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CNOOC's bid for Unocal tests US' China ties
(Los Angeles Times)
Updated: 2005-07-12 06:44
"This might reveal the true face of the U.S." toward China, Liu said.
Even before CNOOC lobbed its bid, strains in U.S.-China trade had been
building for months. China's soaring textile exports prompted the Bush
administration to impose new quotas. Several bills in Congress threaten tariffs
on Chinese goods if Beijing doesn't revalue its currency, which critics say is
undervalued, giving Chinese exporters an unfair advantage. American industries
complain about lax protection of intellectual property rights in China.
Unocal offices in
Sugar Land, Texas. Oil exploration firm Unocal said its shareholders would
meet August 10 to decide on takeover offers from US rival Chevron and
China National Offshore Oil Company (CNOOC).
[AFP] | Some of those issues will be discussed today by top officials from the U.S.
and China meeting in Beijing for annual trade talks.
For the Bush administration, the CNOOC matter is particularly difficult. On
one hand, the bid is being seen against the backdrop of America's huge trade
deficit with China, which is increasingly blamed on allegedly unfair Chinese
trade practices. On the other hand, free trade advocates argue that it would be
hypocritical for U.S. politicians to derail a deal when there isn't strong
evidence that it threatens American security interests.
Some of America's largest corporations, including Exxon Mobil Corp. and Bank
of America Corp., have urged politicians not to interfere — and for no small
reason. Bank of America last month agreed to pay $2.5 billion for a 9% stake in
one of China's largest state-run banks and has an option to buy much more. Exxon
just last week signed a $3.5-billion deal with another Chinese oil company and a
Saudi concern to expand a refinery in south China.
And Goldman Sachs is considering an investment in China's largest bank,
according to various reports.
"Almost every major company is here and making money or wanting to make
money," said Andy Rothman, a China specialist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets in
Shanghai. "They don't want to spoil this."
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