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BEIJING (AP) - China on Tuesday demanded that Congress "correct its mistaken ways" and stop interfering in the proposed takeover of the Unocal oil corporation by China's state-owned CNOOC Ltd. American politicians had warned the $18.5 billion takeover bid announced last month could pose risks to U.S. national security and called for a full review by the Bush administration. The Chinese company's officials have welcomed a security review and denied that CNOOC was acting on behalf of China's government, which is in the midst of a multibillion-dollar campaign to secure foreign oil and gas supplies to power its booming economy....

The last thing Chevron wanted when it made its $16.8 billion offer for Unocal back in April was to be pitted in a takeover battle against the Chinese government. After all, one of the main reasons it went after Unocal, a California-based independent oil company with vast resources in Asia, was to sell oil and gas to the fastest-growing energy market in the world, China. But on June 22, when the state-controlled China National Offshore Oil Corporation, or Cnooc, countered with a higher bid for Unocal, Chevron found itself in a delicate position. Since then, Chevron's managers have gone into...

SHANGHAI, July 4 -- The Chinese government on Monday sharply criticized the United States for threatening to erect barriers aimed at preventing the attempted takeover of the American oil company Unocal by one of China's three largest energy firms, CNOOC Ltd.Four days after the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved a resolution urging the Bush administration to block the proposed transaction as a threat to national security, China's Foreign Ministry excoriated Congress for injecting politics into what it characterized as a standard business matter. "We demand that the U.S. Congress correct its mistaken ways of politicizing economic and trade issues...

Saturday July 2, 6:33 AM Reuters Summit-Chinese may soon park money in U.S. buildingsNEW YORK, July 1 (Reuters) - Today, it's oil and washing machines, but tomorrow, they may take Manhattan. That's how U.S. real estate experts view the bids by Chinese companies to buy Unocal Corp. , the U.S. oil company, and Maytag Corp. , the iconic American maker of washing machines and other appliances. This aggressive interest in buying U.S. companies could signal broader investment from China in the United States that would include land and buildings in major American cities, real estate experts said this week at...

BEIJING (AFP) - China angrily responded to a vote by US lawmakers urging the Bush administration to block the 18.5 billion-dollar bid by China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) to take over US oil group Unocal. "We demand that the US Congress correct its mistaken ways of politicizing economic and trade issues and stop interfering in the normal commercial exchanges between enterprises of the two countries," China's foreign ministry said in a statement. "CNOOC's bid to take over the US Unocal company is a normal commercial activity between enterprises and should not fall victim to political interference. "The development of...

The oil war is openly declared now and the world shall stand to witness it. In what seems to be the clash of China and the United States over Unocal is already having its impact felt all over the world. United States is a nation driven by the politics of oil and influence. The mammoth growth of China is a reality and for the first time China is directly contesting America’s sphere of influence all over the world. With oil prices touching record high of 60 dollars per barrel the war is likely to intensify if anything else. But one...

China oil firm tries to ease worries on Unocal CNOOC willing to divest assets, allow American management The Associated Press Updated: 12:51 p.m. ET June 24, 2005 BEIJING - Trying to allay U.S. national security worries about its bid for Unocal Corp., Chinese state-owned oil company CNOOC Ltd. said Friday it was willing to discuss selling some Unocal assets and putting others under American management. The announcement came after four members of Congress called on the U.S. government on Thursday to review the security implications of allowing a Chinese state-controlled firm to take control of the ninth-largest American oil producer....

The Post Cold War Peace Is Over Wes Vernon Tuesday, June 28, 2005 Excuse me, but there seems to be a disconnect here. On the one hand, Pentagon officials are warning that China's buildup of its military might is growing faster than U.S. intelligence expected, bolstering suspicions of an attack on Taiwan within two years — meaning war with the United States, which is honor-bound to defend Taiwan. All the while, China's People's Liberation Army regards the U.S. as "the main adversary," and has laid out plans in black and white as to its preparations for war with us. On...

The US House of Representatives has voted to block the Bush administration from backing a Chinese takeover attempt for US oil firm Unocal. The Republican-led house voted against any backing for the $18.5bn (£10bn) bid put forward by China's CNOOC oil firm. But the move needs approval from the Senate, which has not considered such a proposal. CNOOC's bid trumps a $16.3bn cash and share offer tabled by fellow US oil group Chevron. US opposition On Thursday the US government gave the go-ahead to Chevron's takeover of its US rival, the ninth biggest oil firm in the US. The approval...

President Bush was very wise to make his Iraqi speech this week. He and his advisors are following the same public opinion polls we all are. Polls show that support for the war among Americans has been falling. Time has now become an enemy, almost as threatening as the insurgents, to the President's ability to achieve a victory. Our nation does not have much patience for fighting wars that are not discernibly winnable in a relatively short period of time. With congressional elections next year, anti-war sentiment could easily be expressed by voters -- resulting in the erosion of the...

Keep Communists Out Of American Boardrooms Carlton Delfeld, 06.28.05 There are two principles that should guide America's policy towards foreign companies interested in acquiring ownership and control of U.S. companies. These principles are openness to private investment in areas not affecting our national security, and reciprocity in allowing American companies to invest in the potential buyer's home country. These principles should be applied consistently and should not be aimed at any specific country. Given the recent controversy regarding high profile Chinese bids for American companies, these principles should be applied to determine whether these bids are acceptable. First, we must...

Congress may be asked to consider a resolution today requesting that the White House investigate whether a Chinese state-owned energy company's bid to buy U.S. oil firm Unocal would be a threat to national security. The resolution by Republican members of the House will not call for denial of the plan by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Co., or CNOOC, to buy Unocal for $18.5 billion in cash. But a spokesman for House Resources Committee Chairman Richard Pombo, one of the authors, said it would ask the Committee on Foreign Investments to investigate the deal. "We just want national security...

BEIJING, June 29 (UPI) -- China expressed opposition to interference in a government-controlled oil company's bid for the U.S.-based oil company Unocal, state media said Wednesday. Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said that China National Offshore Oil Corporation's $18.5 billion offer for Unocal was "normal commercial activity between enterprises." Liu said "economic cooperation between China and the U.S. serves the interests of both sides and commercial activities should not be interfered in or disturbed by political elements." There are growing concerns in Washington over the deal as some U.S. officials are uncomfortable with CNOOC, 70 percent owned by the Chinese...

FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN Alan Greenspan teamed up with Treasury Secretary John Snow to urge calm when they went before a Senate committee last week. Once again, politicians and policy wonks are up in arms about a foreign takeover of an American company, in this case the attempted acquisition of Unocal by China's National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC). To those who remember the hysteria that greeted Japan's purchase of Rockefeller Center, the jewel in the crown of New York real estate, in the late 1980s, "It's déja vu all over again," to borrow from the Yankee sage, Yogi Berra. That might...

BEIJING, June 24 - From the dusty plains of East Africa to the shores of the Caspian Sea, China is seeking to loosen the grip of the United States on world energy resources and secure the fuel it needs to keep its economy in overdrive. Its energy deal-making has cost tens of billions of dollars and has dominated China's foreign policymaking for the past two years. At times it has put China in direct competition with American policy goals, especially in Iran and Sudan, whose leaderships are among the least favored by the United States government. Now Washington has the...

HONG KONG Is the bid by the China National Offshore Oil Corp. for the American oil company Unocal another act in a classical tragedy that will lead inexorably to the United States and China destroying the commercial embrace they both cherish?From a political perspective, the bid could scarcely have come at a less opportune time. It is destined to rile many in a U.S. Congress already fretting over trade issues and the Chinese currency peg. It will be another boost to those calling for punitive tariffs against all Chinese goods. From an overall Chinese perspective, the bid could be deemed...

There's nothing shocking per se about the fact that Chinese buyers are now seeking control over some American companies. * * * America, which imports far more than it exports, has been living for years on borrowed funds, and lately China has been buying many of our I.O.U.'s.Until now, the Chinese have mainly invested in U.S. government bonds. But bonds yield neither a high rate of return nor control over how the money is spent.So it was predictable that, sooner or later, the Chinese would stop buying so many dollar bonds. Either they would stop buying American I.O.U.'s altogether, causing...

WASHINGTON, June 25 - President Bush's initial response to the proposed takeover of a major American oil company by a Chinese rival has been to duck. It is not hard to see why.The $18.5 billion offer by the China National Offshore Oil Corporation for Unocal, which had already made a deal to be acquired by the American oil giant, Chevron, is forcing the administration to confront its own internal rifts over whether China should be viewed as friend, foe or something in between.

The brewing political controversy over a Chinese oil company's $18.5 billion bid to acquire the ninth-largest U.S. oil company could have serious local repercussions if it soured U.S. business relations with China.

Secretive panel could block China's Unocal bid By Jim Wolf 38 minutes ago WASHINGTON (Reuters) - If Unocal Corp. accepts an $18.5 billion takeover by China's CNOOC Ltd. the deal's fate may hinge on how a secretive U.S. review panel defines "national security," experts said on Friday. "The primary question for this transaction is whether they consider energy security to be a national-security issue," said Michael Wessel, a Democrat and a member of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission. Wessel said the Bush administration, so far, had restricted the definition of national security. State-owned CNOOC's unsolicited bid trumped a...