Is Huawei a friend or foe in the battle for 5G dominance? While the UK woos China’s telecoms giant, fears grow over the risks it poses to national security. Between 2016 and 2017, Chinese investment in the UK doubled to $20.8bn, according to a report produced by the TMF Group, a consultancy, on behalf of the China-Britain Business Council. This was all the more astonishing given that, in the same year, overall Chinese outbound investment declined for the first time since records began in 2003. More is to come. Between 2018 and 2022, Huawei alone has pledged to spend some £3bn in the UK. It is perhaps no coincidence that, as Chinese money has poured into the UK, hundreds of Chinese investors have received golden visas granting them residency. And nowhere is the burgeoning Anglo-Chinese relationship more tangible than London. Two of the City’s most recognisable buildings, the 224m “Cheesegrater” and the 38-storey Walkie Talkie, are now owned by Hong Kong companies, while the multibillion-pound redevelopment of the Royal Albert Dock in east London is being spearheaded by the Chinese developer ABP. These projects pale into insignificance compared with the £20bn development of Hinkley Point C. The new nuclear station in Somerset that will generate low-carbon electricity for about 6 million homes is a third-owned by China’s General Nuclear Power Group. But some experts question where this relationship will end. “My fear is that, just as financial elite influence over government ensured light-touch regulation that led to financial disaster in 2008, so similar interests have steered the UK government towards the ‘golden era’ policy with China,” Thorley said. “This policy has stalled somewhat since David Cameron and George Osborne left Downing Street, but we still may feel its consequences in the UK’s energy strategy and beyond.”
Observer 3rd Feb 2019 read more »
