Op-ed: In blocking Meta-Manus deal, China sent a powerful reminder to Mark Zuckerberg and U.S. market about AI race

china ordered meta to reverse its $2 billion acquisition of manus, a singapore-based ai startup with chinese roots. meta has indicated it will comply, at least for now. beijing's decision was elevated to the national security commission, the party body chaired by xi jinping. the deal was blocked under china's anti-monopoly law, but regulators reportedly described it as a "conspiratorial" attempt to hollow out the country's tech base. at one point, two manus co-founders were restricted from leaving the country. the company had relocated to singapore last summer, a strategy sometimes called "singapore washing," but beijing still asserted control. this isn't new. in 2018, qualcomm's $44 billion bid for nxp collapsed after china withheld antitrust approval. nvidia's attempt to buy arm also died under regulatory pressure. for u.s. tech companies, deals involving chinese talent or ip will be judged through strategic competition, not commercial logic.