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中国公共新闻摘编：GAN JADE
By CCTV reporter Ai Yang
Sany Group, a privately owned Chinese company, has held a high profile press conference in Beijing. A panel of 9 spokesmen including Sany’s executives, lawyers as well as academics, elaborated on the group’s lawsuit against the US government.
On September 28, US President Barack Obama issued an executive order to block Sany’s wind farm projects in Oregon, citing security concerns. But Sany is now suing Obama and demanding compensation.
With the stakes set so high, nearly a hundred media groups attended the press conference, to hear firsthand what the next step was going to be. During their 2 and a half hour meeting, Sany Group reinforced its determination to carry on with its lawsuit against the US president.
Xiang Wenbo, Director of Board of Sany Group, said, "Sany’s overseas investments are conducted through legal means. We do not pose any security threat whatsoever to the US government, as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States has claimed. We’re forced to file a lawsuit against CFIUS and President Obama who issued the executive order, because they’ve caused us losses and we have been discriminated."
A panel of 9 spokesmen including Sany’s executives, lawyers as well as
academics, elaborated on the group’s lawsuit against the US government.
In late September, Obama blocked the sale of four wind farms near a US Navy testing compound to Ralls Corporation, which is controlled by the Sany Group. The presidential order gave the company two weeks to remove all its property and installations, and 90 days to divest all its interest in the projects.
Sany says the order has already cost it 20 million dollars in direct losses, but more importantly, it says the US government hasn’t clearly stated why Ralls is a threat to its national security. According to the maps included in the court documents filed by Ralls, hundreds of wind turbines are already located close to the Oregon training site, along with a handful of turbines that are already operating within the restricted airspace. Lawyers say Sany’s lawsuit against CFIUS and the US President has unprecedented international implications.
Xia Tingkang, attorney of butter creek turbine project case, said, "This case is a first impression against a CFIUS decision. It’s unprecedented in both Chinese and US history. We understand there are great difficulties ahead for us to win the suit, but we also have confidence in the US justice system. No one should be allowed to exceed his or her authority, even citing the so-called concerns of national security."
The briefing lasted one more hour than scheduled as panellists were much unreserved about their attitudes towards the case. Sany believes Obama’s executive order is not only groundless, but also has shown the typical type of discrimination towards Chinese investors in general.
Niu Xinchun, vice president of China Institutes of Contemporary Int’l Relations, said, "This is not a singular case where the US government finds Chinese investors suspicious. It has a lot to do with economic competition and the distrust of China’s political system and economic structure. Also the election year syndrome has too contributed to the Sany case."
All panelists strongly believe that if Sany ends up losing the suit, it will severely hurt the US government’s reputation among foreign investors, which they say is bad for the American economy. |
