中國擬向IBM借技術排擠美國科技產品
HONG KONG — Shen Changxiang, who once supervised the cybersecurity of China's strategic missile arsenal and spearheaded computer-security research for the navy, has warned of the perils of his country's reliance on American technology.
香港——沈昌祥曾經主管過中國戰略導彈武器庫的網絡安全，並牽頭爲海軍開展了計算機安全研究。他一直警告說，中國對美國技術的依賴很危險。Yet in December, the 74-year-old former military engineer, one of China's top-ranking cyberofficials, quietly started working with a company synonymous with American technological prowess: IBM. Shen's task is to help a little-known Chinese company absorb and build upon key technologies licensed by IBM, according to a statement posted on a Beijing government website.
然而，在去年12月，這位74歲的前軍方工程師、中國最高級別的網絡官員之一，悄然開始與一家代表美國科技實力的公司展開合作。這家公司就是IBM。北京市政府網站上的一個聲明顯示，沈昌祥的任務是幫助一家名不見經傳的中國公司吸收和借鑑IBM授權的關鍵技術。
In the past 16 months, IBM has agreed — and received permission under U.S. export laws — to provide the Beijing company, Teamsun, with a partial blueprint of its higher-end servers and the software that runs on them, according to IBM announcements and filings from Teamsun. As the chief scientist overseeing the IBM project on behalf of the Chinese government, Shen is helping Teamsun — and, in turn, China — develop a full supply chain of computers and software atop IBM's technology.
IBM的聲明和這家名爲華勝天成的北京公司的備案資料顯示，在過去16個月中，IBM已經同意——並根據美國出口法律獲得了許可——爲華勝天成提供高端服務器的部分藍圖以及在這些服務器上運行的軟件。作爲代表中國政府監管IBM項目的首席科學家，沈昌祥正在幫助華勝天成——也就是幫助中國——在IBM技術之上開發計算機和軟件的完整供應鏈。
The goal is to create a domestic tech industry that in the long run will no longer need to buy U.S. products, thus avoiding security concerns.
其目標是打造中國本土的高科技產業，讓中國在遠期無需再購買美國的產品，以免安全之虞。What IBM is doing in China is no different from what the company is doing elsewhere. Yet IBM's activities in China have become sensitive as they now run into efforts by the Obama administration to persuade Beijing to drop new measures requiring U.S. companies to hand over technology in exchange for market access.
IBM在中國做的事情，和該公司在其他地方做的並無二致。然而，IBM在中國的活動變得頗爲敏感，因爲北京有意出臺一些要求美國公司用技術換取市場準入資格的新舉措，而目前奧巴馬政府正在努力說服北京放棄這些舉措。Critics say IBM is caving in to Chinese demands, placing short-term business gains ahead of longer-term political and trade issues. IBM's actions may spur other U.S. companies to break ranks and also submit to the new Chinese regulations, out of concern that IBM will get advantages by cooperating with the country.
批評人士說，IBM向中國的要求屈服，把短期業務的收益置於了長期的政治和貿易問題之上。看到IBM採取這樣的行動，其他美國公司可能會擔心它通過與中國合作佔得優勢，從而不再與其同行並肩作戰，也向中國的新法規屈服。“People do feel angry about what appears to be an accommodation with the Chinese,” said James A. Lewis, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “And you have to kind of expect that, particularly at a time when you have the whole U.S. government ginned up to push the Chinese on this.”
“人們確實感到憤怒，因爲這似乎是在縱容中國人，”政策機構國際戰略研究中心(Center for Strategic and International Studies)分析師詹姆斯·A·劉易斯(James A. Lewis)說。“你肯定也想得到會是那樣，尤其是在這個關口，整個美國政府正在努力說服中國人的時候。”IBM said it was simply being open with licensing technologies as part of a global program called Open Power. Open Power, which IBM initiated in 2013, has 120 members worldwide, including Google and Samsung Electronics. Fewer than 20 are from China, IBM said. The point of the program is to provide base technology that can be enhanced by licensees worldwide and spur global partnerships and business opportunities, the company added.
IBM表示，它不過是在根據其Open Power全球計劃授權技術而已。IBM在2013年創立的Open Power計劃在全球擁有120個成員，其中包括谷歌和三星。來自中國的成員不到20個，IBM說。該計劃的重點一是提供基礎技術，而全球各地獲得授權的機構可以增強這些技術，二是推動全球合作伙伴關係和商業機會，該公司稱。“Our Open Power partners in China are getting access to the same technology that we make available to all Open Power members around the world,” Edward Barbini, a spokesman, wrote in an email. “We've been very transparent with all our stakeholders on this strategy, including the Obama administration, about our plans to expand both the Open Power community and IBM's technology partnerships around the world.”
“我們在中國的Open Power合作伙伴獲得的技術，和我們提供給世界各地所有Open Power成員的技術是一樣的，”IBM發言人愛德華·巴比尼(Edward Barbini)在電郵中寫道。“關於我們有怎樣的計劃，來擴大Open Power社區以及IBM在世界各地的技術合作夥伴關係，我們對於包括奧巴馬政府在內的所有利益相關者一直都非常透明。”In a recent interview posted on Teamsun's website, Huang Hua, a vice president, said the company's new capabilities would help it better address security concerns of local Chinese companies. Calling a movement in China to replace crucial high-end technology from IBM, Oracle and EMC an “opportunity,” Huang said Teamsun's strategy to “absorb and then innovate” would enable it to eliminate the capability gap between Chinese and U.S. companies and create products that could replace those sold by firms in the United States.
在華勝天成網站上的一次近期採訪中，副總裁黃華表示，該公司新獲得的能力將幫助中國本土企業更好地解決安全問題。他說，中國替代來自IBM、甲骨文(Oracle)和EMC的關鍵高端技術的努力是一個“機會”，華勝天成的戰略是“先吸收、再創新”，這可以縮小中國和美國公司在能力上的差距，並推出一些產品，來替代美國公司銷售的產品。Language about replacing IBM, Oracle and EMC was removed from the site after Teamsun and IBM were contacted for this article. Teamsun declined to be interviewed about the IBM project, and an assistant declined to make Shen available for comment.
在就這篇文章接觸了華勝天成和IBM之後，關於替代IBM、甲骨文和EMC的詞句就從該網站上被刪除了。華勝天成拒絕就IBM項目接受採訪。一個助理也拒絕聯繫沈昌祥對此事置評。IBM declined to comment on Shen because he is not an IBM employee. A spokesman with the U.S. trade representative declined to comment on IBM's strategy in China.
IBM稱沈昌祥非該公司員工，拒絕對他置評。美國貿易代表發言人拒絕就IBM在中國的策略置評。IBM has many business projects in China. The company has also agreed to license the advanced chip technology that works as the brain of the servers to a separate Chinese company, Suzhou PowerCore. And IBM says it has spoken to clients about letting them build local encryption over its z13 mainframe computer, which could help in China, where a proposed anti-terror law requires domestic companies to provide encryption keys or use local Chinese encryption standards.
IBM在中國開展了很多商業項目。該公司還同意將其先進的芯片技術授權給另一家中國公司，蘇州的中晟宏芯，而這種芯片可謂服務器的大腦。IBM表示已經和客戶談過，讓他們爲z13大型機創建中國本土的加密方式。在中國，這樣做可能帶來好處，因爲該國擬議的反恐法律要求國內公司提供加密密鑰，或使用中國本土的加密標準。IBM's cooperation with Teamsun and Suzhou PowerCore through Open Power is part of the company's strategic shift away from its traditional hardware, software and services businesses to new cloud, data and mobile offerings. IBM, which reports quarterly earnings on Monday, has been grappling with declining revenue as it makes that transition.
IBM通過Open Power與華勝天成和中晟宏芯展開的合作，是它從傳統硬件、軟件和服務業務戰略轉移到新興的雲、數據和移動服務的一部分。該公司在這個過渡中面臨着艱難的營收下滑問題。IBM會在週一公佈上季度財報。Both the server and chip technology IBM is licensing in China are widely used by banks in the country. In the fourth quarter, IBM generated $4.9 billion in revenue, or 20 percent of the total, from Asia; it does not break out China sales.
IBM在中國授權的服務器和芯片技術，在中國的銀行系統被廣泛使用。去年第四季度，IBM從亞洲獲得了49億美元的營收，佔其總營收的20%；該公司沒有公佈中國的具體銷售額。“You have Chinese policy interests, U.S. policy interests and IBM policy interests; realistically, your hope of aligning these is not all that high,” said Willy C. Shih, a professor of technology and operations management at Harvard Business School. “I think it's a tough call for IBM.”
“你面臨着中國的政策利益、美國的政策利益和IBM的政策利益；現實地說，讓這些利益協調一致的希望並不大，“哈佛商學院技術和運營管理教授史兆威(Willy C. Shih)說。“我認爲對於IBM而言，這是個困難的決定。”While Beijing has long pushed indigenous innovation policies designed to foster a domestic tech industry, the disclosures in 2013 of online spying efforts by the United States made by the former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden gave the more hawkish officials in China the evidence they needed to expedite plans to wean sensitive industries, like banking and energy, off foreign technology.
長期以來，北京一直推進自主創新政策，以圖促進國內的高新技術產業。在2013年，美國前國家安全局承包商僱員愛德華·斯諾登(Edward Snowden)在網上披露了美國的監控活動之後，中國的強硬派官員由此獲得了他們需要的證據，來加快步伐，以停止銀行、能源等敏感行業對國外技術的依賴。One new Chinese law, which called for disclosure of source code of products sold to banks, was suspended by the government this month. But analysts say Beijing is likely to continue making similar demands in different ways.
中國的一項新法律要求披露出售給銀行的產品的源代碼，本月被政府暫緩實施。但分析師說，北京很可能繼續以不同的方式提出類似要求。Shen has been thinking about pushing U.S. tech companies out of China for a while. In 2009, he warned of global communications surveillance by the United States in an essay posted on the website of China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.
一段時間以來，沈昌祥一直在思考將美國高科技公司擠出中國的方法。2009年，他在中國工業部和信息化部網站上發佈的一篇文章警告稱，美國在對全球通信進行監視。In a speech in September at the China Internet Security Conference in Beijing, Shen said expansion of the U.S. military's online attack and defense capabilities made the Internet the fifth strategic front for the United States, after land, air, ocean and space.
去年9月，在北京中國互聯網安全大會上的一個演講中，沈昌祥表示，美軍在網絡攻擊和防禦上能力的增強，使得互聯網已經成爲美國在陸海空天之後的第五大主權領域空間。He added, according to state-run media, “That poses a severe challenge to the cybersecurity of China, and we should actively respond, accelerate the building of our cybersecure system and safeguard our cybersecurity and state sovereignty.”
官方媒體資料顯示，他還說，“對我國的網絡安全提出了嚴峻的挑戰，應該積極應對，加快建設網絡安全的保障體系，捍衛網絡安全的空間和國家主權。”
