At the Beijing motor show last November, officials of South Korea's Hyundai Motor Company saw what they describe as a "shocking" scene.

在他们眼里，中国汽车制造商们展示的一些新车型--例如辽宁曙光汽车集团(SG Automotive)的"旗胜"和天马汽车集团(Tianma Auto¹)的"英雄"--看上去与现代的圣达菲(Santa Fe)和下属企业起亚汽车(Kia Motors)的索兰托(Sorento)很相似。

To their eyes, some of the new models displayed by Chinese carmakers - such as the Qisheng by Liaoning SG Automotive and the Yingxiong by Tianma Auto - looked similar to Hyundai's Santa Fe and its affiliate² Kia Motors' Sorento.

现代汽车的管理人员Jake Jang回忆道："当我们看到中国的展车时，我们认为那是一模一样的复制品。前后外饰看上去与我们的运动型多功能汽车(SUV)非常相似。"

"The moment we saw the Chinese models, we thought they were replicas³. The front and rear exteriors⁴ looked so similar to our sports utility vehicles," recalls Jake Jang, a Hyundai official.

中国汽车制造商否认了现代的指控。辽宁曙光汽车集团的管理人员高彦龙(音译)表示："现代汽车工作人员对我们的旗胜车型发表的言论毫无根据，我们自己造出了这些汽车。"天马汽车发表的言论同样直接，一位管理人员表示："我们无需对现代汽车方面的言论进行任何回复。他们怎么想是他们的自由。但我可以告诉你，我们的英雄车型完全是自主开发的。我们还向政府注册了相关的专利。"

The Chinese carmakers reject Hyundai's accusation⁵. "What the people at Hyundai said about our Qisheng is completely groundless. We made the vehicles ourselves," says Gao Yanlong, an official at Liaoning. Tianma was equally blunt. "We don't need to make any response to the comments by Hyundai. It is their freedom to think that way. But I can tell you, our Yingxiong is fully⁶ self-developed. We also registered its related patents with the government," an official says.

然而，现代汽车的高管回到韩国后，越来越担心中国竞争对手正在科技和设计方面缩小与韩国的差距，对该公司而言，这种发展可能是灾难性的。

Still, Hyundai executives returned home with growing fears that their Chinese rivals are closing the technological⁷ and design gap with South Korea - a development that could be disastrous⁸ for the company.

上月，起亚汽车发生了部分工人因涉嫌向中国出售汽车技术而被捕的事情，突显出韩国汽车业的这种危机感。他们被指控盗窃了索兰托以及一款将于12月推出的新车型的关键信息。目前尚不清楚是谁涉嫌购买了这些技术。

The sense of crisis in South Korea's automotive industry was heightened last month when it emerged that some of Kia's workers had been arrested for allegedly selling car technology to China. They?were accused of stealing crucial information on the Sorento and a new model that will be launched in December. It is not known who the alleged⁹ buyers of the technology were.

"尽管我们在成本方面相对较弱，但我们认为，我们在质量和科技方面领先中国，"韩国商工会议所(Korea Chamber¹⁰ of Commerce and Industry)的Kim Hyun-soo表示，"但是，当技术外泄可能使中国迅速追赶我们的优势时，这种信心受到了动摇。"

"We believe that we are ahead of China on quality and technology, although we are relatively¹¹ weak on the cost side," says Kim Hyun-soo at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry. "But the belief is being shaken as technology leaks may allow China to quickly catch up on our strengths."

对中国制造商可能迅速赶上的担忧，已在许多实业家和立法者中间造成了一种被围攻的感觉--尽管韩国自己也是通过复制日本和美国的技术（至少在其发展初期是这样），成长为世界第11大经济体的。

The fear that Chinese manufacturers are fast catching¹² up has generated a sense of siege among many industrialists¹³ and lawmakers, even though South Korea itself grew into the world's 11th largest economy by replicating¹⁴ Japanese and US technology, at least in its initial development stage.

韩国国家情报局(National Intelligence Service)表示，在2003年至2007年5月间，共查获了101起工业间谍案，据称这些案件为国家带来的潜在损失高达1435亿美元。上月，检察部门逮捕了浦项制铁(Posco)子公司Posdata的研究员，原因是其涉嫌试图将韩国开发的无线宽带技术Wibro走私到美国。

The National Intelligence Service says it identified 101 cases of industrial espionage¹⁵ between 2003 and May 2007, which it claims cost the country $143.5bn (€106bn, ￡72bn) in potential losses. Last month prosecutors¹⁶ arrested researchers at Posdata, an affiliate of Posco, the steelmaker, for allegedly attempting to smuggle¹⁷ Wibro - a wireless¹⁸ broadband technology developed by Korea - into the US.

韩国国家情报局的一位官员表示："世界正在进行一场经济战争，因此，我们正在努力阻止技术外泄，以使我们的国家成为一个经济超级强国。"

"The world is engaged in an economic war so we are trying hard to prevent technology outflows to make our country an economic superpower," says an NIS official.

随着不安全感的日益加剧，韩国国会已经立法规定，如果韩国公司要向海外转移核心技术，需要得到政府的许可，以防技术泄露。

Prodded¹⁹ by the increasing sense of insecurity, parliament has legislated²⁰ to prevent technology leaks by requiring Korean companies to get government permission if they want to transfer core technologies overseas.

法律还规定，工业间谍将被判处高达7年的有期徒刑，或最高罚款75.5万美元。然而，对于强硬派议员而言，即便是这种惩罚也不足以保护韩国。

The law also provides for industrial spies to be sentenced to up to seven years' jail or fined up to $755,000. For hardline?legislators,?however, even this is not enough to protect South Korea.

由反对党--大国家党(Grand National party)的朴槿惠(Park Geun-hye)牵头，一些韩国议员最近提交了一项法律修正案，旨在阻止外国人收购拥有关键技术的韩国公司。

A group of lawmakers, led by Park Geun-hye of the opposition²¹ Grand National party, recently submitted a revised bill aimed at blocking foreigners from taking over domestic companies holding key technologies.

根据这项法案，如果并购交易或与外国公司建立的合资公司有可能导致本土公司的技术外泄，本土公司就必须向政府商务部门报告。如果政府认定可能的技术外流会对国家安全或经济造成危害，那么，它就可能暂停或否决这些交易。

Under the bill, local companies must report to the commerce ministry²² if their technology could be leaked through a merger²³ or acquisition or through joint²⁴ ventures with foreign companies. The government could then suspend or block such deals if the possible technology outflow was deemed harmful to national security or the economy.

如果国会通过这项修正案，外国投资者就几乎不可能对三星电子(Samsung Electronics)、海力士半导体公司(Hynix Semiconductor²⁵)、大宇造船和船舶工程公司(Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine²⁶ Engineering)等知名制造商发起敌意收购。

The revised bill, if passed by the national assembly, would make it almost impossible for foreign investors²⁷ to launch hostile bids for high-profile manufacturers such as Samsung Electronics, Hynix Semiconductor or Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering.

朴槿惠的顾问Lee Choon-sang表示："我们并不是要阻止外国投资。我们只是要保护拥有新技术的本国公司，因为在我们的前沿技术和管理战略方面，我们面临着来自不发达国家和发达国家日益加剧的挑战。"

"We don't mean to block foreign investment. We just want to protect our companies with new technologies, because we face growing challenges from under-developed countries as well as advanced ones, regarding our cutting-edge technology and management strategies," says Lee Choon-sang, an adviser²⁸ to Ms Park.

预计这项法案将会引发外国投资者的强烈不满，有些外国投资者将其视为一种"保护主义"举措。驻首尔的欧盟商会(European Chamber of Commerce)秘书长让-雅克o格劳尔(Jean-Jacques Grauher)表示，这项法案会抑制外国对这个亚洲第三大经济体的投资。

The bill is expected to spark strong complaints from foreign investors, some of whom have dismissed it as a "protectionist" move. Jean-Jacques Grauher, secretary-general of the European Chamber of Commerce in Seoul, says the bill would damp foreign investment in Asia's third-largest economy.

他表示："对韩国而言，结果可能完全适得其反。工业间谍是一种犯罪行为，显然应该得到非常严厉的惩罚。但他们必须明确区分工业间谍与（合法）商业活动。"

"It could be very counterproductive for Korea. They have to make a clear distinction between industrial espionage, which is a crime and should be very heavily sanctioned obviously, and [legal] business practices," he says.