在華外企再佈局 目光投向新加坡

SingAPORE — General Motors moved the headquarters of its international division here from Shanghai last month. Archer Daniels Midland, the agribusiness giant, is gradually doing the same with its Asia and Pacific operations. Other multinationals, like IBM, have shifted staff members here from China for a few functions, like treasury operations.

新加坡——通用汽車公司(General Motors)本月將國際部的總部從上海遷到新加坡，此前，農業企業巨頭阿徹丹尼爾斯米德蘭公司（Archer Daniels Midland，簡稱ADM）也將亞太區總部遷至新加坡。IBM等跨國公司則將財務管理等一些部門的員工從中國轉移至新加坡。

“I’m going to spend a lot of time going back and forth — the five-hour flight is going to be my monthly bus trip,” said Ismael Roig, the president of Archer Daniels Midland’s Asia and Pacific operations.

ADM亞太區總裁羅逸銘(Ismael Roig)說，“我將會花很長時間來回往返，五個小時的航程會成爲我每個月的巴士通勤時間。”

The moves reflect the broader evolution of China, now the world’s largest market for cars, flat-panel televisions and scores of other products. The Chinese economy has become so large and affluent that companies increasingly treat it like Europe, with reports going directly to head offices in home countries and no longer lumped in with those from developing countries.

這些舉措折射出中國廣泛的發展變化，中國現在是世界最大的汽車、平板電視及其他數十種商品的消費市場。中國經濟已經變得如此龐大，以至於各大公司越來越多地以對待歐洲的方式對待中國，中國地區的報告可以直接發給公司總部，不再與發展中國家的報告混在一起。

“We are big in China, and we want to be,” said Stefan Jacoby, the president of General Motors International. His division, which officially moved here on Aug. 5, no longer includes the company’s China operations, but encompasses G.M. subsidiaries in Africa, the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Australia and South Korea.

通用汽車國際部負責人史蒂芬·雅各比(Stefan Jacoby)表示，“我們在中國市場佔據重要地位，而且我們希望如此。”他領導的國際部於8月5日正式遷至新加坡，不再負責中國地區的運營事宜，而是負責管理通用在非洲、中東、南亞、澳大利亞及韓國的子公司。

The many frustrations of doing business in China have made some difference in the plans to move executives here — choking air pollution, countless regulations that favor local competitors and weak protection for intellectual property. A rising wave of economic nationalism has also manifested itself in large-scale raids on the Chinese offices of multinationals in the automotive, pharmaceutical and technology sectors. Police officials are copying large numbers of computer hard drives and interrogating employees without allowing access to legal advice.

一定程度上，在中國經商遭遇的不如意之處促使他們實施撤離在華高管的計劃——嚴重的空氣污染，對本土企業有利的法規，知識產權保護舉措的孱弱。而且相關部門開展了大規模行動，突襲了汽車、製藥及技術類跨國公司在中國的辦公區，突顯出不斷加劇的經濟民族主義浪潮。警方拷貝了大量電腦硬盤資料，並在不允許員工諮詢律師的情況下對他們進行訊問。

More important, many multinationals are starting to pay renewed attention to Southeast Asia, which is showing signs of revival 17 years after the Asian financial crisis. They have found it hard to do that from Shanghai or Beijing. Each major city has no more than one flight a day to Jakarta, Indonesia, for example. And China’s diplomatic and trade ties to Southeast Asia have been strained by its increasingly assertive claims to control over practically all of the South China Sea.

更重要的是，很多跨國公司開始重新關注東南亞地區，在亞洲金融危機結束17年後，該地區出現了復興跡象。它們發現，很難在上海或北京加強這些地區的業務。例如，每天從中國大城市飛往印度尼西亞雅加達的航班不超過一個。而且中國堅稱對南海幾乎所有海域擁有主權，導致中國與東南亞的外交、貿易關係緊張。

The reasons for companies to shift headquarters to Singapore, “relate to the growth opportunities in Asia Pacific beyond just China,” said Keat Chuan Yeoh, the managing director of the Economic Development Board, Singapore’s investment promotion agency.

新加坡投資促進機構——經濟發展局(Economic Development Board)局長楊吉全(Keat Chuan Yeoh)表示，這些公司將總部遷至新加坡，“與中國之外的亞太國家的發展機遇有關。”

Philipp Rösler, a former vice chancellor of Germany who is now a managing director of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, said the forum had been surprised by the number of its member companies that had said in the last several months that they were considering moving their local or regional headquarters out of mainland China.

前德國副總理、瑞士達沃斯世界經濟論壇(World Economic Forum)常務董事菲利普·勒斯勒爾(Philipp Rösler)表示，令人吃驚的是，在過去幾個月中，很多參與論壇的公司稱它們正在考慮將當地或區域總部遷出中國大陸。

But so far, it has not translated into a mass exodus. Two of the largest corporate leasing brokers in Singapore — the New York-based Cushman & Wakefield and the Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle — each say they see no sign of large-scale moves by multinationals from mainland China or Hong Kong to Singapore.

但迄今爲止，還沒有出現大規模的撤離。新加坡的兩大商業房地產中介機構——總部位於紐約的高緯環球(Cushman & Wakefield)和總部位於芝加哥的仲量聯行(Jones Lang LaSalle)——都表示，它們沒有看到跨國公司從中國大陸或香港大舉遷至新加坡的跡象。

“There isn’t a huge long list of people moving out of China; that isn’t what we see at all,” said Chris Archibold, the head of Singapore leasing for Jones Lang LaSalle.

仲量聯行新加坡地區負責人克里斯·阿奇博爾德(Chris Archibold)說，“撤離中國的超長名單並不存在，我們沒有看到這種情況。”

Many American companies that rushed to open Asia headquarters in Shanghai a decade ago now regret it but are leery of antagonizing the Chinese government by moving out, said the chief executive of a Western company who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

一名不願透露姓名的西方企業首席執行官表示，十年前，很多美國企業衝向上海，將亞洲總部設在那裏，它們現在感到後悔，但又擔心撤離舉措會激怒中國政府。

History looms large. Jardine Matheson, Hong Kong’s leading British company for more than a century, moved its incorporation to Bermuda in the 1980s and delisted from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1994, before the return of Hong Kong to Chinese sovereignty. Those decisions prompted retaliation by Beijing, which hindered the company’s ability to make large investments in mainland China for more than a decade.

歷史的殷鑑並不遙遠。在100多年的歷史裏，怡和洋行(Jardine Matheson)曾是香港地區主要的英國公司，它在20世紀80年代將公司註冊地遷至百慕大，並於1994年，也就是香港迴歸中國之前，從香港證券交易所(Hong Kong Stock Exchange)退市。這些決定導致北京方面做出報復，在十多年的時間裏，阻礙該總司在中國大陸進行大規模投資。

For now, the operations being moved here remain tiny, even microscopic, compared with those remaining in China.

目前，與留在中國的業務相比，轉移到新加坡的業務規模很小，甚至可以說是微不足道的。

Archer Daniels Midland has built a large team in Shanghai that can negotiate acquisitions of agribusiness factories in China, do due diligence and conduct audits, Mr. Roig said. So the top priority now for the company in Asia is to develop the same capability in the growing Indonesian and Vietnamese markets.

羅逸銘表示，ADM在上海建立了一個大型團隊，該團隊負責與收購中國農企廠家相關的談判事宜，盡職調查，及審計工作。因此，對於該公司來說，在亞洲的當務之急是在不斷成長的印度尼西亞及越南市場發展同樣的能力。

Singapore is a two-hour flight from Jakarta and from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Singapore also has tax laws that favor commodities trading operations and agreements with other countries that make it relatively easy to resolve trading disputes with companies elsewhere.

從新加坡起飛，兩個小時即可抵達雅加達或越南胡志明市。新加坡也推出了利於大宗商品交易的稅法，並與其他國家簽訂了協議，因此在與其他地方的公司發生交易糾紛時，問題相對容易解決。

But most of Mr. Roig’s subordinates remain in Shanghai. Similarly, only 40 G.M. managers and executives have moved from Shanghai to Singapore, and the entire international operations headquarters occupies a single floor of a downtown office building.

但羅逸銘的下屬大多數都會留在上海。通用汽車也只有40名經理和主管從上海搬到新加坡，它的整個國際運營總部在市中心佔據了一座寫字樓的一層樓。

Companies are finding it easier to persuade talented managers to move to Singapore, with its fairly clean air, than to Shanghai. Zhang Xin, the chief executive of SOHO China, the leading developer of top-end office buildings in Beijing and Shanghai, said she was stunned when three-fifths of the mostly European teenagers and the coach at her son’s soccer club in Beijing all moved out of China this summer, a shift that she attributed to air pollution.

公司發現，勸說管理人才搬到新加坡，要比勸說他們搬到上海容易一些，因爲新加坡的空氣相當潔淨。SOHO中國是知名的京滬高端寫字樓開發商，其首席執行官張欣說，她兒子參加了一個以歐洲青少年爲主的北京足球俱樂部，今年夏天，五分之三的成員和教練都搬離了中國，令她深感震驚，她將此事歸結於空氣污染。

The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in its wide-ranging annual position paper, released in Beijing on Tuesday, that eight of its member companies had reported rising difficulties in persuading talented staff to move to China, particularly because of air pollution.

本週二，中國歐盟商會(European Union Chamber of Commerce in China) 在北京發佈了一份內容廣泛的年度報告。文中稱，有八個成員公司表示，勸說優秀員工搬到中國的難度增大了，一個主要原因就是空氣污染。

Shortages of spaces at English-language schools have also been an issue elsewhere. Singapore has prevented local families from enrolling their children in the elementary school and junior high grades at the city’s international schools, avoiding the overcrowding that has afflicted many such schools in mainland China and, particularly, Hong Kong.

在其他地方，也存在缺少英語學校的問題。新加坡已經在阻止當地家庭把念小學和初中的子女送到那裏的國際學校，以免擠佔位置。在中國大陸，已有很多國際學校人滿爲患，而在香港，這個問題則是由其嚴重。

Chip Kimball, the superintendent of the highly regarded Singapore American School, said that more expatriates were moving to Singapore. But he noted that his school had experienced only a slight increase in demand because the government had arranged for a series of other international schools to open in the last five years.

新加坡美國學校(ingapore American School)是一所極具聲望的國際學校，校長奇普•金博爾(Chip Kimball)說，越來越多的外籍人士正在搬往新加坡，但在他的學校，報名人數增幅很小，因爲過去的五年中，在政府的安排下，新加坡已經開辦了一系列其他國際學校。

By contrast, “the bottleneck in Hong Kong right now is schooling,” said May Tung, the head of the Hong Kong financial services practice of DHR International, a Chicago-based executive recruitment firm.

相比之下，“香港現在的瓶頸是子女上學問題，”DHR國際公司(DHR International)在香港的金融服務業務部負責人董梅（音）說。DHR總部設在芝加哥，是一家高管獵頭公司。

While few headquarters are moving, and even fewer factories, multinationals do appear more cautious in adding further to their already numerous research centers in China.

雖然只有幾個總部搬走了，搬走的工廠甚至更少，但對於進一步在中國增加研發中心，跨國公司確實變得更加謹慎了。目前，中國已經擁有大量國際研發中心。

Companies like Procter & Gamble and Baxter Pharmaceuticals have been opening or expanding research and development centers and high-tech factories here in Singapore, although they also retain large operations in China.

寶潔(Procter& Gamble)和百特製藥(Baxter Pharmaceuticals)等公司雖然在中國仍保留着大量業務，但已經在新加坡設立或增加了研發中心和高科技工廠。

Kishore Mahbubani, the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, said the growth of Chinese technology companies like Baidu and Huawei meant that a constituency was growing in China for eventual improvements in intellectual property protection.

新加坡國立大學李光耀公共政策學院院長馬凱碩(Kishore Mahbubani)表示，百度和華爲等中國科技公司正在發展，這意味着中國有一支正在壯大的力量，將支持知識產權保護最終獲得改善。

The chief executive for Asia at another Western multinational, who insisted on anonymity because of the legal dangers in criticizing China openly, said that at many companies now, “They’re just convinced if they open that R.&D. center in China, every technical secret they’ve got will be copied, every patent will be exploited.”

另外一家西方跨國公司的亞洲部首席執行官說，現在很多的公司“都已認定，如果在中國設立研發中心，所有的技術祕密都會被複制，所有的專利都會被非法利用。”這位首席執行官不願具名，因爲公開批評中國會面臨法律風險。