Posted: April 20th, 2009, 1:56 pm
<span style='font-size:14pt;line-height:100%'>China Wealth Fund to Boost Investments</span>
source: <a href='http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1240061 ... #printMode' target='_blank'>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1240061 ... intMode</a>
By JASON DEAN * APRIL 20, 2009
BOAO, China -- China Investment Corp. plans to expand its international investment this year, including in European countries that it had <span style='color:red'>shunned</span> because they tried to set limits on its investments, the Chinese sovereign-wealth fund's chairman said Saturday.
Lou Jiwei
Speaking to a meeting of business and political leaders here, Lou Jiwei reiterated complaints about <span style='color:red'>resistance</span> last year from Western governments to the fund, known as CIC. Some foreign politicians worried that the fund, which was established in 2007 to invest $200 billion of China's foreign-exchange reserves, was <span style='color:red'>motivated</span> by political as well as financial factors.
Mr. Lou indicated that such that such resistance, especially in Europe, had contributed to CIC's reluctance to deploy its capital last year -- and shielded it from sharp market losses. But he said the environment has changed this year.
"Key countries in Europe are now welcoming us. So we'll actively consider that, because we have also discovered some opportunities," he said on a panel at the Boao Forum for Asia. "We will prudently, but also resolutely, expand our investment to an appropriate scale, including in Europe." Mr. Lou didn't elaborate on CIC's investment plans.
CIC has taken large paper losses on stakes it bought in 2007 in Morgan Stanley and Blackstone Group LP. CIC officials have said they were <span style='color:red'>reluctant</span> to invest last year in Western financial firms even as prices plunged. Much of the fund's money available for overseas investments is believed to be in relatively low-risk assets, meaning it avoided much of the damage last year as global markets imploded.
Some analysts say CIC may have been the world's best-performing sovereign-wealth fund last year. Mr. Lou wrote in a Chinese magazine last month that CIC had booked only "small losses" in its overseas investments in 2008, and had outperformed other sovereign funds.
Mr. Lou on Saturday <span style='color:red'>poked fun at</span> the European officials he said had resisted CIC, suggesting that their reluctance prevented CIC from making investments it would have lost money on. He pointed specifically to restrictions that they demanded on the size of CIC's stakes in European companies, or on its ability to obtain voting rights in those companies.
"Officials in Europe told me they wanted me to state clearly that we wouldn't take stakes of more than 10%, or ask for voting rights. I said I can't accept this. They said Europe doesn't welcome me, so I said fine, if Europe doesn't want me, I won't go, " Mr. Lou said. "So I want to thank these financial protectionists, because as a result, we didn't invest a single cent in Europe."
Since the global financial crisis worsened late last year, however, countries have been more open to CIC investments, he said. "There has been a change," he said. "Europe is now <span style='color:red'>very welcoming to</span> us, and isn't talking about such conditions any more."
Now, he said, "People suddenly look at us as a <span style='color:red'>lovable</span> force."
-- Aaron Back contributed to this article.
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另请参考对比阅读另一篇彭博社的报导：<a href='http://forums.bizedu.net/index.php?showtopic=980' target='_blank'>中投将考虑对欧投资的吸引力</a>
本篇报导出处《华尔街日报》，与彭博社报导的共同之处在于均明显的提及了楼继伟对欧洲去年拒绝中投的投资意向、甚至设置种种限制进行了嘲弄式的批评，这一点在华尔街日报的报导中尤其明显，使用了诸如poke fun at这样的词汇（意为取笑、带着嘲弄的口吻开玩笑）；另外，在倒数第二自然段中楼对于采访者的回应显得十分口语化、非正式场合如家常对话中的随意性表达出了这样一种轻松及未将欧洲之前的限制放在眼里的感觉。
从本篇报导中的一些用词上，可看出中投目前在海外投资中的强势：
1）文章中花较大笔墨描述了中投公司在楼继伟的领导下获得骄人成绩，如the world's best-performing、outperformed other sovereign funds、avoided much of the damage、booked small losses...in 2008
2）在投资避险的操作方面的成果，一是“夸奖”欧洲去年设限阻止投资，二是声称其投资将是果断且谨慎的(prudently but resolutely)
3）在与欧洲的博弈抗衡方面，主要通过对比词汇突出一年后的现在中投机会更多、筹码更重（resistance、reluctant、more open to、very welcoming、lovable）
此外，在彭博社<a href='http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... aJnHjA603g' target='_blank'>China's $200 Billion Fund May Invest in Europe as Protectionism Retreats</a>的报导中，称欧盟设限最严重(the European Union had the worst limits)，在本篇报导中称主要的欧洲国家欢迎中投(Key countries in Europe are now welcoming us)，这一点应视为中投已经对即将在欧洲进行的关键性投资、采购有了目标。
最后，注意本文中有关中投去年投资事件的几个词：
shun，与avoid意思相近，但avoid只表示避开，或努力回避，而shun是故意避开的意思，突出了故意、特意的性质而并没有如avoid的尽极大的力的含义，表明了中投针对欧盟设限的“此处不留爷，自有留爷处”的心态。
motivated by political...，表明欧盟限制中投的投资是相当“积极”的，而其背后则是政治力量的对抗。这也正是楼继伟称欧洲对待海外投资应基于市场角度而非政治角度的原因，当不合理的限制反而帮助中投“成功避险”后，楼对施加限制政策的欧洲官员表达了轻松的“感谢”。