为确保波音在与空客的竞争中处于有利地位，美国政府不惜动用一切政治资源——为沙特国王打造空军一号、帮土耳其开展太空计划，甚至派大使游说巴林国王。
维基解密：波音空客商战背后的外交较量编辑本段回目录
沙特国王阿卜杜拉要求自己座驾的设施与空军一号比肩。土耳其总统要求奥巴马政府安排土飞行员参与NASA的航天飞行。孟加拉总理施压美国务院重新开通孟国班机赴纽约肯尼迪机场的航线。
Each of these government leaders had one thing in common: they were trying to decide whether to buy billions of dollars’ worth of commercial jets from Boeing or its European competitor, Airbus. And United States diplomats were acting like marketing agents, offering deals to heads of state and airline executives whose decisions could be influenced by price, performance and, as with all finicky customers with plenty to spend, perks.
在如此纷繁要求的背后，领导人们有一个涉及数十亿美金的共同考量：买波音还是买空客。这帮政府要员和航空公司总裁虽腰缠万贯却眼光挑剔，不仅考虑价格、性能等因素，而且希望获得特殊待遇。此时，美国外交官们便开始扮演销售代理人角色。
This is the high-stakes, international trading bazaar for large commercial jets, where tens of billions of dollars are on the line, along with hundreds of thousands of high-paying jobs. At its heart, it is a global wrestling match fought every day by executives at two giant companies, Boeing and Airbus, in which each controls about half of the global market for such planes.
大型客机贸易在全球市场中是一桩高风险的买卖，涉及千百亿美金的流动和数万高薪职业者的饭碗。本质上讲，它是各占市场半壁江山的两大飞机制造业巨头，波音与空客间的全球角力。
To a greater degree than previously known, diplomats are a big part of the sales force, according to hundreds of cables released by WikiLeaks, which describe politicking and cajoling at the highest levels.
维基解密披露的数百份密电显示，美外交官曾百般游说、利诱外国政府首脑，在飞机销售中的作用远超以往想象。
It is not surprising that the United States helps American companies doing business abroad, given that each sale is worth thousands of jobs and that their foreign competitors do the same. But like the other WikiLeaks cables, these offer a remarkably detailed look at what had previously been only glimpsed — in this case, the sales war between American diplomats and their European counterparts.
美国政府照顾本国公司境外生意无可厚非，毕竟这涉及到数千就业岗位，而且外国政府也在这么做。然而，这些密电详细勾勒出之前曾被一笔带过的事件：美欧外交官间的销售大战。
The cables describe letters from presidents, state visits as bargaining chits and a number of world leaders making big purchases based, at least in part, on how much the companies are willing to dress up private planes.
密电显示，领导人很多通信及国事访问的内容都是就飞机买卖讨价还价。此外，不少外国领导人以飞机购买大单为筹码，要求美国政府为自己升级座驾。
The documents also suggest that demands for bribes, or at least payment to suspicious intermediaries who offer to serve as “agents,” still take place. Boeing says it is committed to avoiding any such corrupt practices.
密电还披露，在波音各地商业活动中，经常有中间人自告奋勇充当“专员”，向公司索要佣金或贿赂。波音则一直拒绝类似腐败行为。
State Department and Boeing officials, in interviews last month, acknowledged the important role the United States government plays in helping them sell commercial airplanes, despite a trade agreement signed by the United States and European leaders three decades ago intended to remove international politics from the process.
在上月一次访谈中，国务院官员与波音高层承认，虽然根据30年前美欧签署的协议，商业活动应剔除政治因素，美国政府仍然在波音飞机的销售过程中扮演重要角色。
The United States economy, said Robert D. Hormats, under secretary for economic affairs at the State Department, increasingly relies upon exports to the fast-growing developing world — nations like China and India, as well as those in Latin America and the Middle East.
负责经济事务的助理国务卿霍尔玛斯说，美国经济正日益依赖对新兴发展中国家的出口，如中国、印度以及拉美中东的部分国家。
So pushing sales of big-ticket items like commercial jets, earth-moving equipment or American-made power plants (or stepping in to object if an American company is not being given a fair chance to bid) is a central element of the Obama administration’s strategy to help the United States recover from the recession.
所以，推动客机、堆土设备、电厂等高价商品的出售（或在美公司在竞标遭不公平待遇时政治介入）成为奥巴马带领美国走出衰退的一项核心战略。
Boeing earns about 70 percent of its commercial plane sales from foreign buyers, and is the single biggest exporter of manufactured goods in the United States. Every $1 billion in sales — and some of these deals carry a price tag of as high as $10 billion — translates into an estimated 11,000 American jobs, according to the State Department.
波音公司收入的70%来自外国客户，是美国制造业最大的出口商。据美国国务院统计，波音每10亿美金订单（有时数额可达百亿）可转化为11000个本土就业岗位。
“That is the reality of the 21st century; governments are playing a greater role in supporting their companies, and we need to do the same thing,” Mr. Hormats, a former top executive at Goldman Sachs, said in an interview.
“在21世纪，政府在本国企业发展中的支撑作用日益突出，美国不能回避这个事实”，高盛前首席执行官霍尔玛斯在访谈中称。
Said Tim Neale, a Boeing spokesman, “The way I look at it, it levels the playing field.”
波音发言人赛义德-蒂姆-尼尔认为政府支持本国企业“使竞争更加公平”。
But Charles A. Hamilton, a former Defense Department official who is a consultant to Airbus, said the government’s advocacy undermined arguments by Boeing and the United States that Airbus had an unfair advantage because of its subsidies from European governments.
不过，前国防部官员、空客顾问汉密尔顿指出，波音和美国政府曾指责空客从欧洲政府补贴中获取不正当优势，现在这种言论不攻自破。
“The bottom line is anything goes to get the business,” said Mr. Hamilton, adding that he was speaking for himself, and not as a representative of Airbus. “If they feel like they are losing, they will do just about anything to save a deal.”
“现在的底线是，只要能做成生意可以不择手段”，汉密尔顿说，强调这只是个人而非空客的观点，“如果发现交易面临失败，他们会采取一切方式使之成交”。
Airbus executives would not discuss details of their own sales campaigns — and the WikiLeaks documents are mostly focused on the United States sales efforts. But one Airbus official, who was not authorized to speak on the record, conceded that, international agreements aside, “commercial jet sales are not totally decoupled from political relationship building.”
空客领导层不愿细谈自己的销售活动，而维基解密也主要关注美国在销售中的行为。一位不愿透露姓名的空客官员承认，尽管与美国达成过协议，“客机销售也无法与政治操作完全脱钩”。
One example of the horse-trading involved Saudi Arabia, which in November announced a deal with Boeing to buy 12 777-300ER airliners, with options for 10 more, a transaction worth more than $3.3 billion at list prices.
最近一起销售大战发生在沙特，后者在11月宣布与波音公司签署协议，将购买12架波音777-300ER客机，并有意向再购买10架同类机型。
That announcement was preceded by years of intense lobbying by American officials.
这项决议宣布之前，美国官员曾进行长达数年的游说。
One pitch came from the highest levels, the cables show. In late 2006, Israel Hernandez, a senior Commerce Department official, hand-delivered a personal letter from President George W. Bush to the Jeddah office of King Abdullah, urging the king to buy as many as 43 Boeing jets to modernize Saudi Arabian Airlines and 13 jets for the Saudi royal fleet, which serves the extended royal family.
密电显示，其中一次游说涉及到双方最高领袖。2006年底，美国商务部高官赫尔南德斯向沙特国王阿卜杜拉转交了一封布什总统的亲笔信。信中要求国王购买43架波音客机以完成沙特航空现代化，并另购13架客机服务于不断扩充的皇室家庭。
The king read the letter from Mr. Bush, the State Department cable says, and announced that Boeing jets were his favorites. He said he had just turned down two new planes Airbus offered, opting instead for a slightly used Boeing 747.
国务院电文显示，阿卜杜拉看过信后，宣称波音是其最爱。他说自己刚刚拒绝了两架崭新的空客，而选择了一架用过的波音747。
But before he would commit to a mostly Boeing fleet, the king had a request.
但在一切最终得到落实之前，国王提出一个要求。
“I am instructing you,” he told Mr. Hernandez politely, according to the State Department cable, “to speak to the president and all concerned authorities,” as the king “wanted to have all the technology that his friend, President Bush, had on Air Force One.” Once he had his own high-tech plane, with the world’s most advanced telecommunications and defense equipment — the king told Mr. Hernandez that “ ‘God willing,’ he will make a decision that will ‘please you very much.’ ”
国务院电文透露，国王指示赫尔南德斯“告知总统及相关部门”，希望“能像好友布什一样，享受到空军一号那样的待遇” 。阿卜杜拉最终得到了配备世界顶级通讯和防御设施的高科技座驾，他对赫尔南德斯说，“感谢真主，祂做了一个令你们满意的决定”。
A State Department spokesman confirmed last week that the United States had authorized an “upgrade” to King Abdullah’s plane, adding “for security reasons, we won’t discuss specifics.”
国务院发言人上周证实，美国确曾为沙特国王“升级”座机，但“出于安全因素，不便透露更多细节”。
Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheik Hasina Wazed, was equally direct in making a connection for the landing rights at Kennedy Airport, as a condition of the airplane deal, which was then at risk of collapsing.
孟加拉国总理哈兹纳-瓦兹德在与波音洽谈濒临破裂之际，直接要求美政府开通孟国航班赴肯尼迪机场航线，以换取客机订单。
“If there is no New York route, what is the point of buying Boeing?” a November 2009 cable quotes Ms. Hasina as saying as she pressed American officials on details related to the deal. The deal with Boeing went through — and was hailed as the largest capital purchase in the history of Bangladesh.
据2009年11月的密电引述，哈兹纳女士就交易细节向美国官员施压时曾说：“若不开通纽约航线，买波音飞机还有什么意义？”最终，孟加拉国签署购买协议，被誉为本国史上最大一笔资产采购。
So far, flights by the country’s national carrier, Biman Bangladesh Airlines, to New York have not been restored.
不过到目前为止，孟加拉航空飞往纽约的航线尚未恢复。
The request from Turkey for a slot on a future NASA flight came early last year, as Turkish Airlines was considering buying as many as 20 Boeing jets.
土耳其要求本国宇航员参与NASA航天飞行一事发生在2010年初，其时土航正计划购置20架波音客机。
The government there owns slightly less than half of the airline, but Turkey’s minister of transportation, Binali Yildirim, in a January 2010 meeting with the United States ambassador to Turkey, made clear that the country’s president wanted help with its fledgling space program and perhaps assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration to improve its aviation safety systems.
尽管土政府旗下的航空业务不及国家总量的一半，但该国交通部长利姆在去年1月会见美国大使时转达土总统口信，希望美国联邦航空管理局提升土耳其航空安全系统，并对其羽翼未丰的太空计划给予帮助。
“Cooperation in this area will create the right environment for commercial deals,” Mr. Yildirim told the United States ambassador, the cable says.
“在该领域合作将为两国贸易创造有利环境”，利姆对美国大使说。
In a cable back to Washington, James F. Jeffrey, then the United States ambassador to Turkey, called the effort by Turkish authorities to link the Boeing deal to political requests an “unwelcome, but unsurprising degree of political influence in this transaction.” But he went on to say that authorizing the F.A.A. to help Turkey improve its aviation safety and space exportation programs could benefit both nations.
时任美国驻土耳其大使杰弗里在一封发往华盛顿的电文中，认为土政府购买波音附带政治要求“令人反感”，但承认“政治力量介入商业活动也不是什么新鲜事”。他紧接着写道，授权联邦航空管理局提升土耳其航空安全系统并帮助其发展太空计划对双方都有利。
“We probably cannot put a Turkish astronaut in orbit, but there are programs we could undertake to strengthen Turkey’s capacity in this area that would meet our own goals for improved aviation safety,” he wrote. “In any case, we must show some response to the minister’s vague request if we want to maximize chances for the sale.”
“我们也许不能把土耳其飞行员送上太空，但为了实现我们自身的空中安全目标，美国可在相关领域帮助土耳其开展一些项目”，他写道。“不管怎样，如果要促成（波音）这桩买卖，我们最好对这位部长的无厘头要求作出些许回应。”
The deal was announced a month later, as Turkish Airlines placed an order for 20 Boeing planes.
一个月后，买卖做成了。土耳其航空宣布购买20架波音飞机。
Some sales come to Boeing in part because foreign political leaders want to show friendship to the United States.
有时，外国领导人选择波音是为了显示本国与美国的友好关系。
King Abdullah II of Jordan, a longtime ally and recipient of billions of dollars in United States aid, told the American ambassador in 2004 that “even though the latest Airbus offer was better than Boeing’s he intended to make a ‘political’ decision to have Royal Jordanian buy Boeing aircraft,” a State Department cable said, although the United States still had to help Boeing secure the deal.
约旦国王阿卜杜拉二世是美国长期盟友，得到后者数百亿美金的援助。据国务院密电披露，他2004年对美国大使说，“尽管空客报价优于波音，但自己出于政治考量，决定为约旦皇家航空购买波音飞机”。后来，为了达成这笔交易，美国政府还是费了些心思。
The cables show that the United States government is willing to pull out all the political stops if Boeing is in danger of losing a big deal to Airbus.
密电显示，一旦波音大单有被空客夺走之虞，美国政府会毫无顾忌地政治介入。
In late 2007, the board of Gulf Air, the national airline of the oil-rich kingdom of Bahrain, picked Airbus for a huge sale.
2007年底，石油富国巴林的国家航空公司——海湾航空，经董事会决议，将花巨资购置空客飞机。
Boeing told the American government, which responded that there was still a way to turn the deal around, even though Airbus had offered the planes for about $400 million less than Boeing.
波音将此事上报美国政府。后者回应称，尽管空客开价比波音低4亿美金，买卖仍有峰回路转的可能。
“The contest remained far from over,” said the cable. “Gulf Air’s selection still needed to be endorsed by the government.”
“事情还远没结束”，电文如是说，“海湾航空的购买计划仍需得到政府批准”。
The American ambassador at the time, Adam Ereli, and his chief economic officer, went into action, “lobbying Gulf Air management, board members, government officials and representatives of parliament,” and appealing directly to the crown prince of Bahrain, in an effort to line up a deal for Boeing that could be final in time for a coming visit by President Bush, the first visit by a sitting United States president.
时任美国驻巴林大使艾力里及其主要经济官员立即展开行动，“对海湾航空管理层、董事会成员、政府要员、议员展开游说”，并直接向巴林王子情愿，为波音公司争取订单，以便不久后布什总统来访时签署协议。这是首次有在任美国总统访问巴林。
Within two weeks, the embassy alerted Boeing officials that the crown prince and king of Bahrain had rejected Airbus’s offer and directed Gulf Air’s chairman to make a deal with Boeing that could be signed while Mr. Bush was in the country.
不到两周时间，使馆便通知波音公司，巴林国王和王储已拒绝空客报价，并指示海湾航空董事会与波音签署购买协议，以便在布什来访时签署。
Seeing that Airbus had been outmaneuvered, France’s president, Nicolas Sarkozy, personally made a last-minute bid to save the deal, the State Department cable says. He offered to visit Bahrain after Mr. Bush had left, but that stop-over was canceled when the Boeing agreement was signed in January 2008. None of the last-minute diplomacy was disclosed.
电文显示，法国总统萨科齐不甘看到空客落于下风，并以个人名义发起“最后一分钟公关”，表示愿紧跟布什脚步访问巴林，以图保住空客大单。最终，波音还是在2008年1月赢得订单，萨科齐的巴林之旅也就未能成行。这段“最后一分钟公关”的详情，至今尚未披露。
The cables make clear that both Boeing and the United States government set limits on their efforts, turning away requests in Turkey and Tanzania to hire “agents” who charge steep commissions — or as some called them, bribes — to gain access to top government or airline officials who would decide which plane to buy.
电文清楚表明，波音和美国政府对公关行为划下红线。在土耳其和坦桑尼亚，曾有当地人提出以高额佣金——或用某些人的话说，贿赂——雇佣专员打通政府首脑和航空公司决策者的渠道，但遭波音拒绝。
Mr. Neale, the company spokesman, says that for Boeing, “it is not just a matter of abiding by U.S. law and laws internationally but a general sense of business ethics.”
波音公司发言人尼尔说：“（行贿）不仅违反美国和国际法规，而且不符合最基本的商业伦理”。
When such requests surfaced, Boeing often reported them to the State Department.
此类现象一旦出现，波音多会向国务院汇报。
“ ‘Agents’ and steep ‘commissions’ have been at the heart of several corruption scandals here,” says a 2007 State Department cable recounting a demand that Boeing hire a mysterious hotel executive in Tanzania to serve as a “go between” with government officials. Payments like that, the cable said, typically were bribes that “ended up in Swiss bank accounts.”
2007年，坦桑尼亚曾有人要求波音雇佣一位身份不明的酒店经理充当公司与当地政府间的联络人，国务院电文谈及此事写道：“该国很多贪腐丑闻都是由所谓专员和高额佣金造成的”。这类佣金是典型的贿赂，电文称，“它们最终会流向瑞士银行帐户”。
维基解密称美外交官为波音公司卖飞机编辑本段回目录
国际在线专稿：据美国《纽约时报》3日报道，维基解密网站最新公布的美国外交密电中显示，美国外交官形同波音飞机公司在外国市场的营销代理，在为其公司服务兼职卖飞机，而且为了与欧洲空中客车(Airbus)竞争，美国政府也会尽量满足客户的要求以及提供更优惠的价格。
报道称，波音公司的业务中70%来自海外，飞机的采购案动辄数百亿美元，每争取到10亿美元的订单，就意味着在美国创造1.1万个就业机会。这是一场美国波音飞机公司以及欧洲空中客车公司之间的角力，他们目前各自控制着全球商用喷气式飞机的大约一半的份额。尽管美国和欧洲领导人在三十年前的贸易协定中规定不以政治行为介入商用飞机的销售，但双方外交官在台面下却各出奇招。
机密电报中显示，掌握飞机采购权的各个外国元首也趁机提出五花八门的要求，比如沙特国王希望能有一架同美国总统奥巴马一样具有高科技设备的“空军一号”；土耳其总统希望美国太空船能给土耳其宇航员让一个位置，让土耳其宇航员列席其中一起上太空；而孟加拉国女总理哈西娜的条件则是让孟加拉航空公司取得在纽约肯尼迪国际机场的降落权。在2009年的一封电报中，哈西娜表示：“如果没有飞纽约的航线，那为什么还要买波音飞机？”
维基解密网站发布的机密电报还显示，美国外交官正在更大程度上成为销售团队的组成部分。鉴于每项销售交易都意味着能创造数千个高薪工作岗位的事实，美国政府帮助本国公司在海外做生意并不令人感到惊讶，而且其海外竞争对手也在做同样的事情。这些文件还表明，索贿要求仍时常发生，或至少是公司向自告奋勇充当“代理人”的可疑中间人支付钱款。波音公司对此表示，该公司承诺会避免任何此类腐败事情的发生。(李冉)
参考文献编辑本段回目录
http://news.sina.com.cn/w/p/2011-01-04/101621755385.shtml
