预期将成为中国执政的共产党下届领导人的习近平对外国投资者日趋高涨的抱怨声浪作出回应，他向外国投资者保证，中国将继续营造开放、公平的环境，欢迎他们开展业务。
中国国家副主席、胡锦涛的既定接班人习近平周二在一个投资论坛上表示，中国政府将采取“有力”措施，确保中国“继续致力于成为全球最具吸引力的投资东道国”。
习近平作出此番表态之际，正值众多行业及国家的投资者对中国的经营环境提出越来越直言不讳的批评。
这些企业指出，中国对外来投资存在各种有歧视性的政府做法和监管障碍，政府采购规定偏向于国内企业，中国缺乏一套透明而独立的司法体系。
除了北美和欧洲企业的抱怨外，日本也对在中国开展经营的问题变得更加直言不讳。
上月在北京举行的一次高层经济会议上，日本外务大臣冈田克也(Katsuya Okada)“非常坦率地”告诉中国领导人，日本企业在中国开展经营时仍面临“各种障碍”。他指出，日本企业在当地法庭难以打赢官司，还遭遇猖獗的知识产权侵权。
冈田克也表示，中国的官方工会未必始终为工人们代言，这个事实使日本企业难以防范劳资关系麻烦。“我表示，我希望他们努力解决这个问题，”冈田克也告诉记者。
不过，中国领导人似乎对此类游说无动于衷。日本官员援引中国总理温家宝的话称，外资企业劳资纠纷的背景是，这些企业提供的工资待遇“相对较低”。
尽管习近平在多数问题上坚持了北京方面的官方立场，即外资面临的投资环境并没有恶化，但针对海外投资者的各项关切，他展示了和解与同情的态度。
“随着中国开放型经济不断发展，外商在华投资必将获得更加广阔的空间和更加丰厚的回报，”他在周二表示。
他的言论呼应了温家宝上周的语调。当时温家宝承认，中国政府仍有一些工作需要完成，但他希望营造一个鼓励投资的环境。
温家宝和其他官员都着重提到，官方统计数据显示，今年流入中国的外国直接投资(FDI)快速增长，预期将超过1000亿美元，高于去年的大约900亿美元。
但是，去年中国收到的外国投资有60%经由香港，分析师们表示，这些数据难以说明国际投资者对投资中国的偏好。
这在一定程度上是因为，有相当大一部分外资是中国大型国有企业海外子公司汇回国内的资金，还有一大块极有可能是冒充FDI流入中国的“热钱”，目的是规避中国的资本管制。
习近平表示，目前中国22%的税收、28%的工业增加值、55%的进出口，以及4500万人的就业，都来自外商投资企业的贡献。
“不少在华外商投资企业成为其母公司全球业务的增长亮点和利润中心，”他补充称。
但是，据在华外商组织介绍，外资企业在多数行业的市场份额都在不断流失给中国国内的竞争对手。
过去几个月，多名外企高管，包括跨国工业企业通用电气(GE)、西门子(Siemens)和巴斯夫(BASF)的首席执行官，都曾谈到外企在中国所处的更为艰难的运营环境。
译者/和风
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001034511
The man expected to become the next leader of China’s ruling Communist party has responded to a growing wave of complaints from foreign investors by assuring them the country will remain an open and fair place for them to do business.
Xi Jinping, a vice-president and the heir apparent to Hu Jintao, told an investment forum on Tuesday his government was taking “vigorous steps” to ensure China “remains the most appealing destination for investment in the world”.
His comments come amid increasingly outspoken criticism of China’s business environment from investors in numerous sectors and from a broad range of countries.
These companies point to a wide range of discriminatory government practices and regulatory barriers to foreign investment, government procurement rules that favour domestic companies and the country’s lack of a transparent and independent legal system.
On top of complaints from North America and Europe, Japan has also become more outspoken about the problems of business in China.
At a high-level economic meeting in Beijing last month, Katsuya Okada "very frankly" told Chinese leaders that Japanese companies still faced "all kinds of obstacles" in doing business in China. citing the difficulty they faced winning cases in local courts and rampant intellectual property abuse.
Mr Okada said the fact that Chinese official unions did not always really speak for workers made it difficult for Japanese businesses to prevent labour trouble. "I said I wanted them to work hard to resolve this," the minister told journalists.
However, Chinese leaders have appeared unmoved by such lobbying. Japanese officials quoted Mr Wen as saying that the background to labour unrest at foreign companies was that the wages they paid were "relatively low".
While Mr Xi mostly stuck to Beijing’s official position that things were not getting harder for foreigners, he adopted a conciliatory and sympathetic approach to the concerns of international investors.
“As China’s open economy continues to develop, foreign investment in China will surely enjoy an even broader space and generate even higher profits,” he said on Tuesday.
His comments echo the tone adopted by Wen Jiabao, premier, last week when he admitted the government had some work to do but that he wanted to create an environment that encouraged investment.
Mr Wen and other officials have highlighted official statistics that show foreign direct investment (FDI) in China has been growing rapidly this year and is expected to exceed $100bn this year, up from around $90bn last year.
But 60 per cent of foreign investment to China last year came through Hong Kong and analysts say these figures provide little guidance about the international appetite for investing in China.
That is partly because a large portion is money being moved onshore by the overseas subsidiaries of large state-owned Chinese companies while another chunk is most likely “hot money” coming into the country disguised as FDI to evade capital controls.
Foreign-invested enterprises account for 22 per cent of tax revenues, 28 per cent of added industrial value, 55 per cent of foreign trade and 45m jobs in China, Mr Xi said.
“Many foreign-invested enterprises in China have become the growth engine and profit centre for their parent companies’ global business,” he added.
But foreign companies have been losing market share to domestic Chinese competitors across most sectors, according to foreign business groups in China.
In the past few months, a number of executives, including the chief executives of industrial multinationals General Electric, Siemens and BASF, have made comments on the tougher operating environment for foreign businesses in China.
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