Companies Begin Shifting Works Away From China
外企區域總部遷出大陸
By Keith Bradsher

SINGAPORE – General Motors moved the headquarters of its international division here from Shanghai last month. Archer Daniels Midland, the agribusiness giant, is 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.
通用汽車上個月將設在上海的國際分部總部遷到新加坡。美國農產品加工巨擘亞丹米公司（ADM）的亞太業務部門也如此。IBM及另一些跨國企業則將諸如資金操作等若干業務的人員從大陸移至新加坡。

“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亞太區總裁羅伊格說：「我將花很多時間兩邊跑。這趟五小時的飛行將是我每個月的例行旅程。」

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.
這反映中國大陸更廣泛的變化。大陸已是汽車、平面電視及數十種其他產品的舉世最大市場。大陸經濟已經巨大與富裕到許多企業日益將它視同歐洲，報告直接送回本國總公司，不再與開發中國家的報告擺在一起。

“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.
通用汽車國際運營部總裁雅各比說：「在中國大陸，我們很大。這也是我們的目標。」他的分部於8月5日遷至新加坡，不再涵蓋大陸的業務，但統理非洲、中東、東南亞、澳洲與南韓等地的子公司。

The many frustrations of doing business in China have made some difference in the move – choking air pollution, regulations that favor local competitors and weak protection for intellectual property. A 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.
遷移行動與在大陸做生意遇到的挫折有關，包括嗆人的空氣汙染、偏袒本地競爭者的法規，以及保護智財權不力。北京當局近來大舉突檢外國汽車、製藥與科技公司的分公司，凸顯經濟民族主義高漲。

Multinationals are also turning their 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 of control of the South China Sea.
跨國企業同時開始將注意力轉向東南亞，在亞洲地區出現金融危機的十七年後，東南亞已出現復甦跡象。跨國企業發現很難從上海或北京兼顧東南亞。這兩大城市每天各只有一個航班飛往印尼首都雅加達即為一例。此外，大陸因宣稱擁有南海主權而與東南亞國家外交、貿易關係緊繃。

The reasons for companies to shift headquarters to Singapore, “relate to the growth opportunities in Asia Pacific beyond just China,” said Keat Chuan Yeoh of the Economic Development Board, Singapore’s investment promotion agency.
新加坡經濟發展局助理局長楊吉全說，企業區域總部從大陸遷到新加坡「與大陸以外亞太地區的成長機會有關」。

Philipp Rösler 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 recent months that they were considering moving their regional headquarters out of mainland China.
瑞士達弗斯世界經濟論壇的羅斯勒表示，該論壇的許多會員企業最近表示考慮將區域總部遷出大陸，數量之多令人驚訝。

But so far, there has been no mass exodus. 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, one Western executive said. And for now, the operations moving here are tiny compared with those remaining in China.
然而至目前為止，外國企業尚未大舉遷出大陸。一名西方企業的高級主管說，許多10年前趕著在上海設立亞洲總部的美國企業已有悔意，卻不願因為遷出大陸而得罪北京。目前，遷至新加坡的業務與仍然留在大陸的相比，規模還非常小。

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. The priority now for the company in Asia is to develop the same capability in the growing Indonesian and Vietnamese markets.
羅伊格說，ADM在上海已有甚具規模的團隊，足堪洽商大陸農產品加工廠的收購，從事盡職調查，同時稽核帳目。該公司當前的亞洲優先要務是，在成長中的印尼與越南市場建構同樣能力。

Singapore also has tax laws that favor commodities trading operations and agreements that make it relatively easy to resolve trading disputes.
同時，新加坡的稅制對商品交易有利，各項相關協議則使貿易糾紛較容易解決。

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.
外國企業發現，說服有才幹的主管轉往空氣相當乾淨的新加坡工作，比說服他們去上海容易。中國搜狐是上海與北京頂級辦公大樓的主要開發商，首席執行官張欣表示，她兒子的北京足球俱樂部會員以歐洲青少年為主，有五分之三會員外加教練今年夏天搬離了大陸，令她大吃一驚。她認為是因為空氣汙染。

Chip Kimball, the superintendent of the Singapore American School, noted an influx, but said other international schools had open in the last five years.
新加坡美國學校負責人金巴爾表示最近確實來了許多轉學生，不過他指出這五年來另有些國際學校成立。

By contrast, “the bottleneck in Hong Kong right now is schooling,” said May Tung of DHR International, a Chicago-based recruitment firm.
芝加哥獵人頭公司DHR亞太區董事總經理董黃錦珮表示，相較之下，「香港目前的瓶頸在於就學」。

Multinationals also appear cautious about adding to their numerous research centers in China.
跨國企業對在大陸增設為數甚多的研發中心同樣態度審慎。

The chief executive for Asia at another Western multinational, who insisted on anonymity, 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.”
一位要求匿名的西方跨國企業亞洲業務執行長說，許多企業「深信如果在中國大陸開設研發中心，取得的每一種機密技術都會被複製，每一項專利也都會被侵害」。

原文參照：
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/10/business/international/looking-beyond-china-some-companies-shift-personnel.html

紐約時報中文版翻譯：
http://cn.nytimes.com/business/20140915/c15relocate/zh-hant/

2014-09-23聯合報/G9版/UNITEDDAILYNEWS 陳世欽譯 原文參見紐時週報七版上