Caixin Business English 03 财新商业英语进阶计划 03

重点词汇：

Foreign direct investment

（n.）外商直接投资。又称国际直接投资、对外直接投资，简称FDI，投资者在其所属国家/地区以外的国家/地区所经营的企业拥有持续利益的一种投资。

外商直接投资的重要特征是境外投资者（外商）控制企业部分产权并且直接参与经营管理，可以分为创办新企业和控制外国企业股权两种形式。外商直接投资是中国利用外资的最主要形式，对中国改革开放以来的经济发展和市场制度建设起到了较为积极的促进作用。

例句：To curb opportunistic foreign acquisitions of Indian companies made vulnerable because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian government in April revised its foreign direct investment policy to narrow the scope of eligible investors – and this was generally viewed as being directed at China.

翻译：4月，印度政府出台外商投资新规，要求与其接壤的国家在投资印度前，必须经过印度政府的审查，以阻止邻国企业在新冠疫情期间对印度公司进行“投机性”收购。

To learn how the phrase is used in English reporting, please click here.

Market share

（n.）市场份额。又称市场占有率，指某一时间某个企业的产品在同类产品市场销售中占的比例。

市场占有率是判断企业竞争水平的重要因素。在市场大小不变的情况下，市场占有率越高的企业其产品销售量越大，同时由于规模经济的作用，提高市场占有率也可能降低单位产品的成本、增加利润率。增加市场份额是企业经营最重要的目标之一。

例句：According to Lin Meihan, a partner of India Renaissance Capital, a provider of financial advisory services to Chinese internet companies in India, some Chinese companies may simply look to sell or abandon the Indian market because they see little hope in capitalizing on their existing market share.

翻译：印兴资本合伙人林美含表示，中国企业无法从现有市场份额获利时，可能寻求出售等方式套现离开印度市场。

To learn how the phrase is used in English reporting, please click here.

Loss

（n.）损失。会计上指企业非日常活动所发生的、会导致所有者权益减少的、与向所有者分配利润无关的经济利益的净流出。

损失具体指企业在生产经营活动中发生的固定资产和存货的盘亏、毁损、报废损失，转让财产损失，呆账损失，坏账损失，自然灾害等不可抗力因素造成的损失等。会计上，损失与利得（Gain）相对应。

例句：ByteDance has projected a loss of more than $6 billion over an unspecified period due to TikTok and two of its other apps being banned.

翻译：由于TikTok和其他两款应用被禁用，字节跳动预估将遭受超过60亿美元的损失。

To learn how the phrase is used in English reporting, please click here.

JOSH: Hello and ni hao!

JOSH: This is the Caixin China Biz Roundup broadcast every week day from Beijing with the essential news for everything you need to know about China and the world of business – plus a little bit more.

JOSH: I’m Joshua Dummer

CIBIL: And I’m Cibil Lu

CIBIL: Ok, Josh, how’s today’s lineup looking?

JOSH: Well, Cibil, today we’ll be hearing how China has denied it’s plotting to retaliate against two major European telecommunications（电信） companies if the EU gets tough on Huawei. We’ll also be bringing you the highlights from an exclusive Caixin interview with Blackstone CEO, Stephan Schwarzman. Plus, how trade between North Korea and China has nosedived nearly 70% this year.

JOSH: But first, let’s turn to some China-India news. My first big story is all based on an in-depth feature on our website today looking at India’s decision to ban 59 Chinese apps and what that really means.

JOSH: Sure, with rising tensions between the world’s two population billionaires and in the wake of a border dispute that left 20 Indians dead, the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok with 200 million users in India, Tencent’s WeChat, Sina’s Weibo, Baidu Map and Alibaba’s UC Browser on July 16th.

JOSH: Before the ban, India, due to its youthful demographic（人口） and rapid growth in smartphone penetration had become particularly important to Chinese apps and so the ban is causing Chinese companies to rethink their business strategy. In particular, how non-Chinese apps have responded to the ban is pretty interesting.

CIBIL: OK, let’s start off with how the Chinese companies have reacted.

JOSH: The reaction broadly falls into three categories:

JOSH: Reaction number one: try and get an exemption（赦免） from the ban. The most important Chinese company in this story has to be ByteDance, the owner of TikTok. India is TikTok’s biggest market in terms of active users and so potentially any ban could massively affect its valuation. ByteDance has projected a loss（损失） of more than $6 billion over an unspecified period due to TikTok and two of its other apps being banned. For this reason ByteDance is expected to aggressively pursue an exemption from the ban.

JOSH: Reaction number two: Cut your loses and leave the country. According to Lin Meihan, a partner of India Renaissance Capital, a provider of financial advisory services to Chinese internet companies in India, some Chinese companies may simply look to sell or abandon the Indian market because they see little hope in capitalizing on their existing market share（市场份额）.

JOSH: Which then brings us to reaction number three: Double down on your Indian credentials or find an Indian partner. So Xiaomi, for example, is marketing its products as “Made in India” to take advantage of manufacturing or assembling domestically many of the devices it sells in India. And while two of Xiaomi’s apps — Mi Community and Mi Video Call — are on the banned list, its main video sharing app, Xiaomi Video, is exempt.

JOSH: And Xiaomi India Managing Director Manu Kumar Jain has gone on record saying quote: “We are an Indian company, as more than 99% of our phones sold in India are made locally, and 65% of these components are locally sourced or locally manufactured.” End quote.

CIBIL: If that is how Chinese companies are reacting – what has been the knock-on effect for non-Chinese companies?

JOSH: Non-chinese apps are obviously hoping to capitalise on the ban.

JOSH: Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram are the most obvious examples. The three apps were consistently the most downloaded non-gaming apps before Tiktok and other Chinese apps really started to aggressively enter the market.

JOSH: Last year five of the 10 most-downloaded apps in India were Chinese. And TikTok took over the top position from Facebook.

JOSH: Facebook is eager to grab back its market share, and even before the ban it spent billions of dollars in the market.

CIBIL: So you’ve told us how Chinese companies have reacted to the ban and how non-Chinese companies are hoping to take advantage of the ban. Anything else we need to know?

JOSH: The last aspect of the story is that it’s important to realise the wider context this is all happening in.

JOSH: Although the ban followed the border dispute between the two countries, even before that confrontation, India’s policy toward Chinese internet companies was growing increasingly hostile.

JOSH: For example, to curb opportunistic foreign acquisitions of Indian companies made vulnerable because of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Indian government in April revised its foreign direct investment（外商直接投资） policy to narrow the scope of eligible investors – and this was generally viewed as being directed at China.

JOSH: And in May, an app called Remove China Apps, which enabled users to easily delete apps developed by Chinese enterprises, was downloaded more than 5 million times in India before it was pulled from the Google Play Store.

CIBIL: So what you are telling us is this story is far bigger than just 59 apps and is all part of a wider story about China-India relations.

JOSH: Precisely – now like I said at the start, this is all part of an in depth cover story on our website and I’ve just skimmed the surface today on the podcast and so I would recommend people head online and check it out.

Cibil: Thanks Josh! Well, from China-India tensions to potential China-EU tensions. Beijing has dismissed a media report that the country may be plotting vengeance on two top European telecom companies if the E.U. slaps restrictions on Huawei.

JOSH: Zut alors, so tech cold war but with a chic European flair. So, what’s the latest drama?

CIBIL: Well, this all traces back to a pretty explosive media report by the Wall Street Journal. Citing unnamed sources, the American Newspaper reported that China's Ministry of Commerce is looking into export controls（出口管制） that would prevent Finland’s Nokia and Sweden’s Ericsson from sending products made in China to other countries if European nations go down the same path as the UK and US and ban Chinese suppliers from their 5G networks.

CIBIL: And, I am sure the report would have sent alarm bells ringing in Brussels. Obviously, such a scenario would spell disaster for Nokia and Ericsson.

CIBIL: Second, these types of tit for tat antics are exactly what led to the US-China trade dispute’s dramatic escalation, and I am sure the EU doesn’t want to strike up its own trade war with Beijing.

JOSH: But now Beijing says this isn’t true?

CIBIL: Pretty much.

CIBIL: China’s Foreign Ministry largely dismissed the Wall Street Journal report, with ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin even calling it fake. Wang added that China has always remained open to cooperation with international companies in its next-generation 5G wireless communications market. That includes Nokia and Ericsson, who have already won the bid in a Chinese project.

JOSH: Ok, so let me get this straight. The big news was that China was reportedly going to unleash some fierce vengeance on these two European telecoms players, but now the country flat out denies the media report. Isn’t that a bit of a non-news story? Now the EU can breathe a sigh of a relief.

CIBIL: Not quite. While the ministry says it isn’t planning any retaliation against Nokia and Ericsson, not all of their statement may come as comfort to European governments.

CIBIL: For instance, the ministry spokesperson said that China’s position on 5G opposes quote “stretching the national security concept and defying international trade rules（国际贸易规则） to exclude certain companies of a particular country” end quote, adding that Beijing expects European nations to adopt a similar stance when it comes to Chinese telecoms companies.

CIBIL: This could certainly put EU countries in a very tight spot in the brewing tech cold war. The ministry seems to be telling them to ignore the US’s calls to ban Huawei from their 5g networks due to national security concerns. Will these countries decide to side with Washington or Beijing? We will just have to wait and see.

JOSH: Ok, well, merci beaucoup, Cibil! Now, for my second story I want to look at an exclusive interview Blackstone CEO（首席执行官）, Stephen Schwarzman, gave Caixin, looking at what he sees are the challenges and opportunities of investing during the coronavirus pandemic.

CIBIL: I really need some hints on how to invest the gold I receive from performing on the podcast, so please tell me what insights he revealed.

JOSH: Schwarzman thinks it is important to realise the global economy will not just return to how it was before the pandemic and that it will affect different companies in different ways, saying quote: “The interesting thing is what’s going to come out first, (and) what’s going to come out last,” end quote.

CIBIL: He then went on to give examples of companies that have experienced solid growth during the pandemic like home shopping and entertainment services for people sitting at home. While he thought post pandemic there will probably be a smaller high fashion industry because people have gotten used to wearing casual clothes at home. And he also said it’s unwise to invest in things that require people to travel by air, as people will be more cautious about taking an airplane before there is a vaccine for the virus.

CIBIL: So, invest in home shopping. Invest less in high fashion and divest（放弃） from air travel – got it!

JOSH: I’m not sure he was as definitive as you are being – but that might be why he has been at the top of one of the world’s top private equity（私募股权） companies for 30 years – while we are both humble journalists.

JOSH: In fact a lot of his interview stressed taking a balanced approach. So, while he said the pandemic could usher in changes to global supply chains, he said the changes would not be quote “dramatic”.

JOSH: And again he said it is important to look at different industries. It’s likely, he thinks, that the supply chains most affected will be for essential things like pharmaceuticals as countries couldn’t get supplies of certain goods they needed when China closed its borders.

CIBIL: OK. Now the thing that’s almost always creeping back on the show. What does he think about China-US relations?

JOSH: While acknowledging the world’s two largest economies reached a truce in their trade war with a phase one trade agreement（第一阶段贸易协议） in January he thinks the coronavirus pandemic has created a lot of anxiety in the U.S., possibly exacerbating the situation between the two countries, saying quote “that kind of frustration and nowhere to direct it is what’s led to intensification,” end quote.

JOSH: He admits there would inevitably be geopolitical friction as China’s wealth and power grows, but, at the same time thinks it is valuable for people outside of China to learn in depth about the country as an important rising power. And in truth that is an approach he has been taking since at least 2013 when he founded the international scholarship（奖学金） program Schwarzman Scholars at China’s elite Tsinghua University which aims to prepare young leaders to help foster greater understanding between China and the rest of the world.

CIBIL: So, he has basically been ahead of the curve for years. Did he give any hints as to how we can be ahead of the curve? 



JOSH: Unfortunately not – but you can read more of his exclusive interview online on our website.

CIBIL: Ok, cheers Josh. Well, how about we at least stay ahead of the curve when it comes to China’s business news? Let’s check out what else has been making headlines today.

JOSH: China’s Vice Premier Liu He said on Tuesday that the State Council would dispatch a team to investigate mass resignations at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Physical Science in Hefei, East China’s Anhui province. On Sunday, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the world’s largest research body, sent a task force to its Hefei branch in response to various media reports that more than 90 nuclear scientists resigned en masse in June. The cause of the collective resignation is unclear. According to Chinese media reports, two key factors may have contributed to the move. One is that the institute could not secure big research projects due to a lack of funds（缺乏资金）, and the other is that the scientists were “poached,” leaving for better jobs.

CIBIL: South African mobile operator Vodacom Group has selected Alibaba-owned Alipay as the technology provider for its upcoming WeChat-like app. Vodacom’s new offering will help South African users manage business and day-to-day activities. According to a Vodacom statement, the app will grant small and medium-sized enterprises access to a litany of financial services such as lending（借贷） and insurance.

JOSH: The Nikkei Asian Review reports that trade between North Korea and China plummeted close to 70% on the year between January and May. The huge drop comes after North Korea shut its to border to lower contagion risks promptly after the coronavirus crisis erupted in its larger neighboring nation. By temporarily closing its borders to foreign nationals, Pyongyang has had to make do without a critical source of foreign currency（外国货币）. Imports into the East Asian nation have also been limited.

CIBIL: And that completes today’s Caixin China Biz Roundup. Goodbye and Zaijian.

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