国国务院总理温家宝坦白地警告日本，在华经营的日本企业应该提高工人工资，就威胁中日两国关系的新问题交换了强硬的意见。

European Pressphoto Agency

周日，中国总理温家宝在北京会见了日本外相冈田克也。

温 家宝周日讲话之前日本外相冈田克也（Katsuya Okada）呼吁改善日本企业在华经营环境。周六冈田克也在中日一高级别会议上提出了这一问题。今年中国爆发的一系列劳资纠纷影响了日本许多向中国投资的 著名企业，包括本田汽车（Honda Motor Co.）和丰田汽车（Toyota Motor Corp.）。

日本外务省声明称，温家宝回应日本官员说，中国发生劳资纠纷的背景是一些外资企业工资相对较低，该声明援引温家宝话说，“我们希望（日本政府）能够配合解决问题”。

温家宝的讲话显示了对本田汽车和丰田汽车配件工厂生产工人的同情。工人罢工使汽车生产中断，并令人怀疑这些企业的投资策略，这些公司此前认为中国工人相对听话。

中日会谈范围广泛，涉及了两国的外交和经济事务，但劳工纠纷问题引发了争论。

在中国的外资企业中，日本企业一开始就受到工人不稳的冲击。欧美企业也抱怨中国投资环境日益恶化，不过他们的原因互不相同。

西方企业抱怨竞争不利于他们，而有益于中国国有企业。他们特别对让他们与中国企业分享他们的最先进技术、以换取市场份额的作法感到愤怒。

在周六举行的新闻发布会上，日本外务省发言人佐藤悟（Satoru Sato）说，由于来自工厂的威胁，日本企业在华持续运营面临困难。

Associated Press

七月，中国天津的日本三美电机工厂工人举行罢工。

佐藤悟说，当日本方面向中国同行提出这一问题时，他们被告知，全球经济危机期间冻结两年工资后，日资企业内中国工人希望提高工资的要求完全可以理解。

他说，日本代表团不满意这一答复，未来可能将再与中国就这一问题进行磋商。

温家宝向日本企业提出增加工人工资的警告，部分是向中国国内听众传达的具有政治动机的信息，听众中包括数百万普通工人，他们为中国庞大的制造业辛苦工作，但目前越来越焦躁不安。

在一个政府支持是企业成功的基本要素的国家里，他说的话很有可能在日本各大公司当中引起恐慌。

丰田驻北京发言人横山仁（Hitoshi Yokoyama）说，公司为那些在与中国汽车制造商合作的几个装配厂和其它制造厂工作的工人支付的是“恰当的工资”。

横山仁说，我们通过考虑工厂所在地的物价水平以及汽车和其它行业的整体工资和薪酬条件，制定出恰当的工资水平。他说，我们以后还要继续这样做，努力在制定恰当的工资水平时与员工保持密切对话。

中国共产党希望被视作支持改善工人工作条件，并保证坚决消除国家不断扩大的贫富分化。中国政府希望提高工资水平，借以推动中国经济增长转为消费拉动型。

之前，温家宝总理呼吁全面改善农民工待遇，农民工是东部沿海地区出口型制造工厂的主要劳动力。

温家宝说，他认识到，新一代从农村出来到工厂上班的农民工不会满足于父辈忍受的艰苦条件。这些刊登在官方媒体《人民日报》上的评述并没有直接地讨论最近的罢工事件。

劳动力市场分析人士援引传闻表示，温总理的建议没错，一些日本公司在支付工厂工人与办公室白领的工资方面不如西方公司慷慨。

当 位于中国南方工业城市广州和北方港口城市天津及周边一带的日本人当老板的汽配厂发生罢工事件时，德国大众汽车(Volkswagen AG)一位高级主管告诉本报记者，他们就不担心会发生类似罢工。他说，我们给的工资一般大大超过日本汽车制造商给的工资，但他拒绝为此提供具体数据。

新加坡高级猎头公司HRnet One一位咨询师表示，寻找日本在华企业经理职位的中国人经常抱怨日资公司薪酬低。这个不愿透露姓名的咨询师说，求职者常说自己应该学英语或德语，因为这些语言“可以帮他们找到薪酬高得多的工作”。

日本官员还在周末举行的会议上提出了中国“稀土”出口限制的问题，稀土是高科技产业所需的关键原材料。中国一位高级官员表示，出台限制措施是为了保护环境。

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao bluntly warned Japan that its companies operating in China should raise pay for their workers, part of a testy exchange on an issue that threatens to become a new irritant in relations between the Asian neighbors.

Mr. Wen's comments Sunday follow a call by Japan's foreign minister, Katsuya Okada, for an improvement in business conditions for Japanese companies in China. Mr. Okada raised the issue at a high-level Japan-China meeting on Saturday. A wave of labor disputes that has swept China this year has affected a number of high-profile Japanese investors, including Honda Motor Co. and Toyota Motor Corp.

Mr. Wen responded by telling Japanese officials that the background to labor troubles in China is the relatively low level of pay at some foreign companies, a Japanese foreign ministry statement said. 'We would like [the Japanese government] to deal with this issue,' the statement quoted Mr. Wen as saying.

Mr. Wen's comments showed sympathy for workers who crippled production at auto-parts makers supplying Honda and Toyota. The strikes disrupted car production and called into question the investment strategy of the companies, which had previously assumed a relatively docile labor force in China.

The China-Japan meeting covered a range of diplomatic and economic issues between the neighbors, but the subject of labor proved to be contentious.

Among foreign companies in China, Japanese companies have borne the brunt of the labor unrest. U.S. and European companies also have been complaining about what they see as a souring of the investment climate in China, although for different reasons.

Western firms complain that the playing field is tipping against them in favor of domestic state-owned companies. They especially resent rules that force them to share their most advanced technology in return for market access.

At a news conference on Saturday, the press secretary for the Japanese foreign ministry, Satoru Sato, said that 'Japanese companies are facing difficulties in continuing operations in China due to threats in the factories.'

When the Japanese side brought this up with their Chinese counterparts, they were told that 'requests by Chinese workers at Japanese companies to increase wages are quite understandable' after two years of pay freezes during the global economic crisis, Mr. Sato said.

The Japanese delegation was dissatisfied with the response and might discuss the issue with China again in the future, he said.

Mr. Wen's warning to Japanese companies to raise wages is a politically motivated message in part aimed at a domestic audience -- including the millions of rank-and-file workers who power the country's massive manufacturing machine, but who are now becoming restless.

His words are likely to create consternation within Japanese companies in a country where government support is an essential part of business success.
Hitoshi Yokoyama, a Beijing-based spokesman for Toyota, said the company pays 'appropriate wages' to workers at several assembly and other manufacturing plants it runs with Chinese auto makers.

'We determine the appropriate wage levels by considering prices in each region we operate in and general wage and compensation packages out there in the auto industry and beyond,' Mr. Yokoyama said. 'We will continue to do so in the future and try to determine appropriate wage levels in close dialogue with our employees.'

China's Communist Party wants to be seen as supporting better conditions for workers, and has pledged that the party is committed to eradicating the widening gap between rich and poor in the country. The government wants to engineer higher wages as part of its efforts to shift the driver of economic growth toward consumption.

Premier Wen has previously called in general terms for better treatment of migrant laborers, the core of the work force in manufacturing plants along the export-oriented eastern seaboard.

He has said he recognizes that a new generation moving from villages to work in factories won't be satisfied with the harsh conditions their parents endured. Those comments, published in the state-run People's Daily newspaper, didn't directly address the recent labor unrest.

Labor-market analysts, citing anecdotal evidence, say Mr. Wen is right in suggesting that some Japanese companies are less generous than their Western counterparts in terms of pay for both their shop floor and office workers.

When labor strikes hit Japanese-owned auto-parts factories in and around the southern Chinese industrial city of Guangzhou and the northeastern port city of Tianjin, a senior Volkswagen AG executive told The Wall Street Journal that the German auto maker had little fear of similar labor militancy. 'We typically pay much more generously than Japanese-owned factories,' the executive said, declining to provide concrete data to back up his claim.

A consultant with Singaporean executive-placement firm HRnet One said Chinese managers looking for jobs at Japanese companies in China often gripe about the low pay on offer. Job candidates often say they should have studied English or German, because those languages 'would have helped them land much better-paying jobs,' said the consultant, who declined to be named.

At the weekend meeting, Japanese officials also raised the issue of Chinese restrictions on the export of 'rare earth' minerals, which are critical raw materials for high-tech industries. A top Chinese official said the restrictions were meant to protect the environment.