When Meta agreed to acquire Manus, a Singapore-based artificial intelligence startup with Chinese roots for roughly $2 billion last December, many saw the transaction as just another routine deal in today’s global technology economy: capital crossing borders, startups relocating to friendlier jurisdictions, and major platform companies acquiring talent and intellectual property in the race to build the next generation of AI systems.

Full opinion : China’s decision to block Meta’s $2 billion of Manus, a Singapore-based artificial intelligence startup with Chinese roots, is no surprise for those who understand the evolution in how the Chinese Communist Party under Xi Jinping is defining technology as part of national security.