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BEIJING — As tensions rise between the United States and China in the high-tech realm, even a merger of two American wireless providers has become entangled in fears about losing international competitiveness.
北京——随着美国和中国在高科技领域的紧张局势持续升温，即使是两个美国无线供应商的合并，都牵扯到国际竞争力损失方面的担忧。
T-Mobile and Sprint announced on Sunday that they would combine. By joining forces, the two mobile carriers said, they would help ensure that American companies remained world leaders in the coming era of fifth-generation wireless technology, or 5G.
周日，T-Mobile和Sprint宣布它们将会合并。两家移动运营商表示，通过携手合作，他们能确保美国公司在即将到来的第五代无线技术——又称5G——时代中保持世界领先地位。
The implication: Failure to keep up in 5G would give China and Chinese firms the edge.
言下之意是：跟不上5G时代，就会让中国和中国公司抢占先机。
Many analysts believe that such talk is merely aimed at persuading the Trump administration to approve the deal. Regulators blocked a previous merger attempt by the companies, worried that fewer wireless providers would lead to higher prices.
许多分析人士认为，这样的话语只不过是为了说服特朗普政府批准交易。因为担心无线供应商的减少会导致价格上涨，监管部门阻止了此前的一次合并。
“They kept pointing to China on the call, but that is just a nice way to grease the skids,” said Will Townsend, an analyst with Moor Insights and Strategy, a research firm based in Texas, referring to a T-Mobile conference call with reporters and analysts on Sunday.
“他们在电话里一直在拿中国说事，但这只是一种为了使事情顺利发展的漂亮办法，”德克萨斯州穆尔咨询和战略公司(Moor Insights and Strategy)的威尔·汤森(Will Townsend)说，他所指的是T-Mobile周日时与记者和分析师进行的电话会议。
The focus on China does raise tricky questions for Sprint’s controlling shareholder, the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank, which buys telecom equipment from Chinese manufacturers. Still, most experts agree that the deal would produce a healthier company, one with more financial resources to pursue 5G. And where the rivalry in advanced industries between the United States and China is concerned, the prize is significant.
这种对中国的关注，令Sprint的控股股东——向中国制造商购买电信设备的日本集团公司软银(SoftBank)——面临棘手的局面。不过大多数专家仍同意这笔交易将创造一个更加健康的公司，有更多可以用来发展5G的财力。而要是考虑到美国和中国之间在先进行业内竞争，回报将是十分诱人的。
It is not just the ultrafast video downloads and web surfing that such networks could provide for consumers. Rather, it is the whole range of future economic and technological opportunities — from self-driving cars to smart cities and factories — that they could open up.
这种网络不只能为消费者提供极速的视频下载和上网体验，还涵盖了它能开启的所有未来经济机遇和科技机遇——不论是无人驾驶汽车，还是智能城市和智能工厂。
“It’s hard to argue that 5G is not key to the next five to 10 years,” said Chris Lane, a telecom analyst in Hong Kong with Sanford C. Bernstein. “Strategically, if you’re the U.S. and you’re trying to plan industrial policy, this deal makes sense.”
“5G是往后5至10年内的关键，这是不容争辩的事实，”桑福德-伯恩斯坦公司(Sanford C. Bernstein)驻香港的电信分析师克里斯·莱恩(Chris Lane)表示。“从战略上说，如果你是美国人，并且你在努力制定工业政策，那这笔交易很有必要。”
Mobile carriers in China have already announced bold plans to roll out 5G networks, and the creation of a new American wireless giant would be unlikely to affect them. China Mobile, which has nearly 900 million wireless customers, is aiming to begin large-scale 5G trials in several Chinese cities this year.
中国的移动运营商已经宣布了铺设5G网络的大胆计划，而合并而成的美国无线新巨头也不太可能对它们产生什么影响。拥有将近9亿无线网络用户的中国移动今年正致力于在中国的几个城市开始大规模的5G测试。
Other Chinese companies are still vulnerable to American pressure, though. In particular, the United States government has placed restrictions on one giant Chinese supplier of the equipment that will make those new networks possible, and is investigating another.
不过，其他中国公司仍然容易受美国的压力影响。特别是，美国政府已对一家在新网络铺设中扮演重要角色的中国设备供应巨头实施了限制，还在对另一家进行调查。
For years, Huawei and ZTE have been unable to sell to large American wireless operators over security concerns. But the Department of Commerce recently went further, blocking ZTE from using American-made components for seven years, saying the company had failed to reprimand employees who violated American sanctions against Iran and North Korea.
多年来，出于安全考虑，华为和中兴一直无法向美国大型无线运营商出售产品。但美国商务部最近又进一步阻止了中兴在七年内使用美国制造的零部件，称该公司未能惩罚违反了美国对伊朗和朝鲜制裁禁令的员工。
ZTE now faces the prospect of being unable to manufacture network gear during the years in which wireless providers in China and elsewhere will most likely be building 5G networks. Huawei, meanwhile, faces an continuing inquiry related to violations of American trade controls.
现在，在中国和其他地区的无线供应商很可能会打造出5G网络的这些年内，中兴可能将无法制造网络设备。与此同时，华为也一直在接受违反美国贸易管制方面的调查。
Serious disruption to either company’s business could mean a boon for their main rivals in telecommunications equipment, Nokia of Finland and Ericsson of Sweden.
两家公司业务受到的严重干扰，对他们在电信设备业的主要对手——芬兰的诺基亚(Nokia)和瑞典的爱立信(Ericsson)来说，可能是一个福音。
It could also put SoftBank in an awkward position.
这也会让软银陷入尴尬的境地。
“SoftBank has been working with ZTE in Japan, but now they have to try to find other partners,” said Tsutsumu Ishikawa, an independent expert in Tokyo who covers the mobile industry.
“在日本，软银一直在与中兴合作，但他们现在不得不去找其他合作伙伴了，”在东京报道移动产业的独立专家石川温(Tsutsumu Ishikawa)说道。
As T-Mobile and Sprint seek Washington’s blessing for their union, the Trump administration might even require that SoftBank drop Huawei and ZTE as suppliers, said Mr. Lane of Bernstein. Masayoshi Son, SoftBank’s founder, has also cultivated personal ties with President Trump.
伯恩斯坦公司的莱恩说，在T-Mobile和Sprint寻求华盛顿批准它们合并时，特朗普政府甚至可能要求软银不再把华为和中兴作为供应商。软银创始人孙正义(Masayoshi Son)也和特朗普总统建立起了私交。
“If the administration for whatever reason doesn’t want Chinese suppliers of network equipment in Japan, either — and it’s possible — then I’m sure Masa would be willing to compromise,” Mr. Lane said, using Mr. Son’s nickname. “I think he’s quite pragmatic.”
“不管出于什么原因，如果政府也不想让中国网络设备供应商出现在日本——这是有可能的——那么我相信Masa愿意妥协，”莱恩说。“我认为他很务实。”Masa是孙正义的昵称。
A SoftBank spokeswoman declined to comment.
软银发言人拒绝置评。
As much promise as 5G seems to hold for tomorrow’s economy, it is not clear that technologies such as driverless cars will have matured by the time the new mobile networks are ready. That means carriers in the United States and China may be racing to build infrastructure more quickly than the technology that would make best use of it is developing.
尽管在未来的经济中，5G似乎前景看好，但不清楚到新的移动网络准备就绪时，诸如无人驾驶汽车这样的技术是否已经成熟。这意味着，美国和中国的运营商现在竞相修建基础设施，但将来利用这些设施的技术的发展速度可能滞后。
At a recent Huawei summit meeting in the company’s home city, Shenzhen, executives sounded eager to tame sky-high hopes for 5G, describing the technology as an evolution and not a revolution.
最近，华为在其深圳总部举行的一场领导会议上，高管们似乎都急于淡化对5G的过高期望，称这项技术只是一种进化，而不是一场革命。
“We do have expectations for 5G, but the expectations are not as great as everyone imagines,” said Eric Xu, Huawei’s deputy chairman. “Because we have implemented 4G very well, we don’t see many clear applications that can only be supported with 5G.”
“我们对5G不是没有期望，但是期望没有大家想象的那么大，”华为轮值首席执行官徐直军说。“而且由于现在4G网络很好，必须靠5G支持的应用还不是很明显。”
Doubts about the technology’s near-term usefulness are also why telecom carriers outside China and the United States, as well as other notable exceptions like Japan and South Korea, are moving toward the 5G age more cautiously.
中美之外的电信运营商，以及日本和韩国等其他重要特例向5G时代迈进时更加谨慎，也是因为怀疑这项技术在近期内是否有用。
“A lot of people are genuinely struggling to figure out, ‘What is the business case for 5G?’” said Ramakrishna Maruvada, a telecom analyst in Singapore with Daiwa Capital Markets. “Most operators do not think faster consumer broadband is a good enough reason to be pursuing a huge leap in technology.”
“很多人真的想不明白，‘发展5G的商业理由是什么？’”大和资本市场公司(Daiwa Capital Markets)驻新加坡的电信分析师罗摩克里希纳·马鲁瓦达(Ramakrishna Maruvada)说。“大部分运营商并不认为更快的消费者宽带是追求巨大技术飞跃的充分理由。”
