中國威脅要處罰美國汽車制造商

China is threatening to fine a US automaker for monopolistic behaviour in what some analysts are calling a warning by Beijing in response to heightened tension with the incoming US administration of president-elect Donald Trump.

中國威脅要處罰一家美國汽車制造商的壟斷行為，一些分析師稱，此舉是北京方面發(fā)出的一個(gè)警告，矛頭指向給雙邊關(guān)系帶來緊張的美國當(dāng)選總統(tǒng)唐納德•特朗普(Donald Trump)及其領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的新一屆行政當(dāng)局。

Zhang Handong, director of Beijing’s powerful regulator the National Development and Reform Commission’s price supervision bureau, declined yesterday in an interview to name the company.

掌握實(shí)權(quán)的中國監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)——國家發(fā)展和改革委員會(NDRC)的價(jià)格監(jiān)督檢查與反壟斷局局長張漢東昨日在接受采訪時(shí)拒絕說明是哪一家公司。

However, he told the state-run China Daily newspaper said investigators had found that the carmaker had given instructions to its distributors to fix prices as far back as 2014.

然而，他告訴官方的《中國日報(bào)》，調(diào)查人員發(fā)現(xiàn)這家汽車制造商早在2014年就指示經(jīng)銷商固定價(jià)格。

Analysts speculated the timing of the interview may have something to do with Mr Trump’s support for Taiwan.

分析人士猜測，這一采訪的時(shí)機(jī)可能與特朗普支持臺灣有某種關(guān)聯(lián)。

“The government chose this timing because this is a transitional period for US-China relations,” said Zhong Shi, an independent automotive analyst in Beijing. “By targeting the US automakers from among all the companies out there, China is taking pre-emptive action to show that Beijing is capable of taking control of trade.”

“政府選擇了這個(gè)時(shí)機(jī)，因?yàn)楝F(xiàn)在是美中關(guān)系的一個(gè)過渡期，”北京的獨(dú)立汽車分析師鐘師表示。“在那么多公司中挑出美國公司作為執(zhí)法對象，說明中國正在采取先發(fā)制人的行動，表明北京方面有能力控制貿(mào)易。”

However, Mr Zhang said: “No one should read anything improper into the timing of penalty decisions or businesses that are targeted,” and emphasised that both Chinese and foreign businesses were being held to account for anti-competitive behaviour.

然而，張漢東稱，任何人都不應(yīng)該對處罰時(shí)機(jī)或?qū)ο?ldquo;有錯(cuò)誤解讀”，并強(qiáng)調(diào)說，中外企業(yè)的反競爭行為都會受到追究。

Mr Trump a fortnight ago broke nearly 40 years of protocol when he accepted a congratulatory telephone call from Taiwan’s leader Tsai Ing-wen — a move that irked Beijing, which regards Taiwan as an inalienable part of China.

兩周前，特朗普打破近40年的外交慣例，接聽了臺灣領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人蔡英文(Tsai Ing-wen)的道賀電話，此舉引起北京方面不快，后者認(rèn)為臺灣是中國不可分割的一部分。

Last weekend, Mr Trump went a step further and questioned the One China policy, under which the US withdrew diplomatic recognition of Taiwan in 1979 in favour of Beijing. China hit back, saying the policy was the “bedrock” of relations between the two countries.

上周末，特朗普更進(jìn)一步，質(zhì)疑“一個(gè)中國”政策，美國正是按照這項(xiàng)政策在1979年撤銷對臺灣的外交承認(rèn)，轉(zhuǎn)而承認(rèn)北京方面。中國作出回?fù)?，稱該政策是兩國關(guān)系的“基石”。

An editorial in the same paper on Tuesday urged Mr Trump to consider the importance of close economic ties between China and the US, rather than “trying to gain an upper hand in what is essentially a win-win relationship”.

《中國日報(bào)》周二在一篇社評中敦促特朗普考慮中美之間密切經(jīng)濟(jì)關(guān)系的重要性，而不是試圖在本質(zhì)上雙贏的關(guān)系中占上風(fēng)。

“History proves that what is good for Sino-US relations is good for their economies,” it said, adding that Chinese customers bought more than a third of the almost 10m vehicles General Motors sold worldwide last year.

該報(bào)稱，歷史證明，對中美關(guān)系有利的，對兩國的經(jīng)濟(jì)也有利，并補(bǔ)充稱，中國顧客購買了通用汽車(General Motors)去年在全球銷售的近1000萬輛汽車的三分之一以上。

Janet Lewis of Macquarie Securities, speculated that the target could be either Ford or GM, both of which are major automobile sellers to China.

麥格理證券(Macquarie Securities)的珍妮特•劉易斯(Janet Lewis)推測，發(fā)改委的處罰對象可能是福特(Ford)或通用，兩家都是中國汽車市場的大型賣家。

However, both have been aggressively discounting their sales recently, which does not support suggestion of monopolistic behaviour.

然而，這兩家公司近來都在銷售中積極提供折扣，這與壟斷行為的說法不符。