Chinese automotive equipment giant Wanxiang has already given up a lot in its $256.6 million winning bid to take over bankrupt U.S. battery maker A123, SeekingAlpha.com reported Sunday. Not only has it said goodbye to A123's U.S. government work, it has lost the remaining $120 million or so of a $249 million Department of Energy grant that's helped build A123's lithium-ion factories in Michigan plants that Wanxiang says it will keep open. But political opponents of A123's sale to a Chinese company are saying that may not be enough. Even A123's commercial technology is inextricably linked back to its federally funded work with partners like DOE and the Department of Defense, they say. That could allow Wanxiang to develop military applications based on A123's U.S.-funded technology, it is claimedand that's enough reason to block the sale. These are some of the issues facing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. The committee chaired by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is in charge of deciding just what parts of a proposed sale of A123's assets and intellectual property might constitute a national security risk. This week, the group began a 45-day review of the sale, with a deadline of Jan. 15, 2013, to make a decision.
