“If the United States would not allow CNOOC to purchase Unocal, will not itself guarantee China a steady energy supply and opposes Chinese purchases of Iranian oil and gas, how can China survive?”-Zhang Guobao, former vice chairman National Development and Reform Commission
In 2005 China tried to buy California based Unocal. The attempt was blocked by the U.S. government.
Before anybody in the U.S. says “good, we don’t want foreigners taking over our oil”, guess what? Too late, ever hear of BP? British Petroleum has been slowly taking over U.S. oil companies since 1998 (ever wondered what happened to AMOCO, or ARCO, or Castrol? They all owned by BP now). At least the Chinese have a track record of spending money big time, for other projects, in the countries they move into, BP does not come close.
On top of that, China has been allowed to take over smaller U.S. companies, why not the oil companies? Is it because BP can’t handle the competition? Officially our government says it’s about National Security. You mean letting a limey, red coat, mortal enemy of the founders of the United States, British company take over U.S. oil companies is not a National Security threat?
In 2007 Zhang Guobao issued a warning to the United States, saying the blocking of their purchase of Unocal “will have many after effects.” Can you say ‘get your game on!’ Remember China is our largest creditor, we owe them big time for financing our financially inept, elected officials deficit spending.
China has already retaliated by not allowing Coca-Cola to take over a Chinese beverage company in 2009. Then again, Atlanta, Georgia based, Coca-Cola was so arrogant that they didn’t think it necessary to lobby Chinese politicians (something they do all the time here in the U.S.).
Several attempts by U.S. companies, to take over Chinese companies, have been squashed. But remember when China tried to buy GM’s Hummer brand? That fell through, because of the Chinese government. It seems that the Chinese government has decided that not only are they going to block U.S. companies from moving into China, but they are going to block any Chinese company from investing in the U.S. Sounds like an economic war. All they need to do now is start dumping U.S. bonds, and we’re toast.
Many U.S. media still claim that the United States is the biggest customer for China, wrong. In the last decade, the Chinese have been moving their consumer market eggs into different baskets (wise move). They’re invested big time in Latin America, blowing the United States away, another reason why Obama’s trip to Latin America was a total waste. Australia has become such a big supplier of crops to China, that their economy is going gang busters as well. In fact, when you look at most of the countries that are not being affected by the global recession, they all have one common factor; China is invested big time with their economies!
By the way, remember that big announcement Obama made when he went to China in 2009? Even Chinese officials claimed it would end the U.S. recession. What happened?
In January 2011, it was announced that the U.S. and China agreed to a $45 billion trade deal. Obama lauded the deal saying it would support (not create) 235,000 jobs. But there’s a catch. Obama, and members of Congress said the deal was contingent upon China addressing certain ‘human rights’ issues.
“We also know this: history shows that societies are more harmonious, nations are more successful and the world is more just when the rights and responsibilities of all nations and all peoples are upheld — including the universal rights of every human being.”-President Barack Obama
“…raised our strong, ongoing concerns with reports of human rights violations in China, including the denial of religious freedom and the use of coercive abortion…”-House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio
“While we appreciate those words, the United States will watch the actions of the Chinese government to make sure that they meet the words that were spoken in the White House yesterday.”-Robert Gibbs, White House Spokesman
I believe the reason why the U.S. economy is still struggling is because the U.S. don’t wanna play with China anymore, and China don’t wanna play with the U.S., it’s all just Nuevo Cold War rhetoric now.