Obama voids Chinese purchase of wind farm
WASHINGTON — Citing national security risks, U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday blocked a Chinese company from owning four wind farm projects in northern Oregon near a navy base where the U.S. military flies unmanned drones and electronic-warfare planes on training missions.
It was the first time in 22 years that a U.S. president blocked such a foreign business deal. Obama’s decision was likely to be another irritant in the increasingly tense economic relationship between the U.S. and China.
It also comes against an election-year backdrop of intense criticism from Republican presidential challenger Mitt Romney, who accuses Obama of not being tough enough with China.
In his decision, Obama ordered Ralls Corporation, a company owned by Chinese nationals, to divest its interest in the wind farms it purchased earlier this year near the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility in Boardman, Oregon.
The case reached the president’s desk after the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States, known as CFIUS, determined there was no way to address the national security risks posed by the Chinese company’s purchases.
Only the president has final authority to prohibit a transaction. The administration would not say what risks the wind farm purchases presented.
The Treasury Department said CFIUS made its recommendation to Obama after receiving an analysis of the potential threats from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
The military has acknowledged that it used the Oregon Naval facility to test unmanned drones and the EA-18G “Growler.” The electronic warfare aircraft accompanies U.S. fighter bombers on missions and protectively jams enemy radar, destroying them with missiles along the way.
At the Oregon site, the planes fly as low as 60 metres and nearly 500 kilometres per hour.
In Ottawa, the Conservatives are split over a landmark $15.1-billion bid by China’s CNOOC for oil producer Nexen, leaving Prime Minister Stephen Harper with a difficult call to make.
A green light, still viewed by many as likely, would allow China’s biggest ever foreign takeover, extend China’s foothold in Canada’s crude-rich oilsands — an area with the biggest proven resources of energy outside Venezuela and Saudi Arabia — and help Beijing fulfil its drive for better access to energy resources to fuel the world’s second-largest economy.
A “no,” or conditionals on the deal that were too onerous for CNOOC, would cut the takeover premium on Canadian resource stocks, and likely stem Chinese investment in the energy patch as well as damaging Canada’s already dented reputation as a friendly jurisdiction for foreign investment.
In the American case, the last time a president used the law to block a transaction was 1990, when President George H.W. Bush voided the sale of Mamco Manufacturing to a Chinese agency. In 2006, President George W. Bush approved a CFIUS case involving the merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies.
The Treasury Department said in a statement that Obama’s decision is specific to this transaction and does not set a precedent for other foreign direct investment in the U.S. by China or any other country.
China’s trade advantage over the U.S. has emerged as a key issue in the final weeks of the presidential campaign. Romney accuses Obama of failing to stand up to Beijing. The president criticizes the GOP nominee for investing part of his personal fortune in China and outsourcing jobs there while he ran the private equity firm Bain Capital.
Both campaigns are running ads on China in states that can go to either candidate, especially Ohio, where workers in the manufacturing industry have been hardhit by outsourcing. Obama has the power to void foreign transactions under the Defence Production Act.