CHINA IN TURMOIL : ‘We Have to Think of People’s Safety’ : Major U.S. Firms Evacuating Workers From China
Major American businesses said Monday they are evacuating workers from China because of the army’s massacre of civilians, and some U.S. airlines are altering schedules to avoid layovers in the country.
General Electric Co., International Business Machines Corp. and American Telephone & Telegraph Co. are among the companies moving out employees.
“Anyone who approaches a window risks his life,” said international lawyer Jerome Cohen, referring to apparently random shooting in the capital. His firm, Paul, Weiss, Rifkind Wharton & Garrison, has offices in Beijing and helped pioneer the American business presence in China.
“With respect to our own staff, I think it is time to withdraw for a while,” Cohen said. “Until this weekend, I thought that was unwarranted. But now we have to think of people’s safety.”
A GE spokesman said the company’s Beijing and Shanghai offices are closed and that most of its 40 expatriates and dependents will be flown to Hong Kong by Wednesday.
IBM spokesman Peter Thonis said the company’s offices in Beijing and Shanghai remain open but are staffed mostly with local Chinese. About 60 expatriates plus dependents have been evacuated to Hong Kong, he said.
AT&T; spokesman Rick Wallerstein, whose company had 27 employees in Beijing before the crackdown began, said an unspecified number have left.
“A political uncertainty and a standoff is one thing. A massacre is another,” said Martin Weil of the U.S. China Business Council, a Washington-based organization of American companies. “Everybody’s going to have to factor that in.”
The State Department is advising Americans not to travel to China and is offering sanctuary to U.S. students in the country.
Although companies said there were no major problems flying people out, some reported difficulties getting to airports.
United Airlines and Northwest Airlines, the two U.S. carriers that fly into China, said they are re-evaluating operations daily. A United spokeswoman said the airline delayed by 15 hours a flight from Tokyo to Beijing to avoid an overnight layover in China.
The reaction from executives and consultants with business in China signals a new uncertainty about the economic impact of the military’s crackdown. Their reaction is particularly important because American investment is one of the biggest factors fueling China’s effort to modernize.
More than 600 U.S.-Chinese joint ventures have been signed since Washington and Beijing normalized relations 10 years ago, and the United States is one of China’s biggest trading partners. Total American investment there totals at least $3.5 billion.
