The Indian government is blocking purchases of telecoms equipment from Chinese vendors on national security grounds, ratcheting up trade tensions between Asia's fastest-growing large economies.

　　印度政府正以国家安全为由，禁止从中国企业进口电信设备，导致亚洲增长最快的两大经济体之间的贸易紧张局面进一步激化。

　　The practice has prompted complaints from Beijing and is causing havoc for mobile operators in India, which need enormous amounts of equipment to sustain an industry that is adding 20m new users a month.

　　此举招致北京方面提出抱怨，并导致印度移动运营商陷入混乱——他们需要大量设备来支持这个每月新增2000万用户的行业。

　　“Proposals for procurement of equipment from Chinese original equipment manufacturing vendors have not been recommended due to security concerns,” the Department of Telecommunications wrote this week in correspondence to the Prime Minister's Office seen by the Financial Times. “Therefore, the proposals from the service providers for purchase of Chinese equipment is turned down.”

　　“出于安全考虑，我们不建议从中国电信设备制造商采购设备，”英国《金融时报》看到印度电信部(Department of Telecommunications)在本周致总理办公室的信函中写道。“因此，电信服务提供商提交的采购中国产设备的提案将被拒绝。”

　　India's mobile market has become an important source of revenue for Chinese companies, accounting for about 11 per cent of 2008 turnover at Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies, one of the world's leading telecoms equipment makers.

　　印度移动通信市场已经成为中国企业的一个重要收入来源。在全球领先电信设备制造商之一——深圳华为技术有限公司(Huawei Technologies)，印度市场占据了2008年营业额的约11%。

　　But China's growing trade surplus with India – about $16bn last year – is leading to tensions, with Indian companies complaining that the market is being flooded with cheaper Chinese goods.

　　但是，中国对印度贸易顺差日益增长（去年接近160亿美元）导致两国关系紧张，印度公司抱怨市场正被更廉价的中国产品所淹没。

　　New Delhi has long been accused of blocking the purchase of some Chinese telecoms equipment due to fears Beijing might embed spying devices in its networks.

　　由于担心中国政府会在网络中植入间谍设备，印度政府一直被指阻碍部分中国电信设备的进口。

　　Previously, this practice was thought to be mostly limited to equipment to be installed in India's disputed border regions with Pakistan and China. But in December, the Department of Telecommunications amended its licence conditions for mobile service providers, requiring them to submit all plans for procurement of telecoms equipment from foreign vendors for screening for “security clearance”.

　　过去，这种做法据信大多只限于计划安装在印度与巴基斯坦和中国存在争议的边境地区的设备。但去年12月印度电信部修改了移动服务运营商的执照许可条件，要求它们上交一切进口电信设备的采购计划，接受审查，以获取“安全通行证”。

　　Though the December amendment did not single out China, in practice, security agencies have been blocking applications involving Chinese vendors.

　　尽管12月份的修正案并没有把中国单独提出来，但在实际操作中，安全机构一直在拒绝涉及中国销售商的申请。

　　Indian department officials were unavailable for comment last night.

　　昨天夜里，记者无法联系到印度电信部官员请求置评。

　　Chinese officials were also unavailable for comment. But the correspondence seen by the FT mentioned a request from the Chinese embassy in New Delhi for information on the amendment.

　　中国官员也联系不到。但英国《金融时报》看到的信函提到，中国驻新德里大使馆曾要求提供修正案的相关信息。

　　ZTE, China's second-largest network equipment maker and the fifth-largest worldwide with $750m of turnover in India, said yesterday that it was still investigating the situation.

　　中国第二大、全球第五大电信网络设备制造商中兴通讯(ZTE)昨日表示，对事态的调查仍在进行中。去年中兴在印度营业额达7.5亿美元。

　　“This is apparently not normal commercial behaviour but something related to political factors, and it is not appropriate for us to comment on political issues,” said ZTE.

　　“这明显不是正常的商业行为，而是和政治因素有关，我们不便就政治问题发表评论，”中兴表示。

　　India is the world's second-largest mobile market after China with 584m subscribers.

　　印度是仅次于中国的全球第二大移动通信市场，注册用户达5.84亿人。