Beijing’s newly tightened rules on outbound investment reflect the country’s increasingly protective posture toward its businesses and technology.
The restrictions, published Monday, come weeks after China made Meta undo its purchase of Chinese AI startup Manus. Overseas acquisitions and expansions are “increasingly viewed through a national security lens,” rather than simply whether a move is commercially viable, a China policy analyst wrote.
Beijing and its tech giants are also racing to protect their top AI talent, as competition intensifies with the US. Beijing is reportedly restricting overseas travel for AI staffers at Alibaba and DeepSeek — similar to rules for academics and nuclear scientists — in an effort to secure its technology.
