Beijing (AsiaNews/agencies) - A Chinese company with interests in the United States has said it is ready to press charges against President Barack Obama for the order with which the White House has blocked a contract for the construction of wind turbines in the name of national security. The company, owned by two Chinese citizens, argues that Obama "has treated this agreement unfairly, acting illegally and in an unauthorized manner".
The controversy started on 28 September, when U.S. President Barack Obama banned the Ralls Corporation from building a wind farm in Oregon for "reasons of national security". The U.S. Treasury Department, which announced the decision, pointed out that this is an entirely legal presidential prerogative, but the fact remains that it is the first time in 22 years that such a decision has been taken against a foreign company.
The Chinese firm has been ordered to withdraw its investment in a series of wind farms purchased at the beginning of the year near a naval base where new types of drones, or unmanned aircraft, are tested. According to some U.S. government sources, the issue regards military security and the "various attempts" at espionage that U.S. defence intelligence "receives every day from abroad".
The issue of relations with China is one of the main themes of the election campaign for the American presidential elections on November 6: the Republican challenger Mitt Romney accuses the Democrat Obama of being "too soft" with Beijing. For their part, the team of the President-in-Office has replied by citing Romney's financial investments in China. From his 2011 tax return, one learns that the Republican candidate last year sold thousands of shares in seven Chinese companies, some of them state-owned, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.