Beijing Orders Meta to Reverse $2 B Manus AI Acquisition

China’s intervention echoes Cold-War era technology-control regimes like the US-led CoCom list (1949-1994) that barred Western firms from shipping advanced equipment to the Soviet bloc; now Beijing is erecting its own firewall against knowledge outflow. The move fits a decade-long trend toward ‘tech sovereignty’—export controls, chip bans, and investment screens on both sides of the Pacific—as AI becomes viewed less as commerce and more as critical infrastructure. By torpedoing a cross-border “acquihire,” Beijing warns domestic founders that re-registering in Singapore or Delaware will not mask Chinese origins, potentially chilling capital formation and accelerating the bifurcation of global AI ecosystems. On a 100-year timeline, this may mark a milestone in the gradual dismantling of the post-1990s belief in frictionless globalization, reinscribing the nation-state as the ultimate gatekeeper of talent and algorithms—a reversal as consequential as the 1970s shift from détente to strategic competition.