Meta-Manus deal is being scrutinized by the Chinese Govt. Manus has moved its HQ from Beijing to Singapore in order to make it easier to get International Investments

The Chinese government has said it will review Manus’ deal with Meta announced on December 29 to assess whether it complies with the country’s export controls and technology transfer policies. Manus was founded by Chinese engineers and backed by Chinese investors, the company moved its headquarters to Singapore in June last year. Its product became unavailable in China in July. Around the same time, Manus reportedly laid off its Chinese staff and closed its offices in the country. “Manus left China to pursue international market opportunities just before they materialized,” Lian Jye Su, a Singapore-based tech analyst who monitors AI startups in the region at Omdia, told *Rest of World*. “Its exodus has left the impression that Chinese tech startups can only get international attention if they operate outside of China.” Because of the US-China rivalry, which is causing this strict scrutiny of the deal has, what does it mean for the Chinese startups? Right now, they have the option to either operate within China or give up China to operate internationally. Should this be a concern for China i.e the risk of loosing their talent? Should Chines govt. or investors provide Chinese startups the capital they need so that the Chinese startups do not have to look at Western/ US investments?