美国国家公共电台 NPR U.S., Canadian Executives Privately 'Spooked' About Traveling To China

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This is a tense time to travel between North America and China. A Chinese executive was arrested in Canada at the request of the United States. She is accused of fraud. Her company allegedly got banks to help it do business in Iran, despite U.S. sanctions. China then detained two Canadian citizens inside China. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports the arrests have made other executives tense.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE 1: American executives have long known the risks of traveling to China with cell phones and laptops. Theft of intellectual property and cyberattacks underlie 2 trade tensions between the two countries. But Amy Celico says recent events have executives more skittish 3 than usual.

AMY CELICO: Certainly, Canadian and American business executives are a bit spooked about traveling to China right now.

NOGUCHI: Celico advises multinational 4 companies operating in China for Albright Stonebridge. She says suspicions run high between both countries. But neither side wants to hurt their economic interests by provoking their business partners and publicly changing their travel policies.

CELICO: Because it could lead to increased tensions between the United States and China.

NOGUCHI: Last week, U.S. tech giant Cisco Systems inadvertently waded 5 into the fray 6. It sent an email to employees saying it would curtail 7 nonessential travel to China. Cisco later said the email went out in error, and it had not changed its policy. Craig Allen is president of the US-China Business Council. He says, privately 8, American diplomats 9 and business executives see China's detention 10 of the two Canadians as a retaliatory 11 response to Meng's arrest.

CRAIG ALLEN: If we don't recognize that as a possible signal to American interests and to American businesses, then we would be willfully blind.

NOGUCHI: It's highly unusual for an individual's criminal indictment 12 to have any bearing on a trade dispute between countries. But Meng's father founded Huawei, one of the world's largest tech firms and one the U.S. has long regarded as a security threat. Her arrest comes at a time when the bilateral 13 relationship has already soured on many fronts. The U.S. has tightened 14 national security reviews of Chinese business activity from investments to technology purchases. Add to that fresh allegations of state-sponsored cyberattacks, most recently involving Marriott's guest database, and Allen says the grievances 15 between the countries have become confusingly intertwined.

ALLEN: More and more, security is overshadowing the trade debate. The more it overshadows the trade debate, the more difficult it becomes to resolve the trade issues. And the more it overshadows, the less bilateral trust we have.

NOGUCHI: Brendan O'Reilly is Asia analyst 16 for WorldAware, a company that monitors travel risks. He notes the Chinese government says it detained one of the Canadians because the nonprofit he works for is not registered in China. O'Reilly tells U.S. and Canadian clients to make sure they're compliant 17 with Chinese regulations before traveling.

BRENDAN O'REILLY: The most important thing that they should do is to not give the Chinese authorities any excuse to crack down on them.

NOGUCHI: In the meantime, U.S. companies hope tensions will ease. Business consultant 18 Amy Celico says much will depend on how President Trump 19 and President Xi Jinping react. She argues de-escalation will require the leaders to keep their country's criminal matters separate from politics and trade. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, Washington.

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