The uproar in the US Congress about the possibility of a Dubai firm
taking over administration of a number of American ports recalls last
year’s cries from the same body about a bid from China to take over an
American oil firm. When state-owned China National Offshore Oil
Corporation (CNOOC) tried to buy out California-based UNOCAL, many
senators and congressmen played the same jingoism card that they are
playing now. They argued that America’s energy security would somehow
be put at risk if a Chinese oil firm took over an American one. And now
they claim that to allow a state-owned UAE firm to run their ports
would be tantamount to outsourcing American security to the Middle East.
You
know it’s midterm election year when Republican senators start looking
for ways to break with their lame-duck, unpopular president. Bill
Frist, the Senate majority leader who will likely run for president in
2008, is leading the charge. He is not swayed by the fact that the
Committee on Foreign Investments, which includes members of the
Pentagon and Homeland Security, has already approved the ports deal. The Committee also approved the CNOOC bid last year, but the deal collapsed due to political pressure, as looks likely to happen again.
The irony here is not that a
few politicians are drumming up irrational fears to garner votes –
nothing new there. What’s odd is that many of these same politicians
are usually thumping the “Free Trade” bible. It’s fine for American
companies to own half the assets of Latin America, but no way will a
Communist oil firm be permitted to own an American one, even if they
submit the highest bid. Frist and company conveniently ignore the fact
that most of UNOCAL’s assets were in the Asia Pacific region (making it
a sensible target for Chinese ownership) or that the security of US
ports will remain in the hands of Customs and the Coast Guard no matter
which foreign-owned company administers them (currently it is a British
company). When it comes to re-election, nothing works better than
scaremongering.
