The Chinese government has intensified a co-ordinated public campaign against Apple, slamming the technology group as “dishonest”, “greedy” and “incomparably arrogant” and threatening regulatory action if the US company does not improve its after-sales service policies. 中国政府强化了一场针对苹果(Apple)的、协同展开的公共谴责，称这家科技集团不诚实、贪婪，以及“无与伦比的傲慢”，并威胁称，如果这家美国企业不改进其售后服务政策，可能会采取监管行动。

Following a series of scathing and apparently choreographed reports in China’s biggest state media outlets, the country’s quality inspection bureau said on Thursday that Apple would have to change some of its warranty policies or face “severe repercussions according to relevant laws and regulations”. 中国各大官方媒体发表一系列措辞严厉且明显精心策划的报道后，中国国家质检总局周四表示，苹果必须修改一部分保修政策，否则将“由行政执法部门按照有关法律法规予以严肃处理”。

However in a country regularly exposed to public health scandals involving adulterated infant formula, toxic food additives and industrial pollution, Apple’s alleged transgressions have been met with a tepid response from the public. 不过，在经常爆发公共健康丑闻（涉及掺假的婴儿配方奶粉、有毒食品添加剂和工业污染）的中国，公众对苹果被指犯下的违规行为反应平平。

“I think there is an ulterior motive behind this campaign [against Apple],” said Shi Beichen, a prominent Chinese technology blogger. “我认为这场（批评苹果的）宣传活动背后是另有动机的，”中国知名技术博客作者师北宸表示。

“For one thing, most of Apple’s servers are not in China and so the government is not able to impose its usual censorship restrictions.” “比如，苹果的大部分服务器不在中国境内，政府无法实施通常的审查限制。”

Other analysts have suggested that the government is hoping to undermine the dominance of Apple and other global operators in the Chinese market in order to benefit domestic companies such as Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE, who many analysts consider have been left behind by more innovative products from global competitors. 其他分析人士提出，中国政府希望削弱苹果和其他全球企业在中国市场的主导地位，以便让国内企业如联想(Lenovo)、华为(Huawei)和中兴(ZTE)得益。许多分析师认为，这些本土企业已被全球竞争对手更具创新性的产品抛在后面。

Research from a government institute last month said China was too reliant on Google’s Android smartphone operating system and Beijing has said it will place higher standards and restrictions on smartphone makers, including requirements for them to help the Chinese government monitor online activity. 一家政府研究机构上月发表的研究报告称，中国过于依赖谷歌(Google)的Android智能手机操作系统。同时北京方面已宣布，将对智能手机制造商实行更高的标准和限制，包括要求它们帮助中国政府监控在线活动。

China is Apple’s second-biggest market after the US and in January, during his second visit to China in 10 months, chief executive Tim Cook said he expected it to become the company’s biggest market in the future. 对苹果来说，中国是仅次于美国的第二大市场。1月份，该公司首席执行官蒂姆•库克(Tim Cook)在访华（这是他10个月里的第二次访华）期间表示，他预期中国将在未来某个时候成为苹果的最大市场。

Apple sales in China in the fourth quarter of last year topped $7.3bn. 去年第四季度，苹果在华销售额突破73亿美元。

Senior state media bureaucrats are only too happy to pursue the public assault on Apple because they are trying to “save face” after an initial report on Apple backfired. 官方媒体的高层官僚乐于见到公众抨击苹果，因为在有关苹果的最初报道产生反效果后，他们正试图捡回面子。

The official attacks on Apple began with a primetime special on state broadcaster China Central Television to mark consumer rights day on March 15 in which the maker of the iPhone and iPad was accused of treating Chinese consumers as less important than their western counterparts. 官方对苹果的攻击始于3月15日中国中央电视台(CCTV)一个消费者权益日黄金时间特别节目。在这个节目中，iPhone和iPad的制造商被指在售后服务上实行中外双重标准、怠慢中国消费者。

This claim was based partly on allegations that Apple does not replace the entire outer case when it repairs iPhones, as it does in other markets, because under Chinese law handset makers must provide a renewed warranty for a completely new phone. 这一指控的部分依据是，苹果在中国修理iPhone时不像其在其他市场所做的那样更换整个后盖，因为根据中国法律，手机制造商提供全新的手机时必须提供新的保修期。

However, attention shifted from the claims of discrimination when it was revealed that a number of celebrities had apparently been tasked by CCTV with promoting the television show by attacking Apple through their online social media accounts. 不过，人们的注意力很快就从所谓歧视消费者的指控转移到其他地方，原因是有消息称，央视显然约了多位名人，请他们通过自己的社交媒体账户攻击苹果，从而为上述电视节目造势。

This prompted a surge of derision on China’s vibrant online social media directed towards the state broadcaster, which was accused of ignoring far worse infractions by state enterprises and powerful domestic companies. 在中国活跃的在线社交媒体上，这些消息引发人们大举讽刺央视，这家国家电视台被指忽略国有企业和强势本土企业严重得多的不当行为。

“Everybody is eating cooking oil recycled from gutters, no problem! Everybody is drinking poisonous milk powder, no problem! We drink water filled with dead floating pigs, no problem! But when you change the back cover of iPhones for foreigners but not for us then that is not OK, that is far more serious than any of these problems,” wrote one sarcastic online commentator. “大家都在吃地沟油，没问题！大家都在喝毒奶，没问题！我们喝死猪漂浮的水，没问题！但是当你为外国人更换iPhone后盖而不为我们这么做，那就不行，那比上面的问题都严重多了，”一名语气嘲讽的网上评论人士写道。

Apple responded to the initial CCTV report by posting a brief statement in Chinese on its website outlining its warranty policies and highlighting its “incomparable user experience”. 针对央视的最初报道，苹果的回应是在网站上用中文发表一份简短声明，概述其保险政策，称其“为消费者提供无与伦比的用户体验”。

This contrasted with the swift reaction of German carmaker Volkswagen, which was also featured in the March 15 show and issued an almost immediate recall of more than 380,000 vehicles that the show claimed had problems with their gearboxes. 这与德国汽车制造商大众汽车(Volkswagen)的迅速反应形成反差。大众也被央视3月15日的节目点名，称其汽车的变速箱有问题，该公司几乎当即就宣布召回逾38万辆汽车。

People who work for Chinese state media said Apple’s notorious secrecy and unresponsiveness to the media has angered officials in the past and its unwillingness to kowtow following the initial CCTV report likely spurred them to keep up the attacks. 为中国官方媒体工作的人士透露，苹果出名的神神秘秘和不愿理睬媒体的习惯，过去就曾惹恼官员。该公司在央视最初报道播出后不买账的态度，很可能促使相关官员加大攻击火力。

Starting on Monday, the Communist Party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, ran a series of front-page articles and editorials that lambasted Apple for its lack of contrition, its arrogance and its discrimination against Chinese consumers. 从本周一开始，中共机关报《人民日报》在头版发表系列文章和社论，猛轰苹果不表示歉意、该公司的傲慢和对中国消费者的歧视。

“Perhaps the trouble comes from Westerners’ traditional sense of superiority,” the paper’s editorial said. “或有西方人传统的优越感在作祟，”该报社评表示。

Adding to Apple’s China frustrations, the company was forced to appear in a Shanghai court on Wednesday to face a lawsuit from Shanghai Zhizhen Network Technology, a Chinese company that accuses it of intellectual property infringement related to Apple’s popular Siri software. 中国给苹果带来的麻烦还不止这件事。该公司被迫于周三在上海一家法院出庭受审。原告上海智臻网络科技公司称，苹果备受欢迎的Siri软件侵犯其知识产权。

At the hearing, Apple argued that the Chinese company had not presented adequate evidence to show any infringement and Siri is covered by an international patent. 苹果在庭审期间主张，这家中国企业没有拿出充分证据证明存在任何侵权行为，而Siri受到一项国际专利的保护。