海外對中国直接投資減少

A few weeks ago the NHK News on-line reported the following:

中国への直接投資 減少に転じる

8月18日 23時15分

中国のことし１月から先月までの海外からの直接投資は、去年の同じ時期と比べて減少に転じ、人件費上昇などを背景に製造業を中心に投資を控える動きが広がっていることがうかがえます。

中国商務省の発表によりますと、ことし１月から先月までに、海外の企業が中国に工場を造るなどの直接投資の金額はおよそ７１１億ドルと、去年の同じ時期に比べて０．３％減り、年明け以降の増加傾向から一転して減少に転じました。国別では、日本からの直接投資が、日中関係の冷え込みなどもあって去年の同じ時期より４５．４％の減少とほぼ半減の状況が続いているほか、ＥＵ＝ヨーロッパ連合が１７．５％、アメリカからが１７．４％それぞれ減少し、マイナス幅が拡大しています。
これは、主に人件費の上昇で、製造業を中心に中国進出の負担が年々大きくなっていることによるものです。中国政府は、生産設備の合理化など経済の構造改革を進めるなかで、製造業の投資が減少するのはやむをえないとしたうえで、所得の増加傾向を反映してサービス業で投資の伸びを期待していますが、内需に力強さを欠くなか、政府の思惑どおりに伸びるかは不透明です。
一方、中国では最近、外資系企業に対する独占禁止法違反の調査が相次いでいて、それが投資に影響を及ぼしているという指摘もありますが、商務省は「独占禁止法違反の調査は関係ない」という見方を示しました。

(試譯文)

In China the overseas direct investment from January to last month started to decrease compared with the same period last year; against the background of rising personnel-expenses etc. it was imagined that this year the trend of refraining from making investment centering on the manufacturing industry would expand.

According to the announcement of China’s Department of Commerce, from January this year up to last month, the amount of direct investment money from overseas company to build factories in China was about 71,100 million dollars, being a decrease of 0.3% compared with the same period last year. From an upward tendency since the beginning of this year, it turned around into a decrease. By country, because of the cooling Japan-China relations etc. the direct investment from Japan, compared with same time last year, was a reduction 45.4%, being a continuous situation that reached almost 50%. Also for EU- the European Union it decreased by 17.4%, and the United States by 17.5% respectively, and the margin of decline was expanding.

This was mainly due to an increase in personnel expenses, and the cost of advancing into China centering on the manufacturing industry became bigger every year. While the Chinese government was advancing structural reform in the economy, such as rationalizing production facility, it was unavoidable that investments in the manufacturing industry decreased. Although an expected growth in investment in the service sector would reflect a trend of increasing income, as the strength in domestic demand was lacking, it was unclear whether it would grow according to the government’s expectation.

On the other hand, in China recently there were a lot of investigations towards foreign-affiliated firms over the violation of Anti-Monopoly Law, and it was pointed out that there were indications that it had affected investment. Yet the Department of Commerce expressed the view that " the investigation on the violation of Anti-Monopoly Law is not related".

So, overseas investment in China has decreased.