Grace Theodoulou, policy fellow on China at the Council on Geostrategy, says there are two main potential threats to consider for Chinese investment in UK critical infrastructure.
“The first is the potential for espionage – for example, having Chinese-made audiovisual equipment installed in government buildings or devices.
“The second is the infrastructure can be controlled by the manufacturer and, as such, could be disrupted for geopolitical leverage,” she said.
Some analysts argue that Chinese law, external – which mandates all Chinese companies to align closely with Chinese Communist Party directives and to assist with national intelligence efforts, external – represents an inherent security risk in all Chinese investments in Western infrastructure.
“A likely scenario where it might be in China’s interests [to harm UK infrastructure] would be to impede Britain’s ability to impose sanctions against Beijing in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
“If China were to invade Taiwan, and should they have control over parts of our critical infrastructure, it would highly impact the potential to enforce sanctions or similar measures,” Ms Theodoulou said.
However, other analysts are sceptical, external over whether it would be in the financial interest of Chinese investors to sabotage UK infrastructure or firms, as such actions would collapse the value of their investments and likely lead to their appropriation by the UK government.
“This threat is asserted and not proven, and these companies are profit-driven so it is not in their interests to sabotage our infrastructure,” said Prof Giles Mohan of the Open University.
And they argue that a distinction should be drawn between Chinese investments in vital infrastructure and investments into UK firms which own consumer brands where the potential for public harm is considerably lower.
