China is taking another step to restrict what can be posted on the Internet in its country by issuing new rules barring foreign companies or their affiliates from engaging in publishing online content there without government approval.

中国正在采取又一项举措来限制该国互联网上发布的内容。新的规定将禁止外国公司或其分支机构在未经政府批准的情况下发布网上内容。

The rules, which were jointly released this week by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said that beginning March 10, foreign companies or foreign joint ventures will be restricted from disseminating a wide range of content online, including text, maps, games, animation, audio and video.

这些规定由国家新闻出版广电总局与工业和信息化部在本周联合发布，将从3月10日起施行。它对外资或中外合资企业发布多种类型的网上内容进行了限制，包括文字、地图、游戏、动漫、音频和视频。

The rules also apply to digitized books, art, literature and science. The new regulations would allow foreign-owned companies to cooperate with a Chinese partner to publish content on the Web in China, but they must get government approval.

该规定也适用于数字化图书、艺术、文学和科学领域的作品。新的规定允许外国公司与中国合作伙伴一起，在中国的网络上发布内容，但必须获得政府的批准。

China already has some of the world’s most restrictive policies on the dissemination of information. Chinese TV and the news media are censored; the government has censors monitoring popular social media platforms, like WeChat; and American Internet giants, like Google, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, have been blocked in China for years.

对于信息的传播，中国的政策已经属于世界上最严格的级别。中国电视和新闻媒体遭到审查；政府安排审查人员对微信等人气社交媒体平台进行监控；像谷歌(Google)、Facebook、YouTube和Twitter这样的美国互联网巨头，常年在中国遭到屏蔽。

Legal scholars say the new rules seem aimed at restricting any type of content that might be considered a threat to the Communist Party, or social stability, with the regulations hinting at a greater effort to bring anything published by foreign entities under Chinese law.

一些法律学者表示，新的规定似乎旨在限制被认为对共产党、对社会稳定构成威胁的任何内容，而此举意味着，他们在加大力度，用中国法律来管控外国机构在这里发布的所有东西。

“This is the latest in a series of legal changes that seek to restrict the influence of foreign or western ideas,” said Jacques deLisle, an authority on Chinese law who teaches at the University of Pennsylvania. “And it’s also part of a larger attempt to exercise control over the Internet and new media.”

“中国进行了一系列法律变动，试图限制境外或西方观念的影响，这是最新的一例，”中国法律方面的权威、宾夕法尼亚大学(University of Pennsylvania)的法学教授戴杰(Jacques deLisle)说。“而且，这也是他们控制互联网和新媒体的尝试之一。”

The new regulations, though, do not detail exactly what types of content and which organizations would be affected. Though the new rules, for example, might seem to apply to foreign news organizations in China, existing rules already restrict global media outlets from posting content on the Internet using servers inside China. Most global news outlets, including The New York Times, are published on servers outside China, and are unlikely to be affected by the new rules.

不过，新规定并没有详细阐述它适用于哪些类型的内容，以及哪些组织。比如，它似乎可以适用于在中国的境外新闻机构，但是现有规定已经对跨国媒体使用中国境内的服务器在互联网上发布内容进行了限制。大多数全球性新闻媒体，包括《纽约时报》在内，都把内容放在中国境外的服务器上，因此不太可能受到新规定的影响。

Still, legal experts say the regulations announced this week are broad enough to pose challenges to a wide range of foreign multinationals operating in China, since many of them act as distributors of online content or services.

不过，法律专家表示，本周公布的规定覆盖面比较广泛，可能会对在中国经营的很多境外跨国公司形成挑战，因为其中不少机构提供网络内容或服务。

There are also questions about how such regulations would be enforced, and what types of companies would be considered distributors of online content. As a result, they could raise market-access issues for foreign companies in China ahead of trade talks with the United States.

此外，这些规定将如何施行，什么类型的公司将被视为在线内容渠道，也都还是未知数。因此，这可能会在今后的中美贸易谈判中，提出外企在中国的市场准入问题。

Analysts say Chinese laws are often vague and broad, which gives regulators the ability to claim greater jurisdiction. As a result, how laws are implemented is often more important than the letter of the law.

分析人士称，中国的法律往往比较笼统，覆盖面广泛，从而为监管机构提供了宣称较大管辖权的便利。其结果就是，法律的施行方式往往比条文本身更加重要。

One key question is the impact such regulations would have on companies like Apple and Microsoft, which run online platforms in China that provide services and sometimes content. For example, Apple’s Chinese App Store offers games and other apps in the country while Microsoft has a joint venture through which it provides a cloud version of Windows and Office software. Internet companies, like Akamai and Cloud Flare, have operations that work to speed traffic to foreign websites or host them through servers in China.

一个关键问题是，这些规定会对苹果(Apple)、微软(Microsoft)这样的公司产生怎样的影响。这些公司在中国经营在线平台，既提供服务，有时也提供内容。例如，苹果的中国应用商店面向该国公众发布游戏等应用，而微软成立了一家合资企业，通过它提供Windows和Office软件的云版本。还有像Akamai和Cloud Flare这样的互联网公司，它们或者加快接连境外网站的速度，或者用中国境内的服务器托管外国网站。

A large number of foreign games for smartphones are released through joint ventures between Chinese companies and multinationals, and it appears the new regulations could affect those partnerships.

大量国外的智能手机游戏通过中国公司和跨国公司的合资企业发布，而新的规定可能会影响到这种合作。

Multinational companies have long complained that the rules in China are discriminatory. Foreign firms need licenses that can be difficult to get to operate web services in China, and there are restrictions on their ability to invest in many Chinese sectors. Several big companies, including Microsoft, have also been the subject of anti-trust investigations.

跨国公司长期以来一直抱怨中国的规定具有歧视性。外企要获得中国运营网络服务的许可证或许会面临困难，还有一些规定对它们在中国很多领域的投资进行了限制。包括微软在内的几家大公司还在遭受反垄断调查。

The regulations stipulate that anything published online should “serve the people” and promote socialism and do no harm to national interests, barring, for instance, the spreading of rumors or propagating evil cults.

这个规定表示，在网上发表内容应该“为人民服务”，为社会主义服务，不能损害国家利益，不得散布谣言、宣扬邪教等等。

Paul Gillis, an accounting expert who teaches at Peking University in Beijing, says a lot will also be determined by the way China executes and enforces the rules, since there is tremendous variation in the way laws are enacted and enforced in the country and to whom they apply.

在北京大学任教的会计专家保罗·吉利斯(Paul Gillis)表示，许多事情取决于中国贯彻执行这些规定的方式，因为在中国，法律适用于哪些对象、如何贯彻执行，存在着千差万别。

“What about law firms and accounting firms — are they going to be subject to these rules?” he said. “And what about companies that just have an instruction manual online, are they also going to fall under this type of rule?”

“律师事务所和会计师事务所怎么办——它们需要遵循这些规定吗？”他发问。“只在网上发布了一份操作指南的公司呢，它们也要遵循这种类型的规定吗？”