A new report this afternoon states that Foxconn and other foreign businesses in China are fighting to save tax breaks and other benefits promised by Chinese cities and provinces, as Beijing ramps up a campaign against big spending by local governments.

The crackdown could lessen the attractiveness of foreign investment in China, which totaled $119.6 billion in 2014. While experts say the total benefits at stake are difficult to quantify, Foxconn alone has been negotiating to preserve roughly five billion yuan ($804.6 million) in promised subsidies in a central Chinese city, according to people familiar with the matter.

According to the report, Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou met last month with the mayor of the city of Zhengzhou, Ma Yi, to discuss saving the benefits, these people said. Taiwan-based Foxconn, formally Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., makes Apple Inc.'s iPhone 6 at a sprawling factory in the central Chinese city that employs more than 200,000 people.

The discussions are holding up a proposed 35 billion yuan Foxconn plant to be based in Zhengzhou that would make high-end phone displays, the people said.

Kenneth Jarrett, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai stated that "The suddenness of the move caught many companies by surprise." For more on this story see the Wall Street Journal's full report.

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