When Chinese firms meet Western anxiety

The Australian government on Thursday rejected two Chinese companies’ $7.7 billion bid for its largest electricity network, Ausgrid, citing national security concerns.

This is the latest case of Western countries blocking Chinese companies’ attempts to acquire their companies.

In January, the US government stopped Chinese investor GO Scale Capital’s $2.8 billion bid for Philips’ lighting-components unit, Lumileds.

British Prime Minister Theresa May in late July delayed a final decision on building a nuclear plant partly funded by China.

But Chinese home appliances company Midea obtained a 85.7 percent share in German industrial robot maker Kuka, despite suspicions from German elites over security.

Globalization started with Western companies investing in and occupying the markets of the developing countries.

Western elements are also conspicuous in China. Every Chinese civil servants or researcher of sensitive technology has used Microsoft’s Windows system. Even China’s most influential IT companies Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent, are not pure Chinese companies, given their shareholding structures.

As China’s competitive power grows, some of the Western countries are becoming defensive economically. The Western countries feel insecure in so many areas, which is out of proportion with the advantages they still hold.

Chinese companies are either thieves or robbers, or spies, Western countries have been hinting. Under this way of thinking, Chinese people should have become more scared when looking back into the foreign investment in the past years in China. How many thieves or spies could have been placed in the modern facilities we introduced from the West?

Some of the foreign countries’ insecurities may be their true feelings. Others are just excuses for their trade protectionism. They have different prejudices against Chinese companies. But their counter measures are not necessarily a joint campaign.

Chinese companies can resort to economic and legal measures to protect their rights when their acquisition bids are blocked. The government can also help the enterprises solve their problems. Many Western countries are short of capital. As long as China’s strong investment momentum continues, the benefits from introducing Chinese investment will overcome their suspicions. The Western countries are not likely to join hands and build a huge wall against Chinese investment.

As China’s development continues, in the future Chinese capital and foreign capital will have a presence in each others’ economies. Such exchanges will eventually reach a balance.