk away from the deal and moved instead to seek a final judgment by President Barack Obama. The decision astounded many Washington lawyers who specialise in cross-border deals.
华为决定，忽视Cfius发出的让它放弃交易的建议，转而寻求美国总统巴拉克•奥巴马(Barack Obama)的最终裁决。这一决定令华盛顿许多专门处理跨境交易的律师大吃一惊。
“This is brinkmanship,” said one veteran attorney who asked not to be named. “[For Huawei] to say ‘we are going to appeal to the president over the recommendation of his national security advisers’, which is what Cfius is, is stunning.”
“这是在冒险，”一位要求不具名的资深律师表示。“（华为）就好像在说，我们将恳请美国总统对他的国家安全顾问（即Cfius）的建议做出裁决，这太令人震惊了。”
Investigations by Cfius are classified and the panel does not always alert companies to the precise nature of its concerns. Its decisions cannot be challenged in court.
Cfius的调查属于机密事务，它并不一定会提醒公司它调查的确切所指。调查对象也无法在法庭上挑战该委员会的决定。
But independent analysts have suggested that the panel was particularly concerned about a perceived pattern of obfuscation by the company. Huawei itself has acknowledged the Cfius was concerned about the apparent attempt to avoid review. Huawei declined to comment on Tuesday. But the company has said that it was advised by local attorneys in California at the time that it did not need to file the purchase of 3 Leaf patents for Cfius review because it did not meet the threshold for review.
但一些独立分析师暗示，该调查小组认为华为一直在混淆问题。华为自己承认，Cfius担心的是它试图规避审查的明显举动。华为周二拒绝置评。但该公司已表示，当初，该公司聘请的加州当地律师建议，不必将购买3 Leaf公司专利权的交易上报给Cfius审查，因为交易规模尚不够审查门槛。
Some outside observers expressed surprise that a company which knew it was under close scrutiny by the US government had decided not to notify it of the deal.
一些局外观察人士表示，一家清楚自己处于美国政府严密监视之下的公司，却决定不上报交易，这实在令人惊讶。
In Beijing, the current stand-off is seen by some as evidence of discrimination against Chinese companies.
在北京，目前的僵局则被一些人视为美国歧视中国企业的证据。
“Huawei has clearly hit a brick wall in the US. They played the game but it is clear that they’re not invited,” said Duncan Clark, chairman of BDA, the Beijing-based technology consultancy.
北京科技咨询公司BDA董事长邓肯•克拉克(Duncan Clark)表示：“华为显然在美国遭到了阻力。他们想要公平地参加游戏，但显然不受欢迎。”
It also raises the possibility of retaliatory moves by China.
这一事件也提高了中国方面采取报复行动的可能性。
China’s antitrust regulator has yet to approve the proposed acquisition of Motorola’s wireless network infrastructure assets by Nokia Siemens Networks.
中国的反垄断监管机构尚未批准诺基亚西门子通信(Nokia Siemens Networks)收购摩托罗拉(Motorola)无线网络基础设施的交易。
“These things can make this a political or trade issue, and that is not helpful for anyone involved,” said a Chinese government official who asked not to be named.
一名要求不具名的中国政府官员表示：“这些事情会让这个问题上升到一个政治或贸易的高度，对于所有相关方而言都没有好处。”
ZTE, Huawei’s smaller Chinese peer, also sought and failed to win a piece of the Sprint contract last year. It has complained of unfair treatment in the US, pointing to the fact that it offered better conditions than the ultimate winner, Ericsson.
华为规模较小的一个同行——中兴通讯(ZTE)去年也曾试图获得一部分Sprint合约，但以失败告终。该公司抱怨在美国遭到了不公平对待，指出自己开出的条件要优于最终的获胜者爱立信(Ericsson)。
For Mr Obama, looking tough against a Chinese company has a political upside, especially in Congress, where lawmakers have voiced deep concerns about Huawei’s alleged ties to the Chinese military. Huawei has denied such ties. However, the stand-off raises questions for the administration’s stated goal of improving relations with China.
对于奥巴马而言，对一家中国企业采取强硬态度能捞到政治好处，尤其是在国会——华为据称与中国军方关系密切，这让国会议员们深感不安。华为拒绝承认这种关系的存在。但目前的僵局不禁让人对奥巴马政府提出的改善中美关系的目标提出质疑。
Nova Daly, a former Cfius official under the George W. Bush administration who is now a consultant at the Wiley Rein law firm, said Huawei still had time to back off from its decision, agree a security arrangement with the government and spare itself a negative decision by Mr Obama.
小布什(George W. Bush)政府时期的Cfius官员诺瓦•戴利(Nova Daly)表示，华为仍有时间撤销其决定、同意与美国政府签署安全协议，以避免最终收到奥巴马的反对决定。戴利目前为卫理(Wiley Rein)律师事务所顾问。
If it does not change course, he said: “The president politically will be in an extremely difficult position to do anything but block it.”
戴利表示，如果华为不撤销决定，“除了阻止这一交易，其它任何决定都会让奥巴马在政治上陷入异常为难的境地。”
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