American public opinion is heated over China's acquisition of the Waldorf Astoria hotel.

The announcement by Hilton Worldwide Holdings to sell its prestigious 121-year-old Waldorf Astoria luxury hotel in New York City to a Chinese insurance company for nearly $2 billion continues to be analyzed and scrutinized by the American public from many angles, especially regarding security.

The prestigious Waldorf Astoria luxury hotel is 121 years old. Source: Telegraph

The 47-story, 191-meter-tall, five-star Waldorf Astoria hotel located at 301 Park Avenue, New York, NY 10022, where for over half a century, US presidents and wealthy Arab monarchs frequented during UN General Assembly sessions, has been put up for sale to Anbang Insurance Group (based in Beijing) for $1.95 billion.

The event immediately attracted significant attention from U.S. federal government officials.

Kurtis Cooper, spokesperson for the US Permanent Mission to the United Nations, stated on October 13th that US government agencies are carefully reviewing the deal, from the contract details to the renovation plans for the hotel – where US Ambassadors to the UN have resided for over 50 years, and where President Barack Obama has frequently stayed during his visits to New York since taking office in 2009.

The U.S.'s biggest concern is the risk that China will use the hotel to conduct intelligence and espionage activities, even though the contract states that, after the sale to Anbang Insurance Group, Hilton Worldwide Holdings will continue to "assist" Anbang in operating the hotel for another 100 years.

According to the Washington Post, this is Anbang Insurance Group's first acquisition in the United States.

This company is currently under the management of Wu Xiaohui, the son-in-law of the late Chinese President Deng Xiaoping, and was funded by the state-owned oil company SINOPEC when it was established in 2004.

In 1974, when Deng Xiaoping visited the United States for the first time as China's Vice Premier, he also stayed in this hotel.

The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, when upgraded to 47 stories on October 1, 1931, went down in history as the most magnificent and tallest hotel in the world at that time.

This stalled transaction is expected to be completed by December 31, 2014, with any delays not extending beyond March 31, 2015.

The latest information indicates that there is also an underground tunnel beneath the Waldorf-Astoria that allows US presidents to evacuate in emergency situations.

According to Vietnam+