中國新一輪逮捕使到外國公司緊張，對富士康展開調查 (1/2)

 Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:

China Rattles Foreign Firms With New Arrests, Foxconn Probe (1/2)

Bloomberg News

Tue, October 24, 2023 at 2:46 a.m. GMT+8

(Bloomberg) -- Chinese authorities are again shaking the confidence of foreign companies in the country with a series of arrests across industries and an investigation into Foxconn Technology Group, Apple Inc.’s most important partner and one of the largest employers in China.

Over the weekend, state media said that regulators are conducting tax audits and reviewing land use by Foxconn, the Taiwanese company that makes the vast majority of iPhones at factories in China. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., Foxconn’s public arm, said it will collaborate with authorities.

Meanwhile, an executive and two former employees of WPP Plc, one of the world’s biggest advertising companies, have been detained in China, people familiar with the matter said. WPP said Monday it has fired the executive on bribery charges, and had opened an internal investigation into the incident and cut ties with an unnamed business party that is also part of the police investigations.

The government detained a local employee of a Japanese metals trading company in March, the Nikkei newspaper reported Sunday. And this month, a court formally charged an Astellas Pharma Inc. executive on suspicion of espionage.

Hon Hai, Foxconn’s main listed arm, fell the most in more than three months Monday. Foxconn Industrial Internet Co., a major Shanghai-listed subsidiary, plunged its 10% daily limit — its biggest loss on record. Luxshare Precision Industry Co., a Foxconn rival based in China, gained as much as 4.9%.

China often doesn’t publicly explain the actions taken by its regulators, leaving companies with operations in the country guessing at the ultimate goals of the government. Given the Communist Party’s immense power, that opaque approach to oversight of the economy has unsettled foreign executives. The Japanese trading company worker was detained in March and there is still no public acknowledgment of or clarity about the specific charges.

“My sense is that the core of the leadership really worries about foreign influence as dissent, among elites, is growing,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, chief Asia Pacific economist at Natixis SA. “It is not a signal for foreigners. It is a signal for the elites: don’t follow that path.”

 With China struggling through a housing crisis, Xi Jinping and his administration have been trying to signal support for the private sector, seeking help in stabilizing the world’s second-largest economy. Perceptions of the party’s economic stewardship suffered during years of Covid lockdowns and a brutal crackdown on the technology industry, including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and co-founder Jack Ma.

Foxconn is a similarly surprising — and enormous — target. The company has been at the foundation of China’s growth as a high-tech manufacturing base and, with the Apple halo, a symbol of the opportunities for other companies in the country. Tesla Inc., for example, has now made China a key base for its electric-vehicle production.

Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook visited China last week, meeting with Commerce Minister Wang Wentao to declare their support for “win-win” collaborations. The Apple chief’s rare visit follows a move by Beijing to ban some staff at government agencies and state-owned companies from using Apple’s marquee iPhone for security reasons. The latest iPhone 15 is also off to a disappointing start in China after Huawei Technologies Co. stunned the market with the 5G-capable Mate 60 phones.

“The part of the leadership dealing with the economy and attracting foreign capital is not in the driving seat,” said Garcia Herrero. “So they can only watch and hope to minimize the damage by announcing opening of certain sectors.”

In the current investigation, tax authorities are conducting checks on Foxconn subsidiaries in Guangdong and Jiangsu provinces, the state-run Global Times said Sunday, citing unidentified people with knowledge of the matter. The report also said natural resources officials are looking into the company’s use of land in Henan and Hubei provinces.

No further details of the investigations and tax checks were provided in the Global Times report. But the newspaper cited Zhang Wensheng, deputy dean of the Taiwan Research Institute at Xiamen University, as saying companies from Taiwan, including Foxconn, should “actively contribute to promoting peaceful cross-Strait relations and play a positive role” while benefiting from the development opportunities in mainland China.

Hon Hai didn’t give specifics either in a filing with Taiwan’s stock exchange. Foxconn’s Zhengzhou plant, known as iPhone City, is located in Henan.

“The actions against Foxconn have all the hallmarks of a political crackdown. This kind of concerted action in multiple provinces would almost certainly need be approved by top party leaders,” said Gabriel Wildau, managing director at advisory firm Teneo Holdings LLC in New York.

(to be continued)

Translation

（彭博）—中國當局對各行業進行了一系列逮捕，再次動搖了外國公司在華的信心。再者中國當局對蘋果最重要的合作夥伴和中國最大的雇主之一富士康科技集團進行了調查。

週末，官方媒體稱，監管機構正在對富士康進行稅務審計並審查土地使用。富士康是一家在中國大陸工廠生產絕大多數 iPhone 的台灣公司。 富士康的公共部門鴻海精密工業有限公司表示，將與當局合作。

同時，知情人士稱，全球最大廣告公司之一 WPP Plc 的一名高管和兩名前員工在中國被拘留。 WPP 週一表示，已因受賄指控解雇了這名高管，並已對該事件展開內部調查，亦與一個未具名的商業團體斷絕關係，該商業團體也是警方調查的一部分。

根據《日經新聞》週日報道，中國政府於三月拘留了一家日本金屬貿易公司的一名當地員工。 本月，中國法院正式以涉嫌間諜罪對日公司Astellas Pharma Inc. 的一名高層提出指控。

富士康主要上市公司鴻海週一股價創下三個多月來最大跌幅。其在上海上市的主要子公司富士康工業互聯網股價暴跌10%到每日止跌位，是有紀錄以來的最大跌幅。 富士康在中國的競爭對手立訊精密工業有限公司 (Luxshare Precision Industry Co.) 股價上漲 4.9%。

中國通常不會公開解釋其監管機構所採取的行動，這使得在該國開展業務的公司只能猜測政府的最終目標。 鑑於共產黨的巨大權力，這種不透明的經濟監管方式讓外籍高階主管感到不安。一 名日本貿易公司員工於三月被拘留，中國目前尚未公開承認或表明具體指控。

法國外貿銀行首席亞太經濟學家 Alicia Garcia Herrero表示： “我的感覺是，領導層核心確實擔心外國影響，而在精英中的異議正在增長。” 「這不是對外國人的一個訊號。 這是對精英們的一個信號：不要跟隨那條路。”

在中國艱難應對住房危機之際，習近平及其政府一直試圖發出對私部門的支持訊號，尋求協助穩定世界第二大經濟體。 在多年的新冠疫情封鎖和對科技業的殘酷鎮壓期間，人們對黨的經濟管理能力的看法受到了影響，其中包括阿里巴巴集團控股有限公司及其聯合創始人馬雲。

富士康也是一個同樣令人驚訝且巨大的目標。 該公司一直是中國作為高科技製造基地發展的基礎，並憑藉蘋果的光環成為中國其他公司機會的象徵。 例如，特斯拉公司現已將中國作為電動車生產的重要基地。

蘋果執行長Tim Cook上週訪問中國，會見了商務部長王文濤，表達了對「雙贏」合作的支持。 在這位蘋果公司執行長罕見的訪問之前，北京出於安全原因禁止政府機構和國有企業的部分員工使用蘋果公司的大螢幕iPhone。 在華為技術有限公司憑藉支援 5G 的 Mate 60 手機震驚市場後，最新的 iPhone 15 在中國的開局也令人失望。

Garcia Herrero表示：“領導層處理經濟和吸引外資的部分並不處於主導地位”; “所以他們只能觀望，希望通過宣布開放某些部份來將傷害降到最低。”

官方媒體《環球時報》週日引述未透露姓名的知情人士的話稱，在目前的調查中，稅務機關正在對富士康位於廣東省和江蘇省的子公司進行檢查。 報導還稱，自然資源官員正在調查該公司在河南和湖北省的土地使用。

《環球時報》的報導並沒有提供更多有關調查和稅務檢查的細節。 但該報引述廈門大學台灣研究院副院長Zhang Wensheng的話說，包括富士康在內的台灣企業在在中國大陸受益於發展機會的同時，應「積極為促進兩岸關係和平作出貢獻，發揮積極作用」。

鴻海在向台灣證券交易所提交的文件中也沒有給出具體細節。 富士康鄭州工廠位於河南，有「iPhone城」之稱。

在紐約的顧問公司 Teneo Holdings LLC 的董事總經理Gabriel Wildau表示: 「針對富士康的行動具有政治鎮壓的所有特徵。這種多省的協調行動幾乎肯定需要得到黨的最高領導人的批准」。

(待續）