"China has blocked Meta's $2bn acquisition of artificial intelligence app Manus, as Washington and Beijing vie for dominance over the emerging technology." [$2bn acquisition]
The article explicitly frames the blocking decision as part of the US-China competition for AI dominance, establishing the causal link between deal-blocking and strategic technology control.
Reasoning from this article
The article presents this as one instance of a broader pattern: Beijing using regulatory tools (investment rules, export controls, antitrust law) to prevent US acquisition of AI assets with Chinese origins or ties. The NDRC's statement about prohibiting 'foreign investment' in Manus and the mention of this being 'the second major deal' in which Beijing intervened suggests a systematic approach to blocking strategic technology transfers during the AI race.