China is erecting walls to prevent money, technology and companies from leaving the country.

中国正筑起一道道围墙，阻止资金、技术和企业流出国界。

This week, the State Council, China’s cabinet, announced new rules requiring national security screening for Chinese companies seeking to invest overseas. The move follows regulations introduced in April that allowed the authorities to intervene when foreign companies tried to relocate supply chains out of China.

本周，中国国务院出台新规，要求中国企业进行海外投资前必须接受国家安全审查。此前，中国在4月还出台了规定，允许监管部门在外国企业试图将供应链迁出中国时进行干预。

Taken together, the measures amount to a new blueprint for the economic fortress China is building around its technology and supply chains amid rising tensions with Europe and the United States.

综合来看，上述措施勾勒出中国在与欧美关系日趋紧张之际围绕其技术和供应链构建经济堡垒的新蓝图。

The rules are another sign that the economic principles of open markets and free trade, which have governed much of the world for decades and helped fuel China’s extraordinary rise, are giving way to a more fragmented era.

这些规定也表明，过去几十年来主导全球经济、帮助中国实现惊人崛起的开放市场和自由贸易原则正让位于一个更加碎片化的时代。

From Washington to Brussels, the world’s largest economies are choosing trade barriers over greater economic integration, driven in part by heightened concerns over China’s global dominance in raw materials, manufactured goods and technology, and a surge in Chinese products around the world.

从华盛顿到布鲁塞尔，全球各大经济体正在选择贸易壁垒，而非深化经济一体化，部分原因是出于对中国在原材料、制成品和技术领域全球主导地位，以及中国产品在全球激增的高度担忧。

“We’ve moved away from a world where laws made it easier to allow the flow of capital, people, technology and trade to go around,” said Ben Kostrzewa, a partner and trade expert at Hogan Lovells in Hong Kong.

香港霍金路伟律师行的合伙人、贸易专家本·科斯特泽瓦表示，“我们已经远离了法律致力于促进资本、人才、技术和贸易自由流动的世界。”

“The Chimerica economy envisioned 20 years ago turned out to be chimerical,” he said, referring to the once-popular portmanteau of China and America.

“20年前所憧憬的‘中美国(Chimerica)’经济体最终被证明不过是海市蜃楼，”他说。

Beijing has already offered a preview of what this new era could look like. It blocked Meta’s $2 billion acquisition of Manus, an artificial intelligence company founded by Chinese engineers. It told Chinese refineries sanctioned by the United States not to comply. And it ordered a state-backed security equipment company not to cooperate with European Union investigators.

北京已经提前展示了这个新时代可能的样子。它阻止了Meta以20亿美元收购由中国工程师创办的人工智能公司Manus；要求受到美国制裁的中国炼油企业不要遵守美国制裁规定；并命令一家有国资背景的安检设备企业不要配合欧盟的调查人员。

With each action, Beijing edges closer to a confrontation with the United States and Europe.

每一次行动，都让北京与欧美更近一步走向对抗。

A Focus on National Security

聚焦国家安全

宁波港。全球各大经济体正在选择贸易壁垒，而非深化经济一体化。

Chinese policymakers have been building a growing arsenal of export controls, countermeasures and trade penalties in response to tariffs and other restrictions imposed by foreign governments.

中国的政策制定者一直在不断扩充出口管制、反制措施和贸易处罚工具箱，以回应外国政府加征的关税和其他限制。

The new State Council rules extend that effort to the overseas activities of Chinese companies and outline how Beijing could retaliate against foreign companies and individuals when Chinese investments are restricted.

国务院的新规则把这种做法进一步延伸到中国企业的海外经营活动中，并明确了当中国投资受到限制时，北京如何对外国企业和个人实施报复。

The rules also give the authorities new powers to scrutinize Chinese companies seeking opportunities abroad, subjecting them to national security reviews that place investments into one of three categories: encouraged, restricted or prohibited.

新规还赋予监管部门新的权力，对赴海外寻找机会的中国企业进行国家安全审查，并将相关投资划分为三类：鼓励、限制或禁止。

Part of the motivation for this, lawyers say, is to keep money, talent and intellectual property in fields where China has a competitive edge from leaving the country.

律师表示，这样做的动机之一，是将中国具有竞争优势领域的资金、人才和知识产权留在国内。

Foreign businesses in China worry the measure could be interpreted broadly enough to include data from Chinese operations, which they must provide to international regulators as part of investigations or investment reviews.

在华外国企业担心，这些规定的解释范围可能足够宽泛，以至于涵盖其在华运营的数据，而这些数据是企业依规向国际监管机构提交调查材料或投资审查文件的必要内容。

China also clamped down on outbound investment a decade ago, targeting what it called “irrational” deals by corporate giants seeking trophy assets like the Waldorf Astoria. But those interventions were aimed at reducing financial risks at home and largely involved banking regulators scrutinizing company balance sheets.

十年前，中国也曾严厉限制对外投资，打击企业巨头收购纽约华尔道夫酒店等炫耀性资产的所谓“非理性”交易。但彼时的干预以化解国内金融风险为出发点，主要由银行监管机构对企业资产负债表进行审查。

The new framework is different. Its focus is national security, and the effort is far more coordinated.

此次新框架截然不同。其焦点是国家安全，且协调程度远超以往。

Green Light, Red Light

绿灯与红灯

What is new in the rules unveiled this week is the effort to slow the overseas expansion of Chinese companies.

本周出台的新规最引人关注之处在于试图放缓中国企业的海外扩张步伐。

The measures restrict the movement of certain talent in sectors deemed sensitive, though Beijing has not defined which sectors qualify. They also give officials broader authority to review the movement of capital, including the power to force investors to sell shares or halt investments if national security concerns arise.

这些措施限制敏感行业特定人才的流动，尽管北京尚未明确哪些行业属于敏感领域。与此同时，新规还赋予官员更广泛的资本审查权，包括在国家安全风险出现时强制投资者出售股份或停止投资。

The rules also lay the legal groundwork for regulators to bar foreign entities from investing or operating in China, including expelling them from the country, in retaliation for actions taken by their governments against Chinese investments.

此外，新规还为监管机构提供了法律依据，使其能够禁止外国实体在中国投资或经营，乃至将其驱逐出境，以报复其所在国家针对中国投资采取的措施。

To some experts, the most striking effect of these rules is that they could constrain the ambitions of Chinese companies when they are under intense pressure to find new markets and the country’s exports are reaching record levels.

在一些专家看来，这些规定最值得警惕的影响在于可能束缚中国企业开拓新市场的雄心——中国企业正面临寻找新市场的巨大压力，中国的出口规模也屡创新高。

“China has been encouraging companies to go overseas to set up production facilities, invest and bypass any constraints that may exist on manufacturing in China,” said Lester Ross, a longtime China expert and senior counsel at Wilmer Hale.

长期研究中国问题、现任威凯平和而德律师事务所高级律师的莱斯特·罗斯表示：“中国一直在鼓励企业走出去，到海外设立生产基地、进行投资，以规避在中国制造可能遇到的任何限制。”

Yet these new rules could complicate that, he added.

然而，他补充道，这些新规可能使这一战略趋于复杂。

Chinese officials are calling the new rules a “milestone” for outbound investment. But for many investors, the vague definition of what constitutes a national security concern has led to significant uncertainty.

中国官员将新规称为对外投资的“里程碑”。但对许多投资者而言，何为国家安全关切的定义模糊不清，这已带来了巨大的不确定性。

Déjà Vu?

似曾相识？

The idea that companies or individuals need approval to invest overseas may seem unusual. But China has long restricted money flowing out of the country and currently limits individuals to moving $50,000 abroad each year. That tool has become increasingly important as economic growth has slowed.

企业或个人对外投资须事先获得批准这个概念可能听起来不同寻常。但中国长期以来对资金出境设有管制，目前每人每年向境外转移资金的上限为5万美元。随着经济增速放缓，这一工具的重要性与日俱增。

Nor is China the first country to screen outbound investment. The Biden administration in 2024 imposed restrictions on U.S. financing of Chinese semiconductor, quantum computing and artificial intelligence sectors.

中国也不是第一个审查对外投资的国家。2024年，拜登政府就限制了美国资金流向中国的半导体、量子计算和人工智能行业。

The European Union has also urged its member states to review investments in those same sensitive sectors.

欧盟也敦促其成员国对同样这些敏感领域的投资进行审查。

But unlike the United States and Europe, Beijing has defined national security far more broadly. And its rules are correspondingly more expansive.

不过，与美国和欧洲相比，北京对“国家安全”的定义要宽泛得多，因此相关规定覆盖的范围也更广。

For lawyers and trade advisers, the flurry of restrictions from multiple governments signals the end of an era.

对律师和贸易顾问而言，多国政府密集出台限制措施，标志着一个时代的落幕。

The Chinese government cited “profound changes unseen in a century” as justification for the new State Council rules. The argument resonated with Zhou Yong, a lawyer with Junhe, a Chinese law firm.

中国政府援引“百年未有之大变局”作为出台国务院新规的理由。这一说法引起了中国律师事务所君合的律师周勇的共鸣。

“From a legal standpoint, the restructuring of international business rules has been brought about by great power competition and technological progress,” Mr. Zhou said.

“从法律视角来看，大国竞争与技术进步共同推动了国际商业规则的重构，”周勇表示。

“China,” he added, “hopes to have some tools of its own.”

他补充道：“而中国，也希望拥有属于自己的工具。”