在華外籍高管面臨嚴厲法律約束

Two years ago, Singapore citizen Wu Yidian Eden was celebrating a promotion at the bank she worked at in China and preparing for her wedding.

兩年前，在中國供職於一家銀行的新加坡公民吳伊甸(Eden)正在慶祝自己升職，同時也在着手準備自己的婚禮。

Then, one of her rich clients vanished, apparently along with millions of dollars he had deposited with the bank. Chinese police soon traced his wealth to fraud, and, unable to find the man, detained Ms. Wu.

然後吳伊甸一名富有的客戶突然失蹤了，同時消失的還有這位客戶在吳伊甸所供職銀行存的數百萬美元。中國警方很快查明這名客戶的財富是通過欺詐手段得來的，警方在無法找到這位客戶的情況下拘留了吳伊甸。

The 33-year-old Singapore banker's case exemplifies a rare experience but one that increasingly concerns foreign executives in China: an unexpected tumble into legal limbo. Lawyers, diplomats and others say risks include jail, detention in dingy hotels and other limits on freedom that often stem from allegations of bribery, tax offenses and even civil suits where the bail is surrender of a passport.

這名33歲的新加坡裔銀行從業者涉及的案件並不多見，但其體現出的問題引起越來越多在華外國高管的擔憂：他們擔心自己可能在還沒有意識到的情況下就被置於了法律困境之中。律師、外交官和其他人士稱，其中的風險包括入獄、被關在條件惡劣的酒店裏或其他人身自由限制，遭到這些待遇的人通常都受到賄賂、違反稅務法規甚至民事方面的指控，保釋條件是上交護照。

Although Ms. Wu was never charged with a crime, she says her yearlong legal odyssey -- including a brief stint in jail, two months in a hotel room with barred windows, and being forbidden to travel outside China -- torpedoed a promising banking career and her wedding plans.

雖然吳伊甸最終沒有受到刑事指控，但她說，這場長達一年法律遭遇毀掉了她在銀行業的職業前景和她的婚禮計劃。這一年中，吳伊甸曾短暫入獄，在一個裝了鐵窗的酒店裏待了兩個月，還曾被禁止離開中國。

The hazards for many foreign business executives have played out over the past year in the case of British pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline PLC. Chinese investigators say the company paid bribes to boost drug sales. Glaxo has said that some senior executives may have violated Chinese laws and that it is cooperating with Chinese authorities in investigations. What surprised the foreign business community was the swift action police took against foreigners linked to Glaxo.

過去一年，英國製藥公司葛蘭素史克(GlaxoSmithKline PLC.)的案件折射出許多外資企業高管所面臨的危險。中方調查部門稱，葛蘭素史克爲提高藥品銷量而行賄。該公司已表示，部分高管可能違反了中國的法律，公司目前正在配合中國有關部門的調查。令海外商界驚訝的是，警方對與葛蘭素史克有關聯的外籍人士迅速採取了行動。

Chinese authorities issued a travel ban on Glaxo's onetime top executive in China, a Briton. But he hasn't appeared in court or been officially charged. The company says the Shanghai-based executive has been cooperating with investigators; he couldn't be reached to comment.

曾經是葛蘭素史克在華最高管理者的一名英國人被中國有關部門限制離境。但他既沒有出現在法庭上，也沒有被正式起訴。葛蘭素史克稱，這位常駐上海的高管一直在配合調查。記者無法聯繫到這位高管就此置評。

China's Ministry of Public Security said foreigners are subject to the same laws as the country's citizens. Diplomats, lawyers and executives say that is increasingly the case.

中國公安部表示，外國公民與中國公民受同樣的法律制約。外交官員、律師和企業高管都表示，這種情況已越來越多。

This past week, Chinese authorities said they detained a Canadian couple, Kevin Garratt and Julia Dawn Garratt, on suspicion of espionage activities including alleged theft of state military secrets. The couple, who run a coffee shop near China's border with North Korea, can't be reached. Canada's embassy cited privacy and declined to comment on the couple.

上週，中國警方稱，他們拘捕了一對加拿大夫婦凱文•加勒特(Kevin Garratt)和朱莉婭•加勒特(Julia Dawn Garratt)，原因是這對夫婦涉嫌從事間諜活動，包括竊取國家機密。這對夫婦曾在中國與朝鮮的邊境附近經營一家咖啡館。目前記者無法與其取得聯繫。加拿大大使館以保護個人隱私爲由未就這對夫婦的案件發表評論。

'There's a sense that it went quickly from 'foreigners don't merit any more preferential treatment' to 'let's discriminate against foreigners and foreign businesses,' ' says Nancy Murphy, an attorney with Beijing law firm Jincheng Tongda & Neal. Among Ms. Murphy's clients last year, she says, was a German warehouse manager who was never charged with a crime but who spent four months in a north China detention center during a police investigation into artwork smuggling, followed by 10 months of being blocked from leaving China.

北京金誠同達律師事務所(Jincheng Tongda & Neal)律師墨菲(Nancy Murphy)表示，人們感覺到，中國的態度正從“外國人不應再獲得優待”快速轉變爲“歧視外國人和外資企業”。她說，她去年的客戶中有一位德國倉庫經理，在中國警方針對藝術品走私進行調查期間，此人雖未受到任何刑事指控，但被關押在中國北部的一座看守所內長達四個月，之後又被限制離境10個月。

Such cases have become the buzz of business circles in China and are seen as a new risk for expatriates to consider, alongside other downsides about living in the country such as air pollution. Another worry: that a summertime wave of antimonopoly investigations into foreign auto and technology companies might trigger criminal charges against corporate executives.

此類案件已成爲中國商界的熱議話題，並被視爲外國人在中國生活所需考慮的一個新的風險因素（此外還包括空氣污染等負面因素）。另外一個令人擔憂的事情是，今年夏天中國政府針對在華外資汽車及科技企業發起的反壟斷調查可能會致使部分外企高管面臨刑事指控。

Figures about how many foreigners are arrested in China annually are difficult to find because of a lack of transparency in the country's legal system. Not everyone thinks the number of cases is rising substantially. But several lawyers and diplomats said a foreign passport and multinational corporation job isn't the stay-out-of-jail card in China it used to be, and warn executives that it is increasingly necessary to remain on their best behavior.

由於中國法律系統缺乏透明度，很難找到每年有多少外國人在中國被捕的數據。並非人人都認爲相關案件的數量正大福上升。但一些律師及外交人員認爲，在今日的中國，外國護照加跨國企業的工作不再像以往那樣能確保外國人免遭牢獄之災。他們告誡在華外籍高管說，越來越有必要保持良好行爲。

A result is that foreigners face some of the same troubling legal procedures applied to Chinese nationals that have long vexed human-rights groups.

這種狀況造成的結果是，在華外國人與中國公民一樣，要面對長期以來令人權組織氣憤不已的麻煩重重的法律程序。