EU Wants Power To Block China's Tech Buying

itwbennett writes "In an interview with German daily paper Handelsblatt, the EU's industry commissioner, Antonio Tajani, said he wants the power to block China from buying up European tech companies. Tajani envisions an authority along the same lines as the United States' Committee on Foreign Investment and would determine 'if the acquisition (of a company) with European know-how by a private or public foreign company represented a danger or not.'"

Considering that they have tied their money ....

[WindBourne]

to the dollar, I say block it. The fact is, that while China belongs to WTO and IMF, they obey NONE of it. It is time for the west to say enough, is enough. China needs to obey the treaties and other legal obligations that they have signed. That includes:

1. allowing their money to float freely(WTO, IMF, and Clinton accord).
2. Quit dumping (WTO, and Clinton Accord).
3. Quit subsidizing all of their state businesses (WTO, IMF, and Clinton Accord).
4. drop trade barriers(WTO, and Clinton Accord).
5. Turn on their pollution control mechanisms (Japanese treaty).
6. Allow rare earth exports (WTO).
7. quit buying up companies and the telling them to either move the company to China or directing that 100% of the goods be transfered to China (WTO).

And that is just for starters.
The fact is, that the west needs to say enough is enough. I support free trade, but not when it is one sided.

Re:China is becoming too powerful

[WindBourne]

Personally, I do not mind if they become #1. I object because they are cheating the whole way and it is obvious that top pols are in a cold war with the west. And yet, of the flower childs running around the west scream give China a chance. I say, let those flower childs (and the GD CEOs that move the jobs there) to MOVE TO CHINA AND STAY THERE.

Re:China is becoming too powerful

[devxo]

It actually resembles a lot how US got into power. They ignored European copyrights completely and in the same way took what they needed without giving back. Karmas law, eh?

Re:China is becoming too powerful

[dangitman]

And yet, of the flower childs running around the west scream give China a chance.

Who are you talking about here? The "flower children" are pretty much screaming at China in the name of a Free Tibet and the Dalai Lama. The "give China a chance" crowd are the über corporatist/capitalists.

Re:China does it

[wizardforce]

China is pretty much where Japan was 30-40 years ago. Look where Japan is today and that's where China will be in a few decades.

Re:China is becoming too powerful

[MichaelSmith]

More to the point they have a huge underclass and are facing fundamental resource limits which will prohibit improving the lives of those people. Limits like the supply of energy, food, water and land. Industrialisation will make a few Chinese people rich but if the wealth doesn't trickle down (I don't think it can) then the political situation will become very unstable.

Re:China is becoming too powerful

[siddesu]

Actually, the US got into power by waiting out until all major powers in Europe were badly bloodied by WWII, and then picking a side and trading old equipment for world dominance. See, e.g. destroyers for bases, lend-lease, etc.

Then, after the war, the US was easily able to attract talent by money - the so called "brain drain".

It is doubtful copyrights were even in the game, especially given the fact that the rules were largely synchronized immediately postwar, and the copyrights mostly covered literature anyway.

Re:Considering that they have tied their money ...

[WindBourne]

China has been printing Yuans like they are going out of style. QE2 is designed to shake China off of America's coat tail. The longer that they tie their Yuan to the dollar, the worst that things will get for them. Shortly, they will see massive inflation. And if they do NOT untie the Yuan from the dollar, then I expect that QE3 will be done. THAT will run China's inflation up to MINIMUM of 40% with ZERO chance of slowing that puppy down.

Re:Considering that they have tied their money ...

[WindBourne]

I do not say that their free trade should be restricted. I say that as long as they are not obeying the treaties/laws that they agreed to, THEN there is no reason for us to honor our side. Free trade is about TWO WAY TRADING. CHina is not about 2 way trade. It is about gaining it quickly and with interest in the real issues. They are in a cold war with us and using the economy against the west. It is time for us to stop this.

One way to pull our electronics out of CHina is to get western companies to move it back. However, QE2 is designed to do that for us. It will shake China lose, or they will suffer massive inflation.

Re:China is becoming too powerful

[dbIII]

Why not?
It's a libertarian's dream so long as they don't say anything bad about the government. Those with the wealth (or a company with wealth) have far more rights than those of the average individual and the government doesn't stop them with pesky minimum wage, safety and emissions laws. What are you waiting for? All you guys that complain about having to pay too much for staff, about how unions always get in the way, how the government won't let your company pollute and how the shit hits the fan when a worker is injured or dies - just shut up and move to China.

Re:China is becoming too powerful

[Anonymous Coward]

technically, that would be suicide. China owns the US. If China stops buying US bonds, the US falls, as well as China cash reserve.

Re:So Chinese agents will buy the companies instea

[gman003]

Uh, "wholesale destruction" isn't what's happening to the US, and China can take little credit for the decline that is happening. At worst, the US is having a slump, caused by incompetent leadership and short-sighted financial policy, combined with a media that doesn't "report" the news so much as it "spins" the news.

Re:It's more complicated than just that....

[drsquare]

I'm pretty sure that machines were used in Europe, the Luddites were not successful. Although they had the right intentions: machinery lowered the pay and job security of the workers for the benefit of the mill owners.

What I'm wondering, is why Americans on Internet forums are so unknowledgeable about the things they talk about. It seems the less they know about a topic, the more passionately they talk about it.

Re:China is becoming too powerful

[arivanov]

And that is 10 times more worrisome because the right analogy is still there in history. It is not USA, it is Japan.

That is an analogy that is making me shudder for a moment.

Re:China is becoming too powerful

[Opportunist]

Flower children? You kidding? Nobody likes China. Trust me on that one, even the "left" people I know despise them for "betraying Marxism and turning it into Fascism". There is no "give China a chance" sentiment amongst anyone.

Anyone but corporations wanting to produce cheap crap, that is.