The Financial Post reports in its Monday, May 4, edition that a Chinese artificial intelligence start-up is not considered a Chinese start-up if it is based in Singapore or another location. An Agence France-Presse dispatch to the Post reports that the practice known as "Singapore-washing" is under scrutiny after China blocked a major U.S. acquisition on national security grounds. China's top economic planning body said last Monday it prohibited the deal between Facebook owner Meta and the Chinese-developed, Singapore-based artificial intelligence agent tool Manus. Wendy Chang at the Mercator Institute for China Studies says, "Beijing has heretofore tolerated this practice, but the Manus case marks a major turning point" as the U.S.-China AI race heats up. The move signals "to its own tech leaders, more than to anybody else, that attempts to bypass national regulation will not be tolerated." Other Chinese tech companies in the Southeast Asian city-state include e-commerce giant Shein and Tiktok -- a subsidiary of Bytedance, still based in China. Manus shifted operations to Singapore last year, but "it's unclear whether it has moved the official registration as well, which may give Beijing more leverage," Ms. Chang said.