It makes all the difference. Major player moving away from America to China such as Peter Thiel or any other big well known VC's is significant because it suggests that Chinese market conditions are more favorable or a sizable opportunity and favorable living conditions are present in China to convince high net worth individuals to shift their life style and culture completely.
It's an entirely different situation for those who are familiar with Chinese culture and speak the language going back to China to do business. It's another for non-Chinese individuals of high net-worth to uproot their American life for a foreign one.
If some remote time in the future, when Trump's offsprings send their offspring to Beijing University instead of Harvard, then we would know the tide has turned-this new China offers more or less the same benefits and comfort America provides to it's elite.
Obviously, it's a one way street right now, in our direction.
Well I won't be surprised at all if VC's like Peter Thiel invests primarily in China someday if he finds it more profitable, but that would have no implications on that he also wants to shift his lifestyle or culture in anyway. It'll just be one more foreign largely unknown to China making some money there.
Masayoshi Son made lots of fortune investing in Alibaba in its early days, and Warren Buffett has long known to be investing in China. It's not unprecedented. Chinese companies like Baidu and Alibaba are also investing a lot in SV companies. Neither of these activities really have further implications.
If Peter Thiel and Andreesen's portfolios consist of more Chinese startups than American startups then the smart money will begin to move there.
Heck, even Chinese VC's are massing their investments in US companies, it hasn't been the case for US capital. Even in developed economies like Japan and Korea, US based VC's are largely uninterested.
I'm not discounting China's economic rise and it's growing startup scene. I can see the entrepreneurial spirit is there but there are no evidence to suggest it's any different than other country's startup scene. There's simply more activity in China because of it's sheer population, there's little to suggest it even meets the same level of quality outside of China.
Warren Buffett has largely pulled out of China as a result of him selling his Sinopec shares. I'm not aware of him investing in Chinese startups.
The fact that Alibaba and Baidu is investing in SV companies but not Amazon and Microsoft in Beijing companies signals that even the Chinese side regard US in a higher light. It has to because why would they risk doing business with an ideological enemy? Because you can trust the US won't interfere with free market practices unlike China's active protectionism and unfair laws against foreign corporations investing in it.
It should be pretty damn clear where one would have a better chance to succeed in, one where free market is practiced and enforced or another where the centralized government actively interferes and seeks to practice favoritism for their local brands.
As an outsider and non-Chinese, the odds are stacked against us going into China. However, such barriers are not present for Chinese VC's coming into the US until recently with the blocking of core industrial/security related deals. China has certainly earned the reputation of stealing technologies and it's only natural for the US to practice due diligence.
For example, Masayoshi Son had no problem buying US telecom companies. His investment in Alibaba has been great but it's unlikely that he will be able to control his stake or wealth in the future if he suddenly finds himself in the cross hairs of the Chinese ruling party. International laws simply are unlikely to be respected and enforced inside China than other US allied nations where they can project their interests.
It's an entirely different situation for those who are familiar with Chinese culture and speak the language going back to China to do business. It's another for non-Chinese individuals of high net-worth to uproot their American life for a foreign one.
If some remote time in the future, when Trump's offsprings send their offspring to Beijing University instead of Harvard, then we would know the tide has turned-this new China offers more or less the same benefits and comfort America provides to it's elite.
Obviously, it's a one way street right now, in our direction.