US too acquires tech from other nations

Chinese direct investment in the US before the global financial crisis was relatively small. For example, China's total direct investment in the US was only $585 million in 2007. Since many companies in the United States and the European Union faced serious financial difficulties because of the global financial crisis that broke out in 2008, Washington and Brussels started welcoming Chinese direct investment to emerge out of financial trouble.

Many Chinese companies, most of whom were new to the global market, seized the opportunity to enter the US and EU markets and a revolutionary change in China's outward direct investment occurred. China's direct outward investment rose dramatically from $26.5 billion in 2007 to $196.2 billion in 2016, a seven-fold increase, with the direct investment in the US increasing by 89.2 percent in 2008, 47 percent in 2009 and 103 percent in 2010.

But with the economic situation in the West improving of late, some Western media outlets and politicians that once welcomed the Chinese investment are now portraying it as "evil". This change is best exemplified by a Chinese saying: "Kill the donkey after it has done the job."