Politicizing economic affairs generates no fruit

Earlier this year, the former chief economist of Bank of China, Cao Yuanzheng, warned the Chinese business community that a change in their global operating environment was possibly on the way - a change from peaceful development of all businesses to ferocious competition.

We have already seen some high-level appointees in the US administration of Donald Trump blaming the economic woes of the world's sole superpower on its trade partners from the developing world.

Now, as if to provide yet another footnote to ominous predictions about the future, there is news of a petition from authorities in Germany, France and Italy to the European Union for a veto right over Chinese high-tech takeovers.