中國威脅要處罰美國汽車製造商

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製造商的壟斷行爲，一些分析師稱，此舉是北京方面發出的一個警告，矛頭指向給雙邊關係帶來緊張的美國當選總統唐納德.特朗普(Donald Trump)及其領導的新一屆行政當局。

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.

掌握實權的中國監管機構——國家發展和改革委員會(NDRC)的價格監督檢查與反壟斷局局長張漢東昨日在接受採訪時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》，調查人員發現這家汽車製造商早在2014年就指示經銷商固定價格。

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，這一採訪的時機可能與特朗普支持臺灣有某種關聯。

The government chose this timing because this is a transitional period for US-China relations, said Zhong Shi, an independent automotive analyst in Beijing.

政府選擇了這個時機，因爲現在是美中關係的一個過渡期，北京的獨立汽車分析師鍾師表示。

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.

在那麼多公司中挑出美國公司作爲執法對象，說明中國正在採取先發制人的行動，表明北京方面有能力控制貿易。

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，任何人都不應該對處罰時機或對象有錯誤解讀，並強調說，中外企業的反競爭行爲都會受到追究。

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.

兩週前，特朗普打破近40年的外交慣例，接聽了臺灣領導人蔡英文(Tsai Ing-wen)的道賀電話，此舉引起北京方面不快，後者認爲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.

上週末，特朗普更進一步，質疑一箇中國政策，美國正是按照這項政策在1979年撤銷對臺灣的外交承認，轉而承認北京方面。

China hit back, saying the policy was the bedrock of relations between the two countries.

中國作出回擊，稱該政策是兩國關係的基石。

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》週二在一篇社評中敦促特朗普考慮中美之間密切經濟關係的重要性，而不是試圖在本質上雙贏的關係中佔上風。

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.

該報稱，歷史證明，對中美關係有利的，對兩國的經濟也有利，並補充稱，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，這與壟斷行爲的說法不符。