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In a prelude to an easing of trade tensions between Washington and Beijing, Chinese officials ended a monthslong delay by approving Toshiba’s sale of a majority stake in its lucrative microchip unit to an American-led group.
在华盛顿和北京之间贸易紧张缓解的序幕拉开之际，中国官员批准了东芝将其利润丰厚的微芯片部门的大部分股权出售给一间美国牵头的集团，结束了该交易长达数月的拖延。
A lack of approval by Chinese regulators had held up the deal in what was widely seen as a signal from Beijing about how it might punish American businesses if the Trump administration acted on threats to impose tariffs on $150 billion in Chinese-made goods.
外界普遍认为，缺乏中国监管机构的批准导致交易拖延是北京发出的一个信号，表明如果特朗普政府真像其所威胁的那样，对中国制造的1500亿美元商品征收惩罚性关税的话，中国可能用哪些方式来惩罚美国企业。
In a statement on Thursday, Toshiba said it had received “all required antitrust approvals” for the deal with a consortium led by the United States investment firm Bain Capital. Bain confirmed in its own statement that Chinese authorities had approved the deal.
东芝在周四的一份声明中表示，公司已经收到与美国贝恩资本(Bain Capital)牵头的一个财团进行交易的“所需的所有反垄断审批”。贝恩在自己的声明中证实，中国当局已经批准了这笔交易。
Chinese officials could not be reached for comment late Thursday, and the country’s official media and websites were silent on the matter. The reasons for the approval after the lengthy delay were not immediately clear.
周四晚间，记者未能联系到中国官员请其置评，中国官方媒体和网站也没有报道此事。因此无法马上了解批准的理由、以及当初拖着不批的原因。
The approval was likely to be seen as a positive sign by the Trump administration, and it hinted at the two countries’ efforts to defuse tensions over trade issues. A senior Chinese government official, Liu He, is in Washington for trade talks this week.
特朗普政府很可能把批准视为一个积极的信号。中国批准这笔交易也暗示，双方正在寻找化解紧张局势、达成协议协议的途径。中国政府高级官员刘鹤本周正在华盛顿进行贸易谈判。
The approval of the Toshiba deal came just days after the White House appeared to make its own peace offering to Beijing.
就在中国批准东芝交易的几天前，白宫似乎已向北京献上了自己的和平礼物。
President Trump, in a surprise tweet on Sunday, said he had asked American officials to find a way to help ZTE, a Chinese telecommunications company. Officials in Washington last month prohibited United States companies from selling much-needed technology to ZTE to punish the Chinese company for violating American sanctions against selling goods made in the United States to Iran, North Korea and other countries. ZTE’s factories ground to a halt, spurring anger from Beijing.
周日，特朗普总统出人意料地发推文表示，他已要求美国官员寻找帮助中国电信公司中兴通讯(ZTE)的方式。上个月，华盛顿的官员下令，禁止美国企业卖给中兴其急需的技术，以惩罚这家中国公司违反美国禁止向伊朗、朝鲜及其他国家销售产品的制裁。中兴的工厂陷入停顿状态，引发了北京方面的愤怒。
China’s approval raised questions about another big deal before antitrust regulators: Qualcomm’s $44 billion acquisition of NXP Semiconductors, a company based in the Netherlands. That deal has also been delayedpending Chinese approval, stirring speculation that Beijing was looking for ways to warn Washington of the potential consequences of a full-blown trade war.
中国批准东芝交易引发了人们对另一笔重大交易的问题，这笔交易仍摆在中国反垄断监管机构面前：高通(Qualcomm)想花440亿美元收购总部位于荷兰的NXP半导体公司。这笔交易也已拖延了很长时间，仍在等待中国批准，外界对此的猜测是，北京正在寻找方法警告华盛顿，全面爆发贸易战可能有哪些后果。
The approval of the Toshiba deal will probably come as a major relief for the Japanese conglomerate, which once symbolized the country’s technological might but more recently has been scrambling to survive.
东芝交易的批准，很可能会让这家日本企业集团松一口气。这家日本企业曾经是该国技术实力的象征，但最近一直面临生存问题。
After months of difficult negotiations, Toshiba reached an agreement in September to sell most of its microchip business to a group led by Bain. The deal would give Toshiba $14 billion in cash it desperately needs after a bad bet on nuclear power. Toshiba officials could not be reached for comment late Thursday.
经过数月的艰难谈判，东芝于去年9月达成协议，将自己利润丰厚的芯片业务出售给由贝恩资本牵头的一个财团。这笔交易将让东芝得到140亿美元的现金，东芝押注核电失利后急需现金。记者周四晚间无法联系到东芝官员请其置评。
The Toshiba chip business had been one of the company’s crown jewels. The unit makes a type of microchip, called NAND flash memory, that cellphones and digital devices use to store data. The business is profitable and attracted considerable interest from buyers.
东芝的芯片业务曾是公司皇冠上的一颗明珠。它制造一种NAND类型的快闪存储器，手机和数码设备用之存储数据。东芝的芯片业务仍然盈利，吸引了来自买家的大量兴趣。
Bain and Toshiba are not Chinese companies, but antitrust regulators in China still had considerable say over whether the deal would go through. Like American and European regulators, Chinese antimonopoly officials can punish foreign companies through fines or other measures if they believe a deal beyond China’s borders give the resulting business too much market power.
贝恩和东芝都不是中国公司，但中国反垄断监管机构对这笔交易是否能做成仍有相当大的发言权。与美国和欧洲的监管机构一样，如果中国的反垄断官员认为，一笔中国境外达成的交易将让交易形成的新企业拥有太多的市场力量的话，他们可以通过罚款或其他措施来惩罚有关的外国公司。
China has been flexing those relatively new regulatory muscles in recent years as it becomes a major consumer of the world’s goods.
近年来，随着中国成为全球商品的主要消费国，中国也一直在施展其相对较新的监管权力。
