British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday he was determined to “protect the security” of the United Kingdom from China, namely through barriers to economic investment.
Asked by Conservative MP Paul Beresford about the “expanding tentacles of communist China” and the “serious geopolitical threat” posed by Beijing, Sunak agreed that the country has “completely different values” from the UK, “and the authoritarian leadership is determined to change the international order”.
The leader of the Conservative Party said that recently passed international investment legislation allowed to block control of the microprocessor factory Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia, owned by Chinese smartphone giant Wingtech.
The government has ordered Nexperia to sell at least 86 percent of the UK’s leading semiconductor maker to guard against potential national security risks.
On Tuesday, the executive branch announced that it would control 50% of the sizewell C nuclear power plant, removing state-owned China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), which held 20%.
“This government makes sure that it protects the security of this country,” Sunak stressed.
Tensions between Beijing and London have escalated in recent weeks with Sunak announcing that the “golden age” of relations between the two countries is over and advocating a more pragmatic approach to the “system challenge”.
On Tuesday, the British Foreign Office said it had summoned Chinese Ambassador Zheng Zeguang to express displeasure and ask for an explanation over the arrest of a BBC journalist on Sunday while covering popular protests in Shanghai against the regime’s covid-19 restrictions.