New safeguards
Fears over the security risks of Chinese investment were highlighted last year when Theresa May ordered a review into plans for the Hinkley Point nuclear power station.
The Government eventually approved a new £18bn nuclear power station financed by the French and Chinese governments after saying it had imposed “significant new safeguards” to protect national security.
Powerful attractant
Philip Hammond, the chancellor, said in May that Britain was a natural partner for China’s new $1 trillion Silk Road programme, as the UK seeks post-Brexit trade opportunities.
Commenting on the report, Nigel Inkster, the former Assistant Chief at MI6, said: “There is a lot of naïveté in regard to China by Western governments and businesses alike. China knows it's political model is unattractive in the West but it has found that it's money exercises a powerful attraction.”
Sir Malcolm Rifkind, former Foreign Secretary and former chair of Parliament’s intelligence and security committee, said: “The massive increase of Chinese investment in the United Kingdom has not happened by accident. Much of it is a consequence of a strategy well developed by the Chinese Government.
“Much of that investment from China is as welcome as it would be from any other country. But some of it has implications for our long-term security and for our critical national infrastructure.”
