US News

Bam windscreen blocks China grab of US firm

WASHINGTON — President Obama yesterday blocked a Chinese company from owning four wind-farm projects near a Navy base in northern Oregon, citing national security concerns.

It marks the first time in 22 years that a US president has blocked a business deal involving a foreign country.

The military flies unmanned drones and electronic warfare planes on training missions out of the base, but the move is still likely to be seen as yet another irritant in the increasingly tense economic relationship between the United States and China.

It also comes amid election-year criticism from Republican challenger Mitt Romney, who has accused Obama of not being tough enough on China.

Obama ordered the Ralls Corporation, which is owned by Chinese nationals, to divest itself of any interest in wind farms purchased this year near the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility in Boardman, Ore.

The case reached the president’s desk when the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States determined there was no way to address national security risks posed by the deal.