Don't let a rare US acquisition by a Chinese semiconductor manufacturer fool you, an international relations expert from Beijing Foreign Studies University says: the China-US trade environment is deteriorating.
In an opinion piece for The Beijing News, Shi Zehua, a diplomacy expert, says the success of Naura – reportedly the first Chinese company to see its bid to buy a US company approved since Donald Trump took office – should not be seen as indicative of broader trends.
Previous acquisition bids from Chinese investors have mostly been rejected due to supposed security concerns. It’s naive to think the US government has become friendlier with Chinese investors, Shi argues, because Chinese companies will only be able to buy smaller and less valuable companies that pose no challenge to US industrial competitiveness. The chance of any Chinese company nailing down a large M&A deal in the US remains slim.
The China-US trade environment has deteriorated due to political barriers, with the US government persistently attacking Chinese investors over their alleged political intentions, the scholar says.