Since late last year, amid rising U.S-China tensions and unwelcome climate, venture firms with China ties have held back their U.S. investments. U.S.  startups in the Silicon Valley also prefer to look for funding to U.S. Government entities and push their Chinese investors out to avoid scrutiny. Chinese funding for U.S. startups slowed beginning in May 2018, according to research firm Rhodium Group. And state-backed Chinese investors all but disappeared by year-end. Meanwhile, foreign direct investment from China, which includes acquisitions of U.S. companies, plunged 90% to $5 billion in 2018 from $46 billion in 2016.