Over the last few years China will invest tens of billions of pounds company And academic project In United Kingdom so manage to access military grade technology. This is what BBC in a lengthy investigation based on data collected by US research group AidData, which stated that the UK was the top destination for Dragon investment among the G7 countries in the high-tech sector, in relation to its population and economy. From 2000 to 2023 Beijing will mobilize 45 billion pounds, i.e 59 billion dollarsin the strategic operations This will allow the Asian giant to transfer cutting-edge technology and skills into the country, which can also be used in the military sector.
Chinese investment in the UK
According to the former head of GCHQ, the British government’s Communications Headquarters, the UK has “too liberal in allowing access sectors that have strategic importance“. For Brad Parks, executive director of AidData, some of the Chinese investments supported by the Chinese government are purely commercial, while others are in line with Beijing’s goals. These goals were defined by the Dragons in a strategic plan created ten years ago, called “Made in China in 2025“. The plan sets ambitious goals for the country, which should become an industrial leader in ten high-tech sectors, inclaerospace industryI electric vehicle and it robotics.
A symbolic example is what happened in British society Imaginationspecializing in semiconductor design. After experiencing serious financial difficulties in 2017, the company was acquired for 550 million pounds by a private equity fund, Canyon Bridgebehind it is Chinese Reform, organizations controlled by the Chinese state. Journalistic investigations reveal Beijing’s pressure and intervention on Imagination leaders aimed at gaining access to the company’s research and technology, which could be used, among other things, in the development of missiles and drones.
A strategic move
Meanwhile, Imagination reports “always comply with applicable export and trade compliance laws granting commercial permits for semiconductor IP technology and related transactions“. Canyon Bridge stated in BBC That “Operation Imagination is identified and led exclusively by Canyon Bridge and its consultants“. The Chinese Embassy in London said that Beijing “always requires Chinese companies operating abroad to strictly comply with local laws and regulations“and that these companies”They also actively contribute to local economic growth, social development and job creation, efforts that are welcomed by many countries“.
And to think that in 2015 the Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been welcomed on a state visit to the UK, alongside the Conservative government David Cameron which hailed the start of a “golden era” in relations between China and the UK. The challenge of how to conduct trade with Beijing while ensuring London’s security remains an unresolved question. “This is the trillion dollar question“, said Sir Jeremy Fleming, former head of GCHQ.
Britain has benefited from its trade relationship with China and investment over the past two decades, he said. On the other hand, added Fleming himself, Britain sometimes forgot that these investments could be used to harm its interests.
