在华外籍高管面临严厉法律约束

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.

两年前，在中国供职于一家银行的新加坡公民吴伊甸(Eden)正在庆祝自己升职，同时也在着手准备自己的婚礼。

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.

然后吴伊甸一名富有的客户突然失踪了，同时消失的还有这位客户在吴伊甸所供职银行存的数百万美元。中国警方很快查明这名客户的财富是通过欺诈手段得来的，警方在无法找到这位客户的情况下拘留了吴伊甸。

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.

这名33岁的新加坡裔银行从业者涉及的案件并不多见，但其体现出的问题引起越来越多在华外国高管的担忧：他们担心自己可能在还没有意识到的情况下就被置于了法律困境之中。律师、外交官和其他人士称，其中的风险包括入狱、被关在条件恶劣的酒店里或其他人身自由限制，遭到这些待遇的人通常都受到贿赂、违反税务法规甚至民事方面的指控，保释条件是上交护照。

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.

虽然吴伊甸最终没有受到刑事指控，但她说，这场长达一年法律遭遇毁掉了她在银行业的职业前景和她的婚礼计划。这一年中，吴伊甸曾短暂入狱，在一个装了铁窗的酒店里待了两个月，还曾被禁止离开中国。

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.

过去一年，英国制药公司葛兰素史克(GlaxoSmithKline PLC.)的案件折射出许多外资企业高管所面临的危险。中方调查部门称，葛兰素史克为提高药品销量而行贿。该公司已表示，部分高管可能违反了中国的法律，公司目前正在配合中国有关部门的调查。令海外商界惊讶的是，警方对与葛兰素史克有关联的外籍人士迅速采取了行动。

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.

曾经是葛兰素史克在华最高管理者的一名英国人被中国有关部门限制离境。但他既没有出现在法庭上，也没有被正式起诉。葛兰素史克称，这位常驻上海的高管一直在配合调查。记者无法联系到这位高管就此置评。

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.

中国公安部表示，外国公民与中国公民受同样的法律制约。外交官员、律师和企业高管都表示，这种情况已越来越多。

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.

上周，中国警方称，他们拘捕了一对加拿大夫妇凯文•加勒特(Kevin Garratt)和朱莉娅•加勒特(Julia Dawn Garratt)，原因是这对夫妇涉嫌从事间谍活动，包括窃取国家机密。这对夫妇曾在中国与朝鲜的边境附近经营一家咖啡馆。目前记者无法与其取得联系。加拿大大使馆以保护个人隐私为由未就这对夫妇的案件发表评论。

'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.

北京金诚同达律师事务所(Jincheng Tongda & Neal)律师墨菲(Nancy Murphy)表示，人们感觉到，中国的态度正从“外国人不应再获得优待”快速转变为“歧视外国人和外资企业”。她说，她去年的客户中有一位德国仓库经理，在中国警方针对艺术品走私进行调查期间，此人虽未受到任何刑事指控，但被关押在中国北部的一座看守所内长达四个月，之后又被限制离境10个月。

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.

此类案件已成为中国商界的热议话题，并被视为外国人在中国生活所需考虑的一个新的风险因素（此外还包括空气污染等负面因素）。另外一个令人担忧的事情是，今年夏天中国政府针对在华外资汽车及科技企业发起的反垄断调查可能会致使部分外企高管面临刑事指控。

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.

由于中国法律系统缺乏透明度，很难找到每年有多少外国人在中国被捕的数据。并非人人都认为相关案件的数量正大福上升。但一些律师及外交人员认为，在今日的中国，外国护照加跨国企业的工作不再像以往那样能确保外国人免遭牢狱之灾。他们告诫在华外籍高管说，越来越有必要保持良好行为。

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

这种状况造成的结果是，在华外国人与中国公民一样，要面对长期以来令人权组织气愤不已的麻烦重重的法律程序。