Dawn is coming?

Gee, some people are beginning to wake up. The Energy Secretary, Sam Bodman, wants to convene the Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. to look at the bid by Cnooc, the smallest of the state-owned Chinese oil companies, to buy Unocal, whose board has already agreed to be acquired by Chevron. Today the Senate Finance Committee is holding hearings on our economic relationship with China.

Of course, not a word was said when Lenovo bought IBM’s PC business earlier this year or when Haier put in a bid for Maytag last week. Is it only if the deal is above $15 billion (Cnooc is offering $18.5 billion) or is in the oil industry that the government will realize there is a problem looming here in our changing world?

This latest and largest bid moves China from a passive investor in bonds of our government to an active investor in some of our vital industries.