纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英硅谷风投公司逐渐撤离中国

DCM Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm, began investing in China’s start-ups in 1999. The move reaped such blockbuster returns that in 2021, DCM said it planned to “double down” on its strategy of investing in China, the United States and Japan.

硅谷的风险投资公司DCM Ventures于1999年开始投资中国的初创企业，并获得了巨大的回报，因此，该公司在2021年表示计划“加倍努力”，实施在中国、美国和日本的投资战略。

Yet when DCM set out to raise money last fall for a new fund focused on very young companies and promoted its “cross-Pacific” expertise, the firm described plans to invest in the United States, Japan and South Korea, according to a fund-raising memo that was viewed by The New York Times.

然而，根据《纽约时报》看到的一份融资备忘录，去年秋天，当DCM开始为一只专注于非常年轻的公司的新基金筹集资金，并宣传其“跨太平洋”的专业知识时，该公司描述了在美国、日本和韩国投资的计划。

China was not mentioned.

该公司没有提及中国。

DCM’s messaging is one example of an industrywide shift happening between Silicon Valley investors and Chinese start-ups. U.S. venture capital firms that once saw China as the next frontier for innovation and investment returns are backing away, with some separating their Chinese operations from their American business and others declining to make new investments there.

DCM所传递出的信息是硅谷投资者与中国初创企业之间正在发生的全行业转变的一个例子。曾经将中国视为创新与投资回报下一个前沿的美国风险投资公司正在退出，一些公司将中国业务与美国业务分开，还有一些公司则拒绝在中国进行新的投资。

The about-face stems from the tense relationship between the United States and China as they jockey for geopolitical, economic and technological primacy. The countries have engaged in a trade war amid a diplomatic rift, enacting tit-for-tat restrictions including U.S. moves to curb future investments in China and to scrutinize past investments in sensitive sectors.

这种180度的转变源于中美两国在争夺地缘政治、经济和技术领先地位时的紧张关系。两国在外交分歧中展开了贸易战，实施了针锋相对的限制措施，包括美国限制未来在中国的投资，以及审查过去在敏感行业的投资。

“It was an incredibly fruitful partnership for a long time,” Tomasz Tunguz, an investor at Theory Ventures, said of how U.S. venture firms had invested in China. Now, he said, most investors are “looking for places to invest those dollars because that market is effectively closed.”

“在很长一段时间里，这是一个非常富有成效的合作伙伴关系，”理论创投的投资人托马什·通古兹谈到美国风投在中国的投资情况时说。他表示，现在大多数投资者都在“寻找可以把这些资金投出去的地方，因为这个市场实际上已经关闭了”。

A spokeswoman for DCM said that its strategy had not changed and that investments in China had always been “a smaller component” of its funds focused on very young companies. The firm is monitoring U.S. regulations on China to comply, she added.

DCM的一位发言人表示，该公司的战略并没有改变，在其专注于非常年轻的公司的基金中，对中国的投资一直是“一个较小的组成部分”。她还说，该公司正在关注美国对中国的规定，以确保合规。

In Washington, actions to limit investing in China have piled up. President Biden signed an executive order last year restricting investments from U.S. firms in Chinese start-ups working on artificial intelligence, quantum computing and semiconductors.

在华盛顿，限制对华投资的行动越来越多。拜登总统去年签署了一项行政命令，限制美国公司对从事人工智能、量子计算和半导体的中国初创企业进行投资。

This month, a congressional committee investigation sharply criticized five U.S. venture firms in a report that outlined their investments in Chinese companies that helped facilitate human rights abuses and built weapons for the Chinese military. The committee did not accuse the firms of breaking the law, but urged lawmakers to pass legislation further restricting such investments.

本月，国会一个调查委员会在一份报告中严厉批评了五家美国风投企业，该报告概述了它们对中国公司的投资，这些中国公司参与促进侵犯人权的行为，并为中国军方制造武器。该委员会没有指责这些风投企业违反了法律，但敦促立法者通过立法进一步限制此类投资。

“We can’t afford to keep funding our own destruction,” said Representative Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin, the Republican chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

“我们不能再为毁灭自己提供资金了，”威斯康辛州众议员、众议院美国与中国共产党战略竞争特设委员会主席、共和党人迈克·加拉格尔说。

Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, the top Democrat on the committee, said Congress might look at other areas where U.S. venture capitalists had invested in China, including biotech and financial technology.

该委员会民主党领袖、伊利诺伊州众议员拉贾·克里希纳穆尔蒂表示，国会可能会关注美国风投在中国投资的其他领域，包括生物技术和金融科技。

The intensifying scrutiny has prompted U.S. venture firms to make changes. Last year, Sequoia Capital, one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent investment firms, which has invested in China since 2005, separated its Chinese operation into an entity called HongShan. The firms, which shared profits and other administrative operations, now run independently.

越来越严格的审查促使美国风投企业做出了改变。去年，硅谷最著名的投资公司之一，自2005年以来一直在中国投资的红杉资本将中国业务拆分为一家名为红杉中国的实体。这两家公司曾经共享利润和其他行政运作，现在则独立运营。

GGV Capital, another venture capital firm with a long history of investing in China, said in September that it would separate its American and Asian operations. It is also trying to sell its holdings in two companies that the congressional committee determined were helping the Chinese military.

另一家长期在中国投资的风险投资公司纪源资本9月份表示，将把美国和亚洲业务分开。该公司还试图出售在两家公司的股份，前述国会委员会认为这两家公司在帮助中国军方。

Deals for Chinese start-ups that included U.S. investors declined 88 percent between 2021 and 2023, from $47 billion to $5.6 billion, according to PitchBook, which tracks start-ups.

跟踪初创企业的PitchBook的数据显示，在2021年至2023年期间，包括美国投资者在内面向中国初创企业的交易减少了88%，从470亿美元降至56亿美元。

The moves are a painful step backward for the venture capital industry, which spent the last decade transforming from a cottage industry into a global force. China was an important part of that expansion, with firms including Lightspeed Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures and Matrix Partners entering the country.

对于风投行业来说，这些举措是痛苦的倒退。过去10年，风投行业从一个家庭作坊式的行业转变为一支全球性的力量。中国是这一扩张的重要组成部分，光速创投、红点创投和经纬创投等公司都进入了中国。

Silicon Valley venture capitalists “made a whole bunch of bets that the U.S. and China were converging,” said Matt Turpin, a former director for China at the National Security Council and visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution.

美国国家安全委员会前中国事务主任、胡佛研究所访问研究员马特·特平说，硅谷的风险资本家“曾下了大赌注，认为美国和中国正在趋于一致”。

Some China-watchers trace the shift in sentiment against Chinese tech investments to 2016, when the U.S. commerce secretary at the time, Penny Pritzker, issued a warning about unfair competition from China in the semiconductor industry.

一些中国观察人士认为，反对中国科技投资情绪的转变始于2016年，当时的美国商务部长彭妮·普里茨克对中国在半导体行业的不公平竞争发出了警告。

John Chambers, who was chief executive of the networking giant Cisco and had expanded the company’s operations in China, said he had seen the Chinese government interfering more aggressively with multinational businesses by the time he stepped down in 2015. Now a start-up investor, he has chosen not to invest in Chinese start-ups and has strongly encouraged his 20 portfolio companies to not do business there.

曾任网络巨头思科首席执行官，并扩大了该公司在华业务的约翰·钱伯斯表示，在2015年卸任时，他已经看到中国政府更加积极地干预跨国企业。如今，作为一名初创企业投资者，他选择不投资中国的初创企业，并强烈建议自己投资的20家公司不要在中国开展业务。

“You can see the security concerns and a government that has become win-lose,” Mr. Chambers said.

 “你可以看到安全方面的担忧，以及一个已经变成追求非胜即败的政府，”钱伯斯说。

The difficulties of investing in China increased in 2020 when President Donald J. Trump tried to ban TikTok, which is owned by a Chinese conglomerate, ByteDance. Two of ByteDance’s U.S. investors, Sequoia and General Atlantic, lobbied members of the Trump administration to let the company strike a deal so TikTok could operate in the United States.

2020年，特朗普总统试图禁止中国企业字节跳动旗下的TikTok，加大了在华投资难度。字节跳动的两家美国投资者红杉资本和泛大西洋投资公司游说了特朗普政府的成员，让该公司达成一项协议，以便TikTok可以在美国运营。

Last year, the congressional committee began investigating investments in China by Sequoia, GGV and three other U.S. venture capital firms: GSR Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and Walden International. It concluded that they had invested $3 billion in technology that wound up helping the Chinese military and surveillance state, as well as other human rights violations.

去年，前述国会委员会开始调查红杉资本、纪源资本和另外三家美国风险投资公司——金沙江风险投资公司、高通风险投资公司和华登国际——在中国的投资。调查得出的结论是，这些公司在技术方面投资了30亿美元，最终为中国军方和政府监控，以及其他侵犯人权的行为提供了帮助。

The committee’s report said the firms had offered more than just money, helping the Chinese companies go global and recruit talent, providing management expertise and mentorship, and giving them credibility.

该委员会的报告称，这些公司提供的不仅仅是资金，还帮助中国企业走向全球、招募人才、提供管理专业知识和指导，并且给这些公司带来了信誉。

One such Chinese company was Megvii, a facial recognition firm backed by GGV. The United States has blacklisted Megvii for its use in surveillance of the Uyghurs in China’s western Xinjiang region. The United States has also blacklisted Yitu, a chip and facial recognition company backed by Sequoia’s China arm.

由纪源资本支持的面部识别公司旷视科技就是这样一家中国公司。美国已将该公司列入黑名单，原因是它的技术用于监视中国西部新疆地区的维吾尔人。美国还将由红杉中国支持的芯片和面部识别公司依图科技列入了黑名单。

The report, using an abbreviation for the People’s Republic of China, added that some Silicon Valley venture firms noted Beijing’s “strategic priorities and P.R.C. government support as a positive factor weighing in favor of investment in their internal memos.”

该报告称，一些硅谷风投公司在内部备忘录中指出，北京的“战略优先事项和中国政府的支持是有利于投资的积极因素”。

In response, Sequoia and GGV pointed to the separations of their China businesses and divestitures in the region and said they had complied with the law. GGV said it was trying to sell its stake in Megvii, for example. Qualcomm said its venture capital arms’ investments were less than 2 percent of the funds discussed in the report. Walden International and GSR Ventures did not respond to requests for comment.

作为回应，红杉资本和纪源资本指出它们已经剥离了在华业务和资产，并表示它们遵守了相关法律。例如，纪源资本表示，正试图出售在旷视科技的股份。高通表示，其风险投资部门的投资不到报告中讨论资金的2%。华登国际和金沙江创投没有回应置评请求。

Any separation of a venture capital business is complicated. The firms invest from funds that last for 10 years. Some firms, including Sequoia, hold investments even longer. Selling stakes in young companies can be difficult since the companies are privately held. Some investors have said Beijing has pressured them not to sell their shares in Chinese companies.

任何风险投资业务的分离都是复杂的。这些公司的基金投资期限为10年。包括红杉资本在内的一些公司持有投资的时间更长。出售年轻公司的股份可能很困难，因为这些公司是私人持有的。一些投资者表示，北京向他们施压，要求他们不要出售所持中国公司的股票。

Beijing’s practice of enlisting companies for its own purposes, like aiding in surveillance and modernizing its military, has created further challenges.

北京为了自己的目的而招募公司，比如协助政府进行监视和军队现代化，这种做法带来了进一步的挑战。

“These are not private sector companies in the traditional sense of the word,” Representative Krishnamoorthi said. “It’s just a whole different type of entity than we’ve ever seen before.”

“这些不是传统意义上的私营企业，”克里希纳穆尔蒂众议员说。“这是一种与我们以前所见完全不同的实体。”

Josh Wolfe, an investor at Lux Capital, a venture capital firm based in New York and Silicon Valley, said it was unfair to punish U.S. firms for assumptions made about their investments in China years ago.

总部位于纽约和硅谷的风险投资公司Lux Capital的投资人乔希·沃尔夫说，基于美国公司多年前在华投资所做的假设而惩罚它们是不公平的。

“But it would deserve scrutiny if, as U.S. investors, they more recently disregarded the growing moral, technological, economic and military conflicts we face” with China, he said.

“但作为美国投资者，如果他们最近还无视我们与中国之间日益增长的道德、技术、经济和军事冲突，那就值得审视了，”他说。