China’s richest man, Zhong Shanshan, has come under scrutiny in the small northeastern US state of New Hampshire, home to just over 1 million residents, over a plan to develop an industrial site in the state’s second-largest city, Nashua.
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The controversy began in May when it emerged that a US subsidiary of Zhong’s firm, Nongfu Spring, NF North America, had quietly acquired a single-storey building on a 9.3-hectare (23-acre) industrial site in Nashua in January.
The site had been abandoned for nearly 11 years, and the company planned to build a beverage plant and purchase the city’s surplus water for its operations.
“Chinese billionaire wants NH water,” declared a local news headline that month. Zhong founded Nongfu Spring, now China’s largest beverage company. His net worth is estimated at US$64 billion.
Unlike earlier large Chinese investments that might have been unremarkable before China became synonymous with national security threats to US policymakers left and right, NF North America’s prospects now appear uncertain.
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Likewise, similar deals, including battery giant Gotion, CATL’s partnership with Ford, and agribusiness firm Fufeng, have been stalled entirely in recent years or face mounting scrutiny.
