Ali
08-17-2005, 02:37 AM
Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/2005/07/22/cnooc-chevron-oil-unocal_cx_gl_0722autofacescan05_print.html). Friday saw another development in a story that already seemed glutted: CNOOC's bid for Unocal. The Associated Press reports that documents filed with the U.S. Federal Election Commission supposedly shed new light on opposition to the Chinese oil firm's bid. The FEC papers say three leaders of the legislative drive to thwart CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal had recently accepted campaign contributions from Chevron. The latter firm, led by Chairman and Chief Executive David J. O’Reilly, has launched a rival offer for Unocal.
According to the AP, the congressmen have been the standard-bearers of those who say such a purchase by CNOOC—an oil company backed by a billion-person communist state—might be anticompetitive and a threat to America's national security. The bipartisan triumvirate of politicos are Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).
The report says all three donations were disbursed by Chevron on June 29, about a week after CNOOC declared its bid, according to Chevron's June report to the FEC. Pombo received a contribution of $2,000, while Conrad and Inhofe each received $1,000. With so much at stake, one wonders if such relatively paltry amounts really had any impact. (For more on the CNOOC-Unocal saga and its implications, see: "Zero-Sum Games With China (http://www.forbes.com/columnists/2005/07/20/china-cnooc-haier-cx_pm_0720notn.html)") Ah, yes. Reject the higher bid from the Chinese company in favour of the lower bid from the American company (plus a few bribes). That's the Capitalist spirit, that's the way to keep an economy healthy :rolleyes:
These are sensitive days in Sino-American relations, with touch-points aplenty: China's huge trade surplus with America; the value of the yuan; Beijing's intentions toward Taiwan and the build-up of its army in that regard; China's ambivalent relationship, in the minds of many in Washington, with North Korea.
Allied to long-standing concerns about human rights in China, all these points of difficulty have coalesced recently into a dawning upon the American public that there might be another superpower out there before too long—a realization that is crystallizing among the more protectionist-minded in the U.S. as a fear that "China is buying up America".
...
A Chinese general commented last week that China could deploy nuclear weapons if the U.S. deployed its soldiers to defend Taiwan, which certainly did nothing to quench American unease about China. Earlier this week, the U.S. Pentagon issued a report highlighting the potential future threat to regional stability as a result of China's modernization of its armed forces and emphasizing that Beijing has interests to protect beyond Taiwan, including energy security.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry today denounced that report, saying it is no threat to its neighbors and accusing Washington of looking for excuses to sell weapons to rival Taiwan.
...
The U.S. sells its debt to China hand over fist, and for all the hand-wringing over CNOOC "buying up America," one never seems to hear the same concern about China "buying up America's debt"—and there seems to be no hint of a protectionist campaign to stop the U.S. Treasury from sellingbonds to Beijing.
Or of another little talked about deal: That CNOOC is negotiating a $22 billion arrangement to buy natural gas from Chevron. If concluded, CNOOC would end up paying what would effectively be a cheaper unit price for the gas than it would pay if it succeed in outbidding Chevron for Unocal. And all that natural gas is in the Asia-Pacific region—another example of how the global economy is making nonsense of political borders,which points to the question of quite who are the winners and losers here. Seems pretty obvious to me who the losers are...
According to the AP, the congressmen have been the standard-bearers of those who say such a purchase by CNOOC—an oil company backed by a billion-person communist state—might be anticompetitive and a threat to America's national security. The bipartisan triumvirate of politicos are Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Calif.), Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).
The report says all three donations were disbursed by Chevron on June 29, about a week after CNOOC declared its bid, according to Chevron's June report to the FEC. Pombo received a contribution of $2,000, while Conrad and Inhofe each received $1,000. With so much at stake, one wonders if such relatively paltry amounts really had any impact. (For more on the CNOOC-Unocal saga and its implications, see: "Zero-Sum Games With China (http://www.forbes.com/columnists/2005/07/20/china-cnooc-haier-cx_pm_0720notn.html)") Ah, yes. Reject the higher bid from the Chinese company in favour of the lower bid from the American company (plus a few bribes). That's the Capitalist spirit, that's the way to keep an economy healthy :rolleyes:
These are sensitive days in Sino-American relations, with touch-points aplenty: China's huge trade surplus with America; the value of the yuan; Beijing's intentions toward Taiwan and the build-up of its army in that regard; China's ambivalent relationship, in the minds of many in Washington, with North Korea.
Allied to long-standing concerns about human rights in China, all these points of difficulty have coalesced recently into a dawning upon the American public that there might be another superpower out there before too long—a realization that is crystallizing among the more protectionist-minded in the U.S. as a fear that "China is buying up America".
...
A Chinese general commented last week that China could deploy nuclear weapons if the U.S. deployed its soldiers to defend Taiwan, which certainly did nothing to quench American unease about China. Earlier this week, the U.S. Pentagon issued a report highlighting the potential future threat to regional stability as a result of China's modernization of its armed forces and emphasizing that Beijing has interests to protect beyond Taiwan, including energy security.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry today denounced that report, saying it is no threat to its neighbors and accusing Washington of looking for excuses to sell weapons to rival Taiwan.
...
The U.S. sells its debt to China hand over fist, and for all the hand-wringing over CNOOC "buying up America," one never seems to hear the same concern about China "buying up America's debt"—and there seems to be no hint of a protectionist campaign to stop the U.S. Treasury from sellingbonds to Beijing.
Or of another little talked about deal: That CNOOC is negotiating a $22 billion arrangement to buy natural gas from Chevron. If concluded, CNOOC would end up paying what would effectively be a cheaper unit price for the gas than it would pay if it succeed in outbidding Chevron for Unocal. And all that natural gas is in the Asia-Pacific region—another example of how the global economy is making nonsense of political borders,which points to the question of quite who are the winners and losers here. Seems pretty obvious to me who the losers are...