Situation 3 Payment by Installments

A： 我想您是史密斯先生吧？ 您好！

B： How do you do! I’m Smith from the United States.

A： 我的名字叫张强，是中国技术进口公司的。这是我们第一次见面，我很高兴。其实我们是老朋友了，在过去的函电往来中，我经常见到你的名字，只是未见其人罢了。

B： This is my first visit to your great country and I am deeply impressed by what I have seen in the last two days.

A： 你到这儿已经两天了，到各处看了看吧？

B： Yes,I’ve been hanging around the city,and have visited some famous historical sights.I enjoyed the visits very much.

A： 你喜欢我们的城市，我很高兴。史密斯先生，在付款问题上你给我们带来了什么好消息吗？

B： Well,in our correspondence with you,we explained the reason why we could not accept your proposal that payment be made each time you receive shipment.You know,the complete plant which you intend to buy from us will be a huge factory,involving machines and equipment as well as the necessary accessories and parts.The manufacture of all this will consume both time and money.And time also means money in another sense.In short,it involves a tremendous sum of money which is beyond our means.

A： 史密斯先生，我们所要买的这个成套设备是不小，但你要说你们公司的财务负担不了，那恐怕是过谦了吧？谁都知道你们公司是世界上有名的几家大跨国公司之一，在十多个国家有三十几处分号，我们要买的这个成套设备对你们说来根本算不了什么。

B： But you should understand,Mr.Zhang,a subsidiary of the transnational corporation does not mean the corporation itself.Each part is independent with regard to finance and accounting.However,this does not mean no financial help between the head office and the subsidiary exists.Of course,this has to be approved by the highest authority of the transnational corporation—the board of directors.They can authorize the necessary aid to a branch.

A： 我能够理解，跨国公司的财务和记账都要单独进行核算的。在我们中国，现在出现了各种法律实体企业，不管他们是什么所有制，但企业内部各单位也要实行独立核算，自负盈亏的。就你们这个跨国公司的分号来说，我们是了解的，单独制造我们要买的这些成套设备也是毫无问题的，况且必要的时候你们总部还会给予财务帮助呢。我相信你们总部的董事听说你们在与中国做生意，在批准财务帮助方面是会给予有利的考虑的。

B： Oh,that’s true,only partially though.But you see,even if our head office gives our branch any financial aid,interest has to be paid just the same.It’s like a loan from a commercial bank.So,in that case,our own money would be tied up in your plant while we had to pay interest to the head office for the money borrowed from them.

A： 史密斯先生，我得提醒你，我们在上次电子邮件中表示接受你们的最后一次报价时，就考虑了我们付款较晚这样一个因素，也就是说，我们现在双方同意的价格，比按正常付款方式的定价是偏高一些的。

B： But we did not expect the payment to be effected after you actually receive the goods.It’s even more unfavorable to us than the D/P terms,and besides,we haven’t any banker’s guarantee.

A： 关于银行保证，我们可以请中国银行担保。你有什么具体建议吗？

B： Yes.I propose that payment should be made by installments,that is,after each shipment,we will send you the B/L and other necessary documents through our bank and yours—the Bank of China.As long as the documents are in order you should effect payment without delay.In order to ensure payment,the Bank of China should hand us a written letter to the effect that they will guarantee the payment if the buyer fails to do so.The Bank of China can either give one letter of guarantee for the whole transaction,or give separate letters of guarantee for separate installments.Either way,the letter of guarantee should reach us two months before shipment is due,as stipulated in the contract.

A： 我不想对你的建议立即做出评论。我们要研究一下，还要跟中国银行商量。但我的初步印象是，形式上虽然是D/P付款方式，实际上与信用证的供款方式区别不大，只是将信用证改成银行保证函。从某种意义上讲，对卖方更有利，因为银行保证函是银行直接保证付款，而信用证则是银行受开证人的委托而开出的，其保证程度还没那么直接，你说是吧？

B： You may understand it in that way,but a letter of guarantee won’t require you to deposit the money in the bank.

A： 恐怕向银行申请出具保证函所付的钱，不会少于存入银行一定数额款项所产生的利息。你的建议我们得计算计算，研究后再给你答复。你后天来一下吧，好吗？

B： The day after tomorrow,that’ll be Friday.O.K.,I’ll be here again at 10:00 a.m.

A： 好的，再见。