China pulls back tax breaks for foreign companies

It’s getting tougher for foreign firms to do business in China. Microsoft was recently caught up in an anti-trust probe.

外国公司在中国的经营越来越难。微软公司最近卷入了一场反垄断调查案。

China is ordering local governments to roll back tax breaks promised to foreign businesses.

中国要求地方政府取消对外资公司的税收优惠政策

Chinese cities have been offering incentives such as lower land prices and tax breaks in recent years to attract foreign investment. It worked: $120 billion poured into China in 2014, and giant multinational firms such as Starbucks (SBUX) and Intel (INTC, Tech30) have set up shop over the years.

近年来，中国的一些城市为吸引外资，采取了一系列土地政策和税收政策来鼓励外商投资。这一举措取得了成效：2014年，中国吸引外资总额达1200亿美元，并有大型跨国公司进驻中国，像星巴克、英特尔等公司在中国设立分支机构。

Now Beijing is ordering municipalities to kill these incentives in a bid to rein in local government spending and control the country’s burgeoning debt.

现在，中国政府下令地方政府缩减开支，减发国债。

The central government "is aware that local debt has been accumulating, so they are worried about that ... [and] they want to make sure that national assets are being used in the best way," said Kenneth Jarrett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai.

中央政府“意识到地方政府债务不断积累，并引发担忧，要确保国有资产使用得当。”美国驻上海总领事季瑞达说道。

The move is most likely to hit manufacturing. Less developed cities that need to work harder than big urban hubs to attract foreign investment could lose out the most, Jarrett said.

这是措施有可能会冲击制造业。一些欠发达城市有可能会失去大部分外资，相比大城市，中小城市吸引外资的难度要大很多，季瑞达说道。

Foreign companies say China is becoming a trickier place to do business. An annual survey of about 500 companies found that 47% say they feel they’re less welcome in China than they were a year ago, up from 44%, according to the American Chamber of Commerce in China.

外国公司则认为在中国开展业务越来越棘手。在华美国商会一份年度调查显示，大约500家受调查的公司中有47%的认为他们在中国不受欢迎，相比去年，这一数字只有44%。

In recent years, China has investigated and fined companies across a range of industries for alleged price-fixing, failing to deal properly with consumer complaints, and more. Major firms such as Qualcomm (QCOM, Tech30) and Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) have been hit by antitrust probes.

近年来，中国以操纵价格、未能妥善处理消费者投诉等众多理由，调查并处罚多个行业的公司。一些像高通和微软的大公司都受到了反垄断调查。

Big drug companies, such as GlaxoSmithKline (GLAXF), have been targeted for bribery and corruption. In one case, a GSK executive was deported from China.

一些大的制药公司，比如葛兰素史克已被列入贿赂腐败案的对象。在该案件中，葛兰素史克的一名高管已被驱逐出中国。

All this serves as a "reminder that China has always been a challenging environment, and it’s not for the timid," Jarrett said. "It’s also a very substantial economy, so that makes it very attractive."

所有这一切都将提醒我们，“中国市场始终复杂多变，富于挑战，不能畏首畏尾。”季瑞达说，“中国同样也是一个非常重要的经济体，因此更具吸引力。”

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来源:China Daily 英语新闻爱语吧作者:Sunmore