I'm not particularly concerned by the Chinese government's bid (through CNOOC Ltd., which they control 70% of) to buy Unocal. If they offer a better deal than Chevron, why not? Worries that Chinese ownership somehow compromises our national security strike me as way overblown. If we and China ever get to a point where we threaten each other, who owns Unocal and its relatively minor energy assets will be the least of our problems. Moreover, in wartime, business ownership is something less than an inviolable fact of nature. Stateside Unocal assets would be nationalized by America, not allowed to continue production for the hostile Chinese under some bizarre fetishization of property rights.
Further -- and this is really an important point -- we're not going to war with China. They do not threaten our national security. They are not our enemy. Purchases they want to make should not be subjected to a extra level of scrutiny as they are not a hostile, or even threatening, power. America certainly has the right to be annoyed at Chinese monetary policy, but a country attempting to keep their export industry at a comparative advantage is hardly unheard of and shouldn't be seen as a more aggressive move than it is.
China's growing. We all know that. They will be powerful. Many of us fear that. But we, and them, will be in infinitely better shape if we cultivate a constructive and friendly relationship rather than create a self-fulfilling prophecy by treating China as a threatening power. If they want to buy Unocal and are willing to outbid Chevron, more power to them. We want as many nodes of interconnection as we can have in order to ensure the disincentives to future hostility -- on either side -- are as significant as possible.
