Alarm bells continue to ring in the West over Chinese state-owned enterprises
Western governments appear increasingly skittish about allowing Chinese firms to invest in strategically important industries. (Photo: Alamy)
A U-turn from the UK, as seen in last month’s Integrated Review, typifies concern over the risk of Chinese interference in strategically important industries.
Western governments are scrutinising investment ties with Beijing as worries multiply over repercussions for national security. The debate over Huawei’s involvement in the worldwide rollout of 5G infrastructure has come to symbolise such concerns.
The UK is no exception but its change in tone is quite abrupt. In 2015, the government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review waxed lyrical about the prospect of investment deals with China, setting the lofty ambition of making Britain ‘China’s leading partner in the West’.
Six years later, attempts at forging a ‘golden decade’ of Anglo-Chinese economic relations lie in tatters, to the extent that the latest
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