【新唐人2014年11月10日讯】11月3号，中国公司赢得了墨西哥的一个高速铁路项目。这被称为中国高铁真正意义上的“海外第一单”。但3天之后，墨西哥总统涅托在即将飞往北京、出席亚太经合组织(APEC)会议之前，突然宣布取消招标结果，原因是招标过程受到了质疑。
当地时间6号晚间，墨西哥通信与交通部长鲁伊斯•埃斯帕萨(Gerardo Ruiz Esparza)在Televisa Network的新闻节目上宣布，总统涅托（Enrique Pena Nieto）刚刚决定撤回墨西哥城与克雷塔罗之间高铁项目的中标结果，将重新招标。埃斯帕萨表示，总统撤销这个合同是因为公共舆论对投标过程产生了“疑虑和担忧”。
此前3天，这份超过37亿美元的高铁合同，被授予了由中国铁建股份有限公司(简称中铁建)，和中国南车股份有限公司(简称中国南车)牵头的唯一竞标方。但政府这一决定招来了墨西哥国内舆论、尤其是反对党的质疑。
英国《卫报》报导，墨西哥反对党、国家行动党的议员指责，这条高铁项目的招标过程缺乏透明度，而且墨西哥政府向中国公司提供信息，来帮助中国企业投标。
在宣布取消投标结果前几小时，墨西哥通信与交通部长埃斯帕萨还在为招标过程进行辩解称：“只有一个投标方并不奇怪，通常此类大型项目平均也只有两个投标方。”
但就在墨西哥总统涅托即将前往北京参加亚太经合组织(APEC)领导人会议之前，这一招标结果突然被取消。
对此，纽约城市大学政治学教授夏明表示，这与涅托政府所面临的国内压力有关。夏明谈到，墨西哥执政党——革命制度党曾失去执政地位长达10几年，重新上台也不过两年时间。
纽约城市大学政治学教授夏明：“革命制度党它本身它的腐败问题也很严重，所以在这种情况下，反对党想利用这个机会对革命制度党进行强烈的批评。我觉着这是直接的一个重要的原因。”
夏明分析，涅托总统之所以在亚太经合组织领导人会议之前取消中方中标，也可能是一种向中方施压的谈判战略。墨西哥政府通过此举告知中共当局：“自己受到反对党、议会的牵制，从而希望在谈判中获得中方的更多让步。”
《华尔街日报》报导，在招标过程中，日本三菱、法国阿尔斯通、德国西门子和加拿大庞巴迪等公司都曾表示对该项目有浓厚兴趣，但因招标时间只有两个月而无法按时递交标书。这几家公司曾要求墨西哥政府延长竞标时间，但遭到拒绝。
美国中文杂志《中国事务》总编辑 伍凡：“你这样的做法，不公开、不透明，其他国家也抗议。墨西哥的反对党和总统之间又摆不平，这事情就闹开了。不管怎么讲，这件事情暴露出来：中共是不惜工本，为了要把这个生意拿下来，想尽一切办法把它（中国高铁）推出去。”
《华尔街见闻》网报导，中国铁路企业海外拓展主要是靠打价格牌，但即使拿下了墨西哥高铁项目，中铁建依然面临很大的财务风险。2009年中铁建承建了沙特轻轨，结果因延误工期而亏损了41亿多元。
《美国之音》中文网报导，中铁隧道集团副总工程师王梦恕曾号称：“中国高铁优质。而实际上，近年来中共当局为刺激经济而大力发展高铁，由此而来的却是事故不断、问题连连。前铁道部长刘志军等中共官员更因贪腐严重而落马入狱。”
夏明：“高铁建设出现是在大概5年到10年不到的时间，却出现了大规模的一些问题，无论是质量问题，还是高铁建设工程的轨道、地基等等问题。所以我觉得，如果要说中国高铁是优质的话，恐怕现在很难证明。”
据报导，连接墨西哥首都和第3大城市克雷塔罗的这条高速铁路，总长210公里，设计时速在300公里以上。项目包括线路设计、施工、高速动车组的设计制造、线路调试和5年的运营维护。工程原计划在明年2月开工，2018年通车运营。
采访/易如 编辑/李谦 后制/李智远
Mexico Abruptly Canceled High-speed Rail Deal With The CCP
On Nov. 3, Mexico’s first high-speed rail construction deal
was awarded to a Chinese-led group.
It was called “the first overseas order"
for China’s high-speed railway industry.
However, only three days later, Mexico president
Enrique Pena Nieto abruptly canceled the deal right before
his departure for Beijing to participate
in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit.
The cancellation was due to “serious doubts, questions,
worries about the legality and transparency
of this bidding process."
This is quite a shock to China’s high-speed railway industry
which is ambitious in overseas expansion.
At 6 p.m. local time, Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Mexico Minister
of Communications and Transportation, announced
on a TV news program that President Nieto just decided
to cancel the tender of high-speed rail plan between
Mexico City and Queretaro and added that
the bidding process would be restarted.
Esparza said the cancellation was made because the public
had “serious doubts and worries" about the bidding process.
Just three days prior, the $3.75 billion bullet train contract
was awarded to the sole bidder, a group led by the China
Railway Construction Corp. and CSR Corporation Limited.
However, the result was then seriously questioned
by Mexico media and the opposite party.
A Guardian report said opposition politicians criticized
the bidding process as having lacked transparency
and legitimacy, as Mexico government had offered tips
to help the Chinese-led group win the bid.
Several hours before the cancellation was announced,
Esparza was still defending the bidding process.
Esparza said it was not unusual to have only one bidder,
as big projects like that normally
had no more than two bidders.
However, right before president Nieto left for Beijing
to attend the APEC summit, the cancellation announcement
was released.
Xia Ming, professor of political science at CUNY,
said the cancellation resulted from domestic pressure
over Nieto administration.
Xia introduced that, the current ruling party Institutional
Revolutionary Party (PRI) had lost its power
for over a decade.
It is only two years since PRI took power again in Mexico.
Xia Ming, CUNY professor of political science: “PRI has
serious corruption problems.
In such a situation, the opposition party will take
the opportunity to seriously attack PRI on corruption issues.
I think this is a key factor that led to cancellation of the deal."
Xia Ming said it could be a strategy to press the Chinese
Communist Party (CCP) for Nieto to cancel the tender right
before his visit to China.
Mexico government may attempt to release a signal
to the CCP that the plan is hampered by oppositions,
such as to push the CCP to making more concessions
in negotiating about the deal.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Mitsubishi (Japan),
Alstom (France), Siemens (Germany) and Bombardier
(Canada) all showed interests in Mexico’s high-speed
rail project.
However, they could not complete bidding documents
in only two months of bidding period.
Those companies had requested for extension
of bidding time but got denied.
Wu Fan, editor-in-chief of China Affairs magazine: “A process
like that is neither open nor transparent.
Other countries will not accept it.
Along with battle between Mexico president and oppositions,
the problem becomes a real one.
In any case, the story clearly reveals how the CCP attempts
to win the project by all means, such as to promote
its high-speed rail to global market."
Wallstreetcn.com reported that the CCP mostly promoted
its high-speed rail industry with low prices.
However, the China Railway Construction Corp. (CRCC)
will still face serious financial risks even
if it eventually wins the Mexico project.
In 2009, CRCC won the contract to build a light rail
in Saudi Arabia.
However, it resulted in a deficit of $670 million
(4.1 billion Yuan) due to construction delay.
A Voice of America (VOA) quoted Wang Mengshu,
deputy chief engineer with China Railway Tunnel Group,
who claimed “China’s high-speed rail is excellent in quality."
But the fact is accidents had frequently occurred
under the CCP’s hasty development of high-speed rail
in seeking economic growth.
Liu Zhijun, former minister for railway, had been put
into prison for extremely serious corruption.
Xia Ming: “The CCP only started to build high-speed railways
less than ten years ago, but there have been some
big problems in construction quality, such as in rail tracks
or groundwork.
So personally I think it is hard to prove right away
that the CCP’s high-speed rail is of high quality."
The high-speed rail connecting Mexico City and Queretaro,
the third largest city in Mexico, is 210 kilometers long,
and is designed to be operated at maximum speed
of over 300 kilometers per hour.
The project includes route design, construction, design
and manufacturing of bullet trains, route commissioning
and five year operation and maintenance.
The construction was originally planned to begin
in February 2015 and complete in 2018.
Interview/YiRu Edit/LiQian Post-Production/Li Zhiyuan
