This schizoid attitude in foreign trade and currency flows and markets and all that that seems to be prevalent everywhere is strange. In the US there was this outcry when China wanted to invest in Unocal and again when Dubai Ports international swaddled in the economic waters and were scolded as it were ... Perhaps there are reasons in few, specific cases where there may be clear national interest in letting certain industries or sectors not be controlled by "foreign" companies/governments - yet more of it seems to be driven by considerations other than any clear national interest. When Lenovo took over the PC making part of IBM, there were some grumblings - but it happened.
I'll stick to the US perspective. So, the politicians here do not want China to have too much say in companies/etc in the US - yet feel they can demand that China revalue their currency vis-a-vis the dollar - If over night, the Chinese revalue their currency, the "dollar" value of their holdings will increase if they can sell their currency at those prices (given the Chinese economy, it may yet be possible to do so) - thus, in the short term the US will "enrich" the Chinese - so what are they allowed to do with their money? "Invest" - yet not anywhere that they want to ... So, we tell the Chinese what to do with their currency and yet tell them how they can spend it ... Ah, makes sense to some.
In the 80's/90's when the Japanese were buying real estate with their dollars, there was an outcry also as to how they were pushing up prices ... those dollars were earned in part/largely from their more efficient cars and taking market share from Detroit ... thus the public bought Japanese cars - yet demanded some control on how that money ought to be spent ... The american consumer is buying all things Chinese - yet rail against WalMart or any such company that contracts with Chinese companies - yet turn around and rail against Chinese money when it comes back to the US ...
The Japanese were thrashing Detroit (GM/Ford/Chrysler) when the Yen was far cheaper (200+ yean to the dollar) - today they continue to beat GM/Ford ... Yet I can iamgine the outcry if Toyota were to buy GM (which they can several times over and still have money to spend) ... I guess like most countries, the US wants to have it's cake and eat it too.
The current schizoid attitude with respect to illegal immigrants in the US is similar - 12 million people are apparently illegal in the US - and if one pays attention to some, you would think they are sitting around on the public dole doing nothing ... Yet the reality is that if these immigrants were to stop coming and the US were to ask the 12 million to go "home", the US economy will collapse. So, do we want them or not? Do we want a functioning economy or not? The answer is - We want their labor but are not willing to accept the reality of their economic worth and demagogues keep yelling and screaming and nothing happens.
Free flow of ideas, resources amd capital - human and otherwise is what has allowed much of the world's economies to develop the way they have.
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