Saturday, December 09, 2006

(ZT) 跨国公司到中国后为什么会腐化变质?

梁 治

西安有许多家大超市,象人人乐、家世界、好又多、麦德龙等,但唯
独麦德龙比较特殊,因为它实行所谓的会员制,开业那天许许多多的
慕名而来的西安人被拒之门外,被那些老外和“汉奸们”推来搡去
的。为什么会这样,而其他大超市却不敢如此,恐怕重要的原因之一
就是它是一家德国企业。“外国人就是尿的比中国人高。”许多西安
市民这样说道。

如今在中国十分崇洋媚外,这不光从国民心态看出来,就是政府的政
策也是“一国两制”,不一视同仁。这种纵容客观上促使了一些跨国
企业变质。前一段的富士康事件虽然草草了之,但有一个声音却始终
响在我们的耳边:富士康在它的本土台湾难道也象在大陆这样飞扬跋
扈?近日,多家媒体又同时披露,中国建设银行前董事长张恩照受贿
案的判决书中提到,IBM曾向一位协助行贿张恩照的销售代理支付
了22.5万美元。IBM的一位发言人表示,该公司尚未看到法庭判
决,无法对此发表评论。据报道,判决书中还提到了日本电子企业日
立公司的香港子公司。日立公司的一位发言人表示,已对此事进行调
查。而无论是IBM,还是日立公司在它们本土都是经营的典范,可
是进中国内后为什么会腐化变质呢?

当然,毋庸置疑的是许多国际巨头公司为世界的经济发展做出了巨大
的贡献,比如微软、沃尔玛、雅虎等等,然而,令人匪夷所思的是许
多跨国公司到了中国后却腐化变质了。诸如残酷剥削工人、延长劳动
时间、行贿、把当地官员拉下水等等在本土连想都不敢想的事情,在
中国都发生了。近年来,跨国企业在华行贿的事件一直在上升,中国
在10年内至少调查了50万件腐败案件,其中64%与国际贸易和外商有
关。这些跨国企业行贿招数越来越高明,屡试不爽,被业内人士称为
“完美行贿”。据透露,这些跨国公司或赞助受贿方的子女出国留学
或为其安排工作;或承诺待受贿方退休后,聘请其担任自己企业的顾
问,“顾问费”非比寻常;或对政府高官、企业高管“助学”,提供
EMBA免费进修;或在合同签下来后,将部分工程发包给受贿方家
人、朋友投资的公司做等等,显得非常隐蔽。而在另一些方面,素以
强调“企业社会责任”著称的跨国公司及其产品一旦进入国内,也往
往发生严重的“酱缸化”变质现象。比如拒建工会,忽视劳工福利;
严重的产品质量问题;破坏与污染环境等等。还有一些政治上的恶性
事件,比如屡见不鲜的雅虎等网络公司将用户的私人资料提供给中国
国安局,为中国政府残酷迫害政治异见人士找到了理由。这同样在他
们本土是绝对不允许的,无论法律上,还是道义上。

为什么会这样的呢?很多跨国公司的成长壮大,很大程度上就缘于其
守法经营和强烈的企业社会责任。可为什么到了中国后就会发生南橘
北枳的情况?

我想主要有以下几个原因,一是中国的支持,当然主要是指政府的支
持。这些年来中国为了追求片面的经济增长率,什么样的资金都要引
进,而且采取了各种优惠条件,中资能办的,外资能办,但中资不能
办的,外资照样可以办的。对外资的一些特别要求睁一只眼闭一只
眼,比如在盘剥工人上,政府往往持默许的态度。这样没有政府的干
预,当然会使得跨国企业进了中国后,唯利是图,把一些不受限制的
恶性发挥了出来。二是适应中国国情。大家知道,在中国办事人情第
一,做生意更是这样,吃请回扣比比皆是,尤其是对政府官员,更是
如此。外资虽然享有许多特权,但面对这种情况,也难免入乡随俗。
比如前些年的麦德龙进驻西安,就邀请了省长出席,实际上在国外一
个企业的开业省长出席并无关紧要,麦德龙之所以拉大旗做虎皮,还
不是随应中国国情吗?

三是“汉奸”作祟。许多跨国企业进了中国后并不是外国人在其中打
理,而是中国人在其中管理。大家知道,往往“汉奸”整起中国人来
更坏,更了解中国的情况。所以,象行贿等腐化事件一般都是中国人
出的主意,否则外国人怎么知道这些门门道道呢。

第四,也是最重要的一点,那就是再强大的经济实力,都无法改变和
决定“上层建筑”;相反,一个国家和地区的政治和法律环境,却可
以迫使最强大的经济实体乖乖就范。这不是资本的“原罪”问题,而
是政治和经济的必然逻辑。

可见,跨国企业要出污泥而不染,几乎是不可能的。唯有在根本的法
律制度建设上确实走上民主法治之路,才能获得经济利益增长和自身
形象良好保持的双赢结果。

[RFA]

Sunday, December 03, 2006

(ZT) Demonstration in HK 香港举行示威请愿,要求言论自由

  支聯會將於12月3 日向出席「世界電信展」的國家信息部部長王旭東和參展商請願,要求中國政府停止監控網上言論及停止迫害網絡作家,抗議外國網絡供應商只顧商業利益,與中共同流合污,自我審查,泄露用戶私人通訊資料等。以下是活動安排,誠邀抽空出席參與──
The Hong Kong Alliance is going to hold demonstration to appeal to the Mr Wang Xudong, Minister of Information Industry and host of ITU Telecom World, to demand that the Chinese government stop internet censorship and stop the persecution of internet writers, and to protest against foreign Internet Service Providers who, unscrupulously caring only about their commercial interest, collude with the Chinese Communist Party in self-censorship and in disclosing to the latter personal data of users of their services. You are sincerely invited to cover these demonstrations, details of which are as follow:

向「世界電信展」國家信息產業部部長王旭東和參展商請願
Appeal to Mr Wang Xudong, Minister of Information Industry, host of ITU Telecom World.

主題 theme:停止監控網上言論,停止迫害網絡作家
Stop internet censorship. Stop persecution of internet writers.
日期 date:12月3日(星期日)3rd December 2006 (Sun)
時間 time:下午5時30分 5:30pm
地點 place:灣仔家計會外(灣仔地鐵站B1出口)集合,遊行往會展中心 Gathering outside the Family Planning Association, Wanchai (B1 exit of the Waichai MTR), and marching towards the Convention Centre.

  以下是請願活動的新聞稿--

NO to internet censorship in China! FREE internet writers!

停止監控網上言論!停止迫害網絡作家!
  香港市民支援愛國民主運動聯合會藉著在港舉行「世界電信展」,向中國及外國網絡參展商請願,要求中國政府停止監控網上言論及停止迫害網絡作家,抗議外國網絡供應商只顧商業利益,與中共同流合污,自我審查,泄露用戶私人通訊資料等。

On the occasion of the 'ITU Telecom World' hosted by China, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Democratic Patriotic Movements of China (hereafter the Alliance or the Hong Kong Alliance) appeals to Chinese and foreign participants of the exhibition and convention to demand that the Chinese government stops internet censorship and stops persecution of internet writers, and to protest against foreign internet service providers (ISPs) who care only about their commercial interest and hence collude with the Chinese communists in self-censorship and in disclosing to them the data of private users of their services.

  根據《中華人民共和國憲法》、《聯合國人權宣言》和《公民權利及政治權利國際公約》,人民享有言論及通訊自由,公民有權在互聯網建立網站、網頁,有權在任何公開發佈的互聯網電子公告欄發佈個人意見。公民也有權瀏覽任何網站、網頁,亦有權通過電子郵箱、電子公告欄等交換資訊。

According to the Constitution of the People's Republic of China, the UN Declaration of Human Rights, and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, the people have the right to the freedoms of expression and communication, the right to set up web sites and web pages and the right to post opinions on any internet forums. The people are also entitled to browse any web sites and web pages, and exchange information through emails and internet forums.

  然而,一直以來,中共嚴密監控互聯網,過濾電子郵件,侵犯私隱權,扼殺網絡自由,剝奪通訊自由。更對在網絡發表及登載「反動文章」的異見人士拘禁和判刑,即使從互聯網閱讀及下載資料也會被以「顛覆罪」定罪,嚴重侵犯人權。

Nevertheless, the Chinese communists have all along meticulously monitored the internet, filtered emails, infringed on the people's privacy, strangled internet freedom and deprived the people of their freedom of communication. Furthermore, they have arrested and imprisoned dissidents who posted so called 'reactionary articles' on the internet. They have even convicted people for subversion who read or downloaded information on the internet, seriously breaching their human rights.

  中國目前有3萬多名網絡警察監控互聯網信息,有20多萬人在網上受到嚴密監管,涉及眾多專業領域包括作家、藝術家、記者、律師、社會工作者,以及知名人士等,當中不少從未涉足政治敏感層面人士亦受到監控。他們的hotmail和Gmail郵箱裏的電郵,只要涉及到胡錦濤、江澤民、六四等字眼,不是發不出去就是顯示「被退回」。有些時候,一個電郵往往要發半小時至一小時,比寫一篇文章的時間還長。有一半的郵件無法收到,即使收到也顯示出被看過。部分被視為「反動」和「敏感」的網頁,包括支聯會(www.alliance.org.hk)和法輪功等,均被中共封鎖,內地網民無法瀏覽。網上論壇如出現批評中國政府的內容,更會被即時封閉。

China has over 30,000 internet policemen who monitor and control information on the internet. More than 200,000 people are closely monitored on the net, including many writers, artists, journalists, lawyers, social workers and other well-known figures, many of whom have never even stepped into any sensitive political areas. Whenever keywords like Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin or June 4th are mentioned, their emails in Hotmail, Gmail and the like either fail to be delivered or are shown to have bounced back. At times, an email often takes as long as half an hour or even an hour to get delivered, longer than the time to write an article. Half of the emails of the people monitored fail to deliver, and even if delivered, it is evident that they have been read. Some 'reactionary' or 'sensitive' web pages, including those of the Alliance (www.alliance.org.hk) and the Falungong, are embargoed by the Chinese communists, becoming unavailable for internet users in mainland China. When criticism of the Chinese government appears on internet forums, the forums are immediately closed.

  有關當局更在兩年前開始在各大門戶網站如新浪、網易、搜狐等,對個人郵箱進行過濾。最近一年開始,雅虎中國、Gmail、hotmail等跨國網站的私人郵箱,亦加入當局監管行列。雅虎中國發言人也承認:「信息產業部(內地互聯網主管部門)今年初啟動淨化活動(『陽光綠色網絡工程』),要求網絡供應商配合。個人電郵、論壇、博客(網誌)等,如果出現敏感信息就會被過濾掉。」新浪網亦表示已成立專門監管網絡的部門,對「內容涉及非法、暴力等不正常的郵件」進行處理。

Two years ago, the Chinese authorities began filtering personal email boxes in the various portal sites in China, like Sina, NetEase, Sohu, etc. Just last year, the personal email boxes under multinational portals such as Yahoo China, Gmail, Hotmail, etc. also joined the official list of censored categories. The spokesman of Yahoo China admitted, "The Ministry of Information Industry (the authority that oversees the internet in mainland China) launched its sanitization program early this year (the 'Sunny Green Internet Project') and required ISPs to comply. In personal emails, forums, blogs, etc., sensitive information will be censored away if it appears." Another ISP, Sina, also said that they had set up a special department to monitor the internet, to process 'abnormal emails that involve illegality or violence'.

  另外,外國網絡供應商,為了中國市場,不惜泄露用戶私隱,捨棄商業道德,向中國政府提供用戶通訊資料。其中雅虎的表現最令人不滿和憤怒。雅虎向中國內地安全部門提供的網絡作家資料包括:網絡作家師濤於「六四」十五周年前夕將中共中央有關要求嚴防紀念「六四」活動的文件摘要所使用的IP(用戶名)、發信時間、用戶上網的電話號碼等;王小寧於2001年至2002年間在雅虎中國網站發表連串不滿共產黨的政論文章的相關註冊資料;四川達州市前官員李智在網絡上批評中國政府腐敗的文章紀錄;遼寧民辦企業老闆姜立軍在網上主張推翻共產黨、倡建自由民主黨的文章。最終導致師濤、王小寧、李智、姜立軍分別被判囚10年、10年、8年和4年。

Besides, foreign ISPs, abandoning commercial ethics for a position in the Chinese market, have been providing the Chinese government with personal data of their users, which is an infringement of their privacy. Yahoo has been most blatant and enraging, for having disclosed to the security departments of mainland China the data of various internet writers, including (a) the IP address, the user name, the telephone number for internet connection, and the time of posting of a relevant article of Shi Tao, who posted the summary of a document by the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) on the eve of the 15th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre that laid down strict cautionary measures against activities commemorating the June 4th incident; (b) the registration data at Yahoo China of Wang Xiaoning, who posted various political articles expressing dissatisfaction of the CPC on the website of Yahoo China; (c) the records of the articles written by Li Zhi, a former government official in Dazhou city, Sichuan, who criticized the corruption of the Chinese government on the internet; and (d) the articles written by Jiang Lijun, the owner of a private enterprise in Liaoning, who advocated the overthrow of the CPC and the establishment of a Liberal Democratic Party. In the end, Shi Tao, Wang Xiaoning, Li Zhi and Jiang Lijun were sentenced to imprisonments of 10, 10, 8 and 4 years respectively.

  外國網絡供應商更自我審查,在MSN中國版(http: //cn.msn.com)搜尋一些「敏感字眼」時,在頁底出現「已刪除部分結果」。另外,即使一些字眼能夠顯示,亦與原來的意思不同。如搜尋「六四」,結果卻顯示出「國際象棋六十四格網」、「全國大學四、六級考試」等。又或者只有某些立場的結果可以顯示,如搜尋「法輪功」時,大部分的結果皆屬批評法輪功的網頁。微軟、雅虎、思科和Google美國四大網絡公司對中國政府的壓力「卑躬屈膝」,幫助中國進行網絡審查,違反言論自由原則。

Foreign ISPs have also engaged in self-censorship. In the China version of MSN(http://cn.msn.com), the phrase "Part of the search results have been deleted" appears at the end of the page when 'sensitive' key words are searched. Even if some search results appear, they miss the point. For instance, for the key words "June 4th" (or 'Six Four' in Chinese) concerning Tiananmen, the search results show only the 64 boxes of the chess board, or the 6th and 4th level of university examination in China. Sometimes, only the results of a one-sided position shows. For example, the key word "Falungong" would yield search results of mostly webpages that criticize Falungong. The big four of US internet companies, Microsoft, Yahoo, Sisco and Google have thrown the principle of freedom of speech down the drain by kowtowing to pressure from the Chinese government, colluding with them in internet censorship.

  支聯會敦促中央政府落實人民在網絡上享有言論和資訊自由,立即釋放師濤、王小寧、李智、姜立軍、孔佑平、寧先華、李大偉、徐偉、靳海科、張宏海、李建平、張林、黃金秋、陶海東等。支聯會呼籲外國網絡供應商不要唯利是圖,停止與中國政府同流合污,捍衛電郵用戶的私隱權。

The Hong Kong Alliance urges the Central Government to put into effect the promised rights of the people to freedom of speech and access of information, to immediately release internet writers Shi Tao, Wang Xiaoning, Li Zhi, Jiang Lijun, Kong Youping, Ning Xianhua, Li Dawai, Xu Wai, Jin Haike, Zhang Honghai, Li Jianping, Zhang Lin, Huang Jinqiu, Tao Haidong, etc. The Hong Kong Alliance calls upon foreign ISPs not to seek profit unscrupulously, to stop colluding with the Chinese government and to protect the privacy of their internet users.

  停止監控網上言論!停止迫害網絡作家!

No to internet censorship! Stop persecution of internet writers!

  釋放師濤!釋放所有被捕網絡作家!

Free Shi Tao! Free all jailed internet writers!

Activist Couples with Courage

1.

Mr. Chen Guangcheng became blind after a severe childhood fever. Nonetheless, the peasant boy from a village in Yi'nan County, Shandong Province in east China went on to train himself as a legal expert. Energetic in his late thirties, he had since helped people, similarly disabled as himself, to obtain government benefits that had never come to realize for many living in the countryside.

In 2003, the central government ordered cancellation of all agricultural taxations, which cut short the income for many of a local government. Consequently, as reported by Chinese agriculture scholars from various locations, a new phenomenon arose, whereupon local government officials turned their attention in extracting illicit extra income from the peasants to increasing penalty fees on supposed "violation" of China's family planning policy.

Chen Guangchang was caught by the suddenly increasing coercive approach local officials adapted against peasant women and their families in his home town. Working with warm support from his young wife, Yuan Weijing, he gathered huge amount of information on systematic abuse of power, against poor peasants and their families, by the family planning authorities in Yi'nan County and exposed the case to the national family planning office in Beijing in summer 2005. He was awarded by the national office with honor, covered by newspaper articles and television programs. Eventually, he was named one of the one hundred people who influenced the world in 2005 by the Times Magazine in the U.S. in early 2006.

By then, Chen had lost his freedom of movement for months. Local police had placed him under house-arrest since August 2005.

Chen Guangcheng has been formally arrested in summer 2006, being charged for "obstructing public traffic and damaging public property" in March 2006, when he was still under house-arrest and followed step by step by police whenever he left his home.

He was tried earlier this year and retried on November 27. A sentence of four year and three month has been uphold by the second trial.

While Chen was taken away, Yuan Weijing has stood up to speak to the outside world on Chen's behalf.

Speaking out truth to the outside world - this is what the Chinese regime fears the most.

To make a long story short, after Chen's case was retried, Yuan was taken by police for "questioning." Hours later, she was spotted being dragged out of a police car and thrown to a dirt ditch outside her village, unconscious. She's been hospitalized for exhaustion.

Luckily for Chen, a group of courageous lawyers from Beijing have taken up his case and vowed to fight for justice for him to the last minute. Chen Guangcheng, Yuan Weijing and the lawyers have all agreed they will appeal the case at court of higher levels.

2.

Unlucky for Chen, the most famous and outspoken lawyer coming to his aid earlier this year has disappeared behind the bars himself.

This is Gao Zhisheng, who, too, self-taught himself to become a licensed lawyer and was once honored as one of the top ten best lawyers in China, most of all for his achievements to win huge compensations for poor families, without charging them legal service fees. Actually, he helped many of the poor families with money from his own pocket.

Gao was taken away by police in August, when he was preparing for Chen Guangcheng's initial trial, while taking a break to visit his sister's family that is also in Shandong, a province located between of Beijing and Shanghai, along China's northern coastline.

The scene was rather dramatic, as a group of men rushed into the courtyard of Gao's sister's home, putting a black hood over Gao's head, dragging him into a car and driving away, without giving any legal document to his relatives, nothing to the effect of an arrest warrant.

Since then, he has been held without the permission to see a lawyer and with only one meeting with his wife. It has been nearly four months.

Worst of all, his whole family has been harassed constantly since he was taken away. His thirteen-year daughter was followed by three police members continuously, at home and on campus. They are sitting outside her classroom as well as following her to the campus restroom every single time. They have also taken insulting the poor girl as their pastime.

Nowadays in China a suspect arrested by police is entitled by law to hire defense lawyer(s), as long as the documents are signed by her- or him-self or the family members of the concerned. The Chinese State Security Ministry (SSM), having blocked all contacts to Mr. Gao and put his wife and children under virtual house-arrest, also set out to block his family members in northern Shaanxi Province from signing any legal documents. The whole episode reads like a detective story, albeit more by a second rank author than a master-piece (unlike the one being investigated by the Scot Yard in London at the moment, concerning Russian interest).

Thanks for firm support from his brothers, nephews, and long-time friends, Gao has got legal support from one of China's top lawyers, Mr. Mo Shaoping, who has represented many civil activists and political dissidents in the past two decades. Unfortunately, Mr. Mo has not been able to secure a meeting with Mr. Gao. The authorities have bluntly defied legal requirements stipulated by China's laws to grant such a meeting as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, let me come to the other key figure referred in the title of this blog entry. This is Ms. Geng He, Mr. Gao Zhisheng's wife.

Geng He has been suffering from police coercion, ever since her husband was taken away in August.

Her home was not only raided by police repeatedly, it was simply occupied by them - several of them, moved in to stay there on shift. Her daughter, mentioned above, and her three-year-old son have been living under constant harassment for past months. When her daughter couldn't take it any longer and ran to a friend's home, Geng He was under tremendous police pressure to bring the girl back - under the name of behaving for the sake of her husband's uncertain fate.

So, she weighed the options in hand and kept silent, not contacting any of the family's old friends in the small but comradely community of Chinese civil activists. She, as the best a Chinese woman could think and do, decided to take all the pressure on her own, simply hoping this will help to secure relatively lenient conditions for her husband suffering in the hands of the SSM.

We would not have learned all of the above, had it not been the physical assault on her a week earlier. She went to shopping and, as might be expected, brought with her at least three "tails" of the plaincloth police. When she protested - not against the "tails" per ce - that the police walked right into her back at every turn, two of them, both tall and strongly built, started hitting her on the face and holding her back by twisting her arms. She ended up with a bleeding mouth, shaking teeth, bloody face and injured finger-nails.

3.

This incident broke the ice. Geng He telephoned their old friend, Mr. Hu Jia.

Now, the world has the evidence. Shall we add that all of these happened when it was the World Day to protect women from violence?

Mr. Hu Jia is the husband of Ms. Zeng Jinyan, whose blog I wrote about in September. Another courageous couple, loving and intelligent.

I am proud of China, for I am proud of the wonderful Chinese couples:

Ms. Yuan Weijing and Mr. Chen Guangcheng;
Ms. Geng He and Mr. Gao Zhisheng;
Ms. Zeng Jinyan and Mr. Hu Jia.