VOA慢速英语:中国削减在美国的投资

China's direct investment in the United States has dropped sharply in recent years.
近年来中国对美国的直接投资急剧下降。
Rhodium Group, a New York-based research service, reports that direct investment dropped by 80 percent from 2016 to 2018.
总部位于纽约的研究服务机构荣鼎咨询公司报告称，从2016年到2018年的直接投资下降了80%。

The biggest drop came in real estate holdings and hotels. Chinese investors seem no longer in a hurry to buy major properties in cities such as New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
跌幅最大的是房地产资产和酒店。中国投资者似乎不再急于在纽约、芝加哥、旧金山和洛杉矶等城市购买大型地产。

Chinese real estate investment in the United States rose 200 percent from 2015 to 2016, when it reached $16.5 billion. Then, it stopped expanding. During 2018, not a single Chinese real estate or hotel investment reached more than $100 million, the Rhodium Group found.
从2015年到2016年，中国在美国的房地产投资增长了200%，达到了165亿美元。然后它停止了扩张。荣鼎咨询公司发现，在2018年期间，没有一个中国房地产或酒店投资超过了1亿美元。

Oceanwide Holdings, a Chinese company, is putting up buildings on prime properties in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Work reportedly has stopped on one of the towers at the San Francisco Oceanwide Center. Work also has stopped at the Los Angeles Oceanwide Plaza.
中国泛海控股公司正在旧金山和洛杉矶建造高端房地产。据报道，旧金山泛海中心的一栋塔楼已经停工。洛杉矶的泛海广场也已经停工。

"The skylines are no longer filled with cranes, really supplied by Chinese investments coming over here in the downtown," said Stephen Cheung, president of the World Trade Center in Los Angeles. He also is executive vice president of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation.
洛杉矶世界贸易中心总裁斯蒂芬·张表示：“城市的天空里不再到处是塔吊，这些实际上都是来这的中国投资人搞的。”他也是洛杉矶县经济发展公司的执行副总裁。

"What we're worried about [is] the construction that's already here that cannot be finished because of the financing situations," Cheung said.
斯蒂芬·张表示：“我们担心由于融资情况，已经动工的建筑无法完工。”

Construction work stalled
建设工作停滞

The billion-dollar Oceanwide Plaza is being built on land near the Los Angeles convention center and the place where the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers play basketball. Construction stopped in January for the Plaza's apartment housing, hotel and shopping center. Cheung said he has seen very little activity since then.
耗资数十亿美元的泛海广场建在靠近洛杉矶会议中心以及洛杉矶湖人队和快船队篮球馆的地方。今年一月份，泛海广场的公寓、酒店和购物中心都停止了施工。张表示，自那以后几乎没看到施工动作。

The unfinished building at Oceanwide Plaza is just one sign of a sharp drop in investment money from China.
泛海广场未完工的建筑只是中国投资资金急剧下降的标志之一。

Overall, direct foreign investment between the two countries set a record in 2016 of $60 billion, the Rhodium Group reported.
荣鼎咨询公司报告称，总体而言，两国之间的外国直接投资在2016年创下了600亿美元的纪录。

One reason for the drop in investment money is a change in China's monetary policy.
投资下降的原因之一是中国货币政策的变化。

"There were the currency controls out of China...I think it was probably to get money out of China into a safe investment. (But) the Chinese cracked down," said Dale Goldsmith. He is a managing partner at the law offices of Armbruster Goldsmith & Delvac LLP.
戴尔·戈德史密斯表示：“中国对货币流出实行了管制。我认为这可能是为了让中国流出的资金进入到安全的投资中。”他是阿姆斯特·戈德史密斯和德尔瓦茨律师事务所的执行合伙人。

"The Chinese companies couldn't get the money out of China... so certain projects here we've seen (stop)," Cheung said.
张表示：“中国公司无法让资金流出中国，所以我们在这里看到的某些项目都停工了。”

Chinese investment had also fallen because of questions being asked by a federal watchdog organization, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. The Rhodium Group estimates the committee's investigation has led Chinese investors to walk away from more than $2.5 billion in U. S. deals.
中国投资还因为美国外国投资委员会这一联邦监管机构提出的各项问题而有所下降。荣鼎咨询公司估计，该委员会的调查导致中国投资者放弃了超过25亿美元的美国交易。

The relatively strong U.S. economy is another reason for China's declining investment.
美国经济相对强劲也是中国投资下降的另一个原因。

"The dollar has been very strong," said Goldsmith, noting that a strong dollar makes investing in the United States less appealing to the Chinese. He added that the rising costs of U.S. building projects also hurt.
戈德史密斯表示：“美元一直非常坚挺。”他指出，美元坚挺使得在美国投资对中国人的吸引力下降。他还说，美国建筑项目成本上涨也有不利影响。

In addition, there is no sign the trade war between the two countries will end soon. As a result, Chinese companies are not sure whether they should enter the U.S. market, Cheung added.
张还说，此外，没有迹象表明两国之间的贸易战将会很快结束。因此，中国公司不确定是否应该进入美国市场。

Southeast Asia gains
东南亚的收获

The trade war has created a new market. To avoid high tariffs, international companies are moving manufacturing out of China. They are going to places like Vietnam.
这场贸易战创造了一个新的市场。为了避免高关税，国际公司正在将制造业转移出中国。他们要去越南之类的地方。

In Los Angeles, Cheung noted he is seeing increased interest from Southeast Asian countries. Vietnam is now looking very carefully into Los Angeles because it has such a large Vietnamese population, Cheung said.
张在洛杉矶指出，他看到东南亚对美国越来越感兴趣。张表示，越南现在正谨慎地关注着洛杉矶，因为这里的越南人口众多。

"We're also working with our partners in Singapore and Indonesia and Thailand to really expand those opportunities, because we have been dependent on China for such a long time," he added.
他还说：“我们还在跟新加坡、印尼和泰国的合作伙伴合作以真正地扩大这些机会，因为我们长期以来一直依赖中国。”

So long as economic tensions remain high between China and the United States, Los Angeles and other U.S. cities will have to look elsewhere for investments.
只要中美两国之间的经济紧张局势仍然高涨，洛杉矶等美国城市就必须到其他地方寻求投资。