Not necessarily a bad thing, but... "National security"?

They told him that Singapore is different from Hong Kong and has nothing to do with China, did they?

Because if it's about a small(er) country where China has economic influence, than no merger with an APAC company will ever be approved, including companies from countries like Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines.

Also, is Broadcom really a Singaporean company? A quick scan of online resources seems to indicate that it's only incorporated here (likely for tax purposes).