国际英语新闻：Foreign, Chinese firms' tax burdens unified

According to the Ministry of Commerce, China's FDI grew from January to October by 16 percent from a year earlier, and October is the 15th consecutive month that the FDI registered positive growth since the start of the financial crisis.

The European Chamber of Commerce in China said that foreign companies are gradually being treated the same as their local counterparts, sending a strong signal that China's investment environment and policies are maturing, and that European companies have been well prepared for the change. "We have no reason to complain about the additional taxes," said a chamber staff who declined to be named.

"But we will be paying close attention to how China will continue opening to foreign businesses in the future," the person said.

The European Chamber of Commerce in China released a confidence survey in June, revealing that 70 percent of its member companies believe China will be among their top three investment destinations in five years.

The new tax measure comes after China's investment environment was widely criticized by foreign businesses in recent months. Their complaints partially led to China calling off super-preferential policies during the past few years.

In 2007, China unified the corporate income tax on domestic and foreign companies at 25 percent. Previously, foreign firms paid a 15 percent corporate income tax rate, 18 percentage points lower than their Chinese counterparts. The move was a turning point in the super-preferential policies that internationals enjoyed for about two decades.

In April, China launched a new FDI guideline in which the government encourages foreign companies to invest in the service and high-tech sectors instead of manufacturing, and to invest in China's central and western regions.