Belt and Road and Britain
Just as we should not have doubted the buildup of troops and armour on the Ukraine border by Putin’s regime prior to its ‘6 day special military operation’ (now 1044 days at the time of writing), we should not doubt Xi Jinping when he tells us that Taiwan will be reunited with the People’s Republic of China.
Yet, here in the UK our leadership has set a clear course for closer relations with the CCP.
The list of transgressions is seemingly endless.
From the aggressive fishing practices and territorial claims that threaten global trade routes and fisheries, to the litany of human rights abuses and effective third wave colonisation of large parts of the developing world; The UK's support or silent acquiescence to such actions will strain relations with our allies in the region who are directly affected by these tactics.
So brazen are the actions of this regime that the exa-scale theft of IP from Western companies is almost no longer a talking point - it’s just a fact of life which people involved in industry take as a given. Yet, despite this, there are practically no measures in place to curtail the purchasing of UK-based assets by Chinese state-backed bodies. The Walkie Talkie building in central London, Heathrow Airport and significant numbers of water and power companies like Thames Water and UK Power Networks; And a plethora of schools and football clubs - all partly under the ownership of an entity whose explicit aims and values are not only at odds with ours, but whose fulfilment likely involves a total war scenario conflict with our allies in the near future.
Can’t afford a new Range Rover? Maybe you could try a Land Wind…
It was no coincidence that around the time that graphene was riding its first big hype wave, a flurry of Chinese investment arrived into Greater Manchester. Don’t even bother asking whether anybody in DCLG or any other branch of government had concerns…
At a time when Chinese ships are destroying internet infrastructure off the coast of Finland and the People’s Liberation Air Force is sending spy balloons over US military installations, No Idea Keir has opted to go against one of the few clear consensuses that unite the politically diverse governments of NATO countries.
This isn’t to say we’re totally f*cked, because I don’t believe that is the truth either.
The UK's National Security and Investment Act (NSIA) is an effective piece of legislation and has been used in anger against Chinese purchases a number of times.
In November 2022, the UK government blocked the acquisition of Newport Wafer Fab, a semiconductor facility in Wales, by Nexperia - a Dutch company owned by Chinese company Wingtech Technology. In July 2022, the UK government used the NSIA to block a licensing deal between the University of Manchester and Beijing Infinite Vision Technology Company Ltd. The deal involved IP related to vision sensing technology, which was deemed to have potential military applications and thus posed a national security risk. Although not as widely publicised, other deals were blocked too - such as one involving SiLight (Shanghai) Semiconductors and HiLight Research; Again, on grounds that there were dual use (i.e. it could help their military) application concerns.
We have the tools to protect against these strategic hostile micro-takeovers. We also have ample evidence of the consistent bad will this foreign actor has effected against us. Domestic policy is not enough on its own, however. The UK’s dwindling military strength needs to be turned around and dramatically bolstered, fast - and a national drive towards investing in ‘resilience’ (the re-shoring of manufacturing, pursuit of energy abundance and supply chain self sufficiency, in addition to cutting edge DefenseTech) must start happening now if we are to stand any chance of avoiding a war.
A reminder: War only happens when one side thinks it has a critical advantage over the other.
What we are lacking is leadership with the conviction and intestinal fortitude to boldly confront our opponent now, before they grow and grow and grow to a point where they pose an existential threat to us which we may not feasibly overcome with our allies in our current stagnating level of diplomatic and militaristic capacity.
