Beijing's Pragmatism: China Does Not Oppose Meta's Acquisition of Manus

The technological blockade has exceptions when big money is at stake. On April 2, China's Ministry of Commerce officially stated that it supports "law-abiding transnational deals" in response to questions about the American corporation Meta purchasing the Chinese AI startup Manus.

Despite strict regulatory scrutiny and initial restrictions on the startup's co-founders, Beijing did not kill the deal outright. This is a pragmatic signal to Western capital: even amidst a total split of AI ecosystems (as with the NeurIPS boycott), China is ready to sell intellectual property and algorithms if the price suits the state. For Meta, this deal is a critical step in the race against OpenAI, and for the PRC, it is confirmation of the global competitiveness of its local mathematical school.

Source: Reuters / Financial Times