澳洲富商"反華"言論引人關注中國在澳投資

For years, Clive Palmer, the swaggering Australian mining magnate, positioned himself as a friend of China, regularly speaking out in defense of Chinese investment in Australia and popping up on the mainland to woo Chinese officials and investors.

多年來，這個神氣活現的澳大利亞礦業巨頭一直以中國友人的身份自居，他經常爲中國在澳大利亞的投資辯護，還會突然現身中國大陸，向中國官員及投資者示好。

But this week, Mr. Palmer caused an uproar by unleashing a tirade in a television interview against “the Chinese bastards,” whom he described as “mongrels” seeking to “destroy our wage system” and “take over our ports and get our resources for free.”

但是本週，帕爾默在一次電視訪談中的言論引起了一場風波。他言辭激烈地對“中國混蛋”表示譴責，說中國人是“雜種”，想“摧毀我們的工資體系”，並“搶走我們的海港，免費獲取我們的資源”。

The outburst on Monday prompted the expected rebuke from Beijing and a storm of debate about China’s growing economic footprint in Australia, with the government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott rushing to condemn Mr. Palmer’s remarks and make the case that China’s appetite for resources had helped ward off a recession in Australia. Nearly overlooked in the back-and-forth has been what set Mr. Palmer off in the first place: He was responding to questions about a court case against him by a Chinese state-owned enterprise, Citic Pacific.

他在週一的這些激烈言辭自然引起了北京的譴責，而且還促使人們對澳大利亞經濟中越來越多的中國足跡展開熱烈討論。澳大利亞總理託尼·阿博特(Tony Abbott)的政府迅速對帕爾默的言論表示譴責，並稱中國的能源需求幫澳大利亞抵抗了經濟衰退。在這種交鋒中，有一點幾乎被忽視，即帕爾默這樣做的最初動機：他是在回答一些與中國國有企業中信泰富(Citic Pacific)的官司有關的問題。

The suit alleges that Mr. Palmer withdrew $11.3 million from an account established for the operation of an iron ore port in Western Australia, and instead spent the money on the successful election campaign of his recently launched political party.

訴訟稱帕爾默從一個賬戶中取走了1130萬美元（約合6951萬元人民幣，該賬戶是爲澳大利亞西部一個鐵礦港口的業務運營設立的），然後把這筆錢花在了他最近成立的政黨的成功競選上。

Mr. Palmer, 60, a larger-than-life figure with a dome of white hair and a ruddy complexion from years in the parched northern climes of Australia, won election last September to the Senate in the national Parliament, where he holds the balance of power. Four members of his Palmer United Party secured seats in the House of Representatives after a bonanza of television campaign advertising rarely seen in Australia for parliamentary seats.

60歲的帕爾默是一個大人物，他一頭白髮，多年生活在澳大利亞北部的炎熱氣候中，讓他膚色顯得紅彤彤的。去年9月，他在競選中勝出，當選爲澳大利亞國會議員，在那裏有着舉足輕重的地位。在播出大量電視競選廣告之後——澳大利亞在競選國會議員時很少出現這種情況——他的帕爾默團結黨(Palmer United Party)有四名成員獲得了衆議院議員席位。

In effect, Citic Pacific, which acquired iron ore mining rights from Mr. Palmer in 2006 and has brought a separate suit related to that deal, is saying that the mining magnate rode to Parliament on the back of its money.

中信泰富稱，這個礦業巨頭是依靠它的資金才得以進入議會的。中信泰富2006年從帕爾默手中獲得鐵礦開採權，並且提起了另一項與此項交易相關的訴訟。

A spokesman for Mr. Palmer, Andrew Crook, said in an email on Friday that the allegations by Citic Pacific were “untrue” and represented tactics by Citic to “delay paying the hundreds of millions of dollars owed to Mineralogy,” a company controlled by Mr. Palmer.

週五，帕爾默的發言人安德魯·克魯克(Andrew Crook)在一封電子郵件中說，中信泰富的言論“並不屬實”，只是它爲了“推遲償付虧欠Mineralogy公司的鉅額資金”所使用的伎倆。Mineralogy是帕爾默控股的一家公司。

The Australian, the national newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch, uncovered court documents that the paper said showed that two checks had been withdrawn in the period before the September election from a National Australia Bank account for which Mr. Palmer was the sole signatory.

魯伯特·默多克(Rupert Murdoch)所有的全國性報紙《澳大利亞人報》(The Australian)披露了一些法庭文件，該報稱在9月競選之前的一段時間，有人曾經從一家澳洲國民銀行(National Australia Bank)的賬戶裏取過兩張支票，而帕爾默是唯一簽名人。

An investigative reporter for The Australian, Hedley Thomas, wrote that millions of dollars were deposited in the account by the Bank of China in Beijing on behalf of the Chinese government for works related to a port in Western Australia that is part of the iron ore operation where Citic mines on land owned by Mr. Palmer. One of the checks, for $2.02 million, was written to Media Circus Network, an advertising agency in Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, the state where Mr. Palmer’s political party is based, Mr. Thomas wrote.

《澳大利亞人報》的調查記者赫德利·托馬斯(Hedley Thomas)寫道，北京的中國銀行代表中國政府在這個賬戶裏存入了數百萬美元，用於西澳大利亞一個港口相關的施工，那座港口是該鐵礦石協議的一部分。根據該協議，中信泰富在爲帕爾默所有的土地上開礦。托馬斯寫道，其中一張202萬美元的支票，是開給布里斯班的廣告公司媒體馬戲網絡(Media Circus Network)的。布里斯班正是帕爾默的政黨總部所在州的首府。

Mr. Palmer’s company, Mineralogy, contended that the $11.3 million was used for “port management services,” but in fact, the Palmer company had not spent the money on the port, the Chinese said in court papers, Mr. Thomas reported.

根據托馬斯的報道，帕爾默的公司Mineralogy稱那1130萬美元被用在了“港口管理服務”上，但中方在提交給法庭的文件中稱，實際上帕爾默的公司並未將那筆錢用於該港口。

“The discovery process of materials for the case shows Clive Palmer personally wrote the two checks, and some if not all of the money meant for iron ore shipments went to funding up his party for last year’s federal elections,” Mr. Thomas said in a telephone interview.

“調查和該案有關的材料的過程表明，克萊夫·帕爾默本人開出了那兩張支票，這筆本應用於鐵礦石運輸的資金，至少有部分被用於資助他的政黨在去年的聯邦選舉，”托馬斯在接受電話採訪時說。

Mr. Palmer is under increasing pressure from the courts: Several procedural rulings have been made against him, Mr. Thomas said. If Citic succeeds in proving that Mr. Palmer committed fraud, he could be subject to a police investigation and criminal prosecution, Mr. Thomas said.

托馬斯說，帕爾默在法庭上承受的壓力越來越大：已做出的多項程序性裁決均對他不利。托馬斯表示，如果中信泰富能成功地證明帕爾默有欺詐行爲，他可能會受到警方的調查，並面臨刑事指控。

In the case against Mr. Palmer, “public opinion is strongly in favor of China,” Mr. Thomas said.

托馬斯說，在狀告帕爾默一案中，“輿論是明顯傾向支持中國的。”

But beneath that sense of unease at Mr. Palmer’s behavior lie deeper misgivings about China’s growing economic role in Australia. A poll this year by the Lowy Institute, a public policy group in Sydney, showed that 56 percent of Australians believed the government allows too much Chinese investment.

但在對帕爾默的行爲感到不安的背後，是對中國在澳大利亞越來越重要的經濟作用所導致的更深層次的擔憂。悉尼公共政策研究機構洛伊研究所(Lowy Institute)今年進行的一項民意調查表明，56%的澳大利亞人認爲政府批准的中國投資過多。

In Sydney, housing prices have soared as Chinese families buy second homes in well-to-do suburbs where gardens and fresh air are abundant, and Chinese millionaires snap up harborside estates in the range of $30 million to $50 million.

在悉尼的富裕郊區，中國人在購買第二處住宅，導致房價飆升，那裏有着大片的花園和充足的新鮮空氣。腰纏萬貫的中國富豪爭相搶購價格在3000萬美元到5000萬美元之間的濱海房產。

On Tuesday, Mr. Palmer issued a statement saying the target of his televised remarks was not the Chinese people or the Chinese government. But he stood firm in his criticism of “one Chinese state-owned company” that, he said, had failed to honor its agreements in the 2006 iron ore deal.

週二，帕爾默發表了一份聲明，稱自己在電視上的言論針對的不是中國人，也不是中國政府。但他堅持抨擊“某中國國有企業”未履行在2006年簽署的協議。

The Chinese government seemed to recognize the quixotic nature of Mr. Palmer: The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs took note of the rush by Australian leaders who have “publicly refuted Palmer’s erroneous remarks.”

中國政府似乎已經看出來，帕爾默是個信口開河的人物：中國外交部表示，他們注意到澳大利亞領導人紛紛站出來“公開批駁帕爾默的錯誤言論”。

In an editorial on Wednesday, Global Times, a populist newspaper affiliated with People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, brushed Australia off as “a remote business partner, and a place where the Chinese can take a trip and learn some English.”

在週三的一篇評論文章中，共產黨喉舌《人民日報》下屬的民粹主義報紙《環球時報》淡化了澳大利亞的重要性，稱其是“一個遙遠生意夥伴，一箇中國人旅遊和中國孩子去學帶點口音英語的地方”。

“The Chinese have said they’ve never seen anything like Palmer,” said Mr. Thomas. “We haven’t either.”

“中方說他們從來沒見過帕爾默這種人，”托馬斯說。“我們也沒見過。”