Report urges government to halt future Chinese takeovers of Canadian firms

OTTAWA – A new report from Calgary’s School of Public Policy is warning the government against approving any more takeovers from Chinese state-owned companies.

The paper by economist Duanjie Chen argues that Chinese state-owned enterprises are agents of the Chinese regime and do not play by the same rules as Canadian companies, or those from most Western countries.

The report comes after Ottawa gave China National Offshore Oil Co. the green light to acquire oil producer Nexen Inc., but also introduced new guidelines that would make future takeovers in the oil patch from SOEs more difficult.

Chen would not say that the approval was in error, but said the government should reject future majority acquisitions from China, saying they are contrary to Canadian interests.

Chen, who was born in China, says Chinese firms lack the transparency Canadian expect of their own companies are known to operate outside market principles.

She says Chinese SOEs are first and foremost tools of the Chinese regime with a mission to dominate sectors of the global economy important to the country.