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【中文标题】外国公司在中国为何会抓狂
【原文标题】Why ForeignBusinesses in China Are Getting Mad
【登载媒体】时代周刊
【来源地址】http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2017024,00.html
【译者】yangfuguang
【声明】本翻译供Anti-CNN使用，未经AC或译者许可，不得转载。
【译文】
在中国的外国公司对该国日渐封闭的市场环境的沮丧之情与日俱增——这是一个官僚式的迷宫，很多人认为它是蓄意要排除非中国竞争者，增加本地竞争者的优势。上周在中国的欧盟商务司也加入了这种讨论：它的年度报告——很广泛，包含650页——列举了在一系列行业中（中国）对外国公司市场准入的限制。该组织的主席Jacques de Boisséson说，限制外国公司和中国公司的竞争，中国也是受害者。他说：“欧盟在中国的投资只占欧盟对外投资的3%，这明显不足”。
随着中国经济的繁荣，外国对中国的直接投资在逐步增加，但不像很多人想的那样多。欧洲对中国的出口在2008年时是784亿欧元，比上一年增加了9%。但是，该组织（它代表着1400加国际企业）表示，像瑞士这样的小国出口却增加了3倍。尽管中国开放外资投资已经过去30年了，该报告写道：“中国依旧过分计划，对其他主要经济体的开放竞争不足”。
尽管国际投资者已经抱怨了多年他们必须要跳过这个官僚式的圈套来进入中国市场，他们目前还是对中国一系列看似要禁绝国外投资者的政策感到担忧。de Boisséson说，他们要求欧洲公司在进入中国市场时有更多的资本，我们想告诉（中国政府）的是，我们的公司愿意到中国去，为了这个目标，我们要确定中国人公平地对待我们。现在情况是，好像不是那样的公平。
他们的担忧不是没有根据。在09年早期，一系列被我们熟知的名为本土创新发展的政策建议，当它的草案显示似乎通过一系列严苛的申报制度来禁绝外国公司在高科技领域的投资时，在跨国公司中引起警觉，这些申报制度包括，在其他地方申请知识产权前，要先在中国申报知识产权。在六月的一份报告中，华盛顿的美国商务办公室表示，这个政策被很多跨国技术公司认定是在大规模的盗取技术，这在世界上是米有先例的。
尽管后来该法律的草案更加灵活，外国公司依旧抱怨连连，在利润丰厚的政府采购中，他们被排除在外。美国和多数欧洲公司都在世贸组织的政府采购协议上签了字，然而中国并没有签。去年，欧洲商务司表示，中国政府在快速增加的风能领域的招标时蓄意通过只允许中国公司参加来使外国公司出局。该组织也注意到，在政府5840亿美元的经济刺激计划中的25份高价值合同中，没有一份落入外国公司手中。
这种氛围似乎没有改善的迹象。在六月，欧洲两大公司惊动了北京，他们直接向温家宝总理诉苦，他们表示外国公司正在受到不公正的歧视待遇。Jürgen Hambrecht是巴斯夫（德国化工企业）主管，他告诉中国领导人，他的公司被强迫，如果他们想要接到这笔生意的，他们就要把技术转让给中国。这不是我们想要的合作关系，这是引用他的话。在这次会议上，西门子的主管Peter Loescher抱怨在政府采购中，中国公司被给予了无限的优势。
同月，通用首席执行官Jeffrey Immelt在谈论到中国不断恶化的市场环境时，他在私下是这样表示的：“我真的担心中国，我不确定他们想要我们中的哪一个赢或是成功”。这是他在罗马参加一个高级管理人员的会议时，向听众讲的。
在中国的美国商务司也对这种担忧很头疼。“对于高科技领域，国际贸易以及那些严重依赖知识产权的领域，很担心未来的商业环境，因为规范的政策改变了，限制了市场准入”，该组织的主席Christian Murck,说，“抱怨主要集中在中国依旧是未来投资的首选，但当然未来投资要看在多大范围内外国公司可以参与”。
不断出现的不满已经使中国领导人头疼，在最近他们一系列的讲话来表明他们愿意公平对待外国公司。中国副主席习近平本周在一次讲话中对外国公司表示：“中国在积极为外国公司建立更加开放和有利的投资环境。我们已经调整了本土创新的定义，保证外国公司也是中国制造业的一部分”。
De Boisséson承认北京在描述一个美丽的图景，但他担心领导人的甜言蜜语并不是法律。他说：“我们愿意一些坚实的步伐，可以显示中国已经团结在这种政策之下。他补充道，中国不能再假设多出十亿的潜在客户的诱惑会消除外国公司关于市场环境的担忧。De Boisséson说：“如果有一天，境况变得对欧洲公司不能接受时，我认为他们应该改变他们的计划。商业上没有什么是永恒的”。
【原文】
Foreign businessesin China are voicing growing frustration about the country's heavily regulatedmarket — a bureaucratic maze many say is designed deliberately to hamstringnon-Chinese players to the advantage of their local competitors. Last week theEuropean Union Chamber of Commerce in China joined the chorus:its annual position paper, an unwieldy, 650-page tome,lists hundreds of market-access problems for foreign companies across a rangeof industries. By stymieing open competition between local and foreignbusiness, China is hurting itself too, says the organization's president, Jacquesde Boisséson. "The proportion of European investments to Chinacompared to the overall outbound investment from the E.U. is only 3%," hesays. "There is not enough European investment in China."
Direct foreigninvestment in China has been growing in step with the nation's booming economybut not as quickly as many would like. Europe's exports to China totaled € 78.4billion in 2008, a rise of 9% from 2007. But, says the European chamber, whichrepresents 1,400 international businesses, trade with the small nation ofSwitzerland is still three times as high. Despite the 30 years that have passedsince Beijing swung open the doors to foreign investment, "China stillremains excessively regulated and less open to competition compared to othermajor economies," the paper reads.
Thoughinternational investors have complained for decades about the bureaucratichoops they have to jump through to access the China market, their concerns havebeen sharpened in recent years by a series of regulatory changes that appeardirectly intended to shut out foreigners. They've made European companies waryof committing more capital to the China market, says de Boisséson. "Whatwe are telling [the Chinese government] is that our companies are willing toinvest, and for that, they need to be sure that they will be treated equally.Today they are concerned that this wouldn't be the case."
Their concerns arenot unfounded. In early 2009 a set of policy proposals known as IndigenousInnovation Accreditation caused alarm among international businesseswhen early drafts seemed to shut the door to foreign products across thehigh-tech industry through a complicated licensing system that requiredcompanies to register their IPR in China before registeringelsewhere in order to qualify. In a report this June, the Washington-based U.S.Chamber of Commerce said the policies were "considered by manyinternational technology companies to be a blueprint for technology theft on a scale the world has never seenbefore."
While subsequentdrafts of the law have been more accommodating, foreigners have also complainedloudly that they are being shut out of much of the lucrative governmentprocurement sector. The U.S. and most other Western markets are signed up tothe World Trade Organization's government procurement agreement, legally forbiddingthem to keep foreigners out. China, however, is not signed up. Last year theEuropean chamber stated that government tendersin the fast-growing wind-power sector were deliberately designed to keepforeign companies out of the running by inserting criteria that only Chinesecompanies could meet. The organization also noted that not one of 25 valuablecontracts awarded to companies under the government's $584 billion stimuluspackage went to a foreign-owned company.
The atmospheredoes not appear to have improved. In July the heads of two of Europe's largestcompanies caught Beijing off guard by complaining directly to Premier WenJiabao that foreign businesses were being unfairly discriminated against.Jürgen Hambrecht, chief executive of BASF, told the Chinese leader that hiscompany was being forced, by the regulations it had to accept in order to setup certain businesses, to transfer technology to China in order to access theChina market. "This is not our idea of a partnership," he was quotedas saying. At the same meeting, Peter Loescher, chief executive of Siemens,complained about the uncompetitive advantage given to domestic companies in theawarding of public procurement contracts.
That same month,GE's CEO, Jeffrey Immelt, sparked a p.r. crisis when remarks he made inprivate about the deteriorating market environment in China were leaked:"I really worry about China ... I am not sure that in the end they wantany of us to win or any of us to be successful," he was quoted in theFinancial Times as saying to an audience of top Italian executives in Rome.
The AmericanChamber of Commerce in China has also echoed these concerns. "For thehigh-tech sector, the ITC industry and industries that are heavily dependent onintellectual property, there is a great concern about the operating environmentin the future, because of the regulatory-policy changes and narrowing of marketaccess," says Christian Murck, the organization'spresident. "Companies say that China remains their top priority for futureinvestment, but of course that future investment will depend on the degree towhich there is scope in the market for foreign companies to operate."
The very publicairing of grievances has clearly rattled China's leaders, who have made an equallywell broadcast show of placating foreign investors in recent days. "Chinais actively engaged in making a more open and better investment environment forforeign businesses," Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping assuredinternational investors in a speech this week. "We have adjusted ourdefinition of 'indigenous innovation' and confirm that foreign businesses arepart of China's manufacturing force."
De Boissésonacknowledges that Beijing is talking a good game, but he cautions that sweetwords from the leadership do not always translate into law. "We would liketo see concrete steps on the ground that show all China is united around thispolicy," he says, adding that China can no longer assume that the lure ofaccess to more than a billion potential customers will always trump foreigninvestors' concerns about the market environment. "If one day conditionsare unacceptable for European companies, I suppose they might change theirplans," de Boisséson says. "Nothing is there forever." |
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发表于 2010-9-17 13:21
