Iain Duncan Smith: UK needs to urgently review nuclear contracts with China
The former Conservative leader said Chinese dominance is now a threat to the free world and Beijing cannot be trusted.
Monday 13 July 2020 06:26, UK
Iain Duncan Smith has said the UK should learn from what happened in the 1930s when it comes to present day China - and the government should review its contracts in the strategic nuclear sector and other areas of national security.
The former leader of the Conservative party said the UK needs to urgently look at its relationship with Beijing as China is not a "trusted vendor".
He claimed Chinese dominance is now a threat to the free world and Britain needs to be very cautious.
Sir Iain, who remains a leading Conservative, told Sky News: "If you think you can turn a blind eye to a country's appalling treatment of both the people in its own home territory and its aggression abroad then you buy what we learnt years ago - a problem which is bigger and bigger as the years go by.
"We learnt this back in the 1930s, we have to think again now we are facing a very similar problem."
Chinese involvement in Britain's nuclear sector began during David Cameron's time as prime minister.
That embrace of Beijing now seems naive to many people.
Since then, the political temperature has cooled rapidly in light of the increasingly authoritarian direction of the ruling communist party.
Accusations of a cover up over the COVID-19 crisis, the crackdown in Hong Kong and security concerns over China's involvement in Britain's 5G network are creating a febrile atmosphere.
Professor Anthony Glees, an expert in national security and intelligence, said China has made no secret it wants to be the most powerful economic and military power in the world and Britain is walking a dangerous path.
He said: "Nuclear energy is built to provide 25% of our energy requirements for the decades to come, so 25% is a lot of energy and that needs to be controlled entirely by British scientists, British technology, British software.
"And the British government needs to be sure that no foreign power - in this case China - has the ability to turn the thing off, to put it crudely.
"I think people just need to ask themselves a somewhat simplistic question, but it makes the point.
"Would the Chinese let Britain build a nuclear power station in China?"
It is, of course, a rhetorical device and requires no answer.
China's investment in the UK's nuclear sector is at the moment primarily financial, but its ambition is far greater than that.
State-owned China General Nuclear UK (CGN UK) is a minority stakeholder in the Hinkley Point C power station in Somerset, which is under construction, and Sizewell C in Suffolk.
Both are in partnership with the French company EDF.
But the big prize is Bradwell B in Essex.
CGN UK holds the majority stake (66.5%) with EDF playing a minority role.
If it eventually designs and builds a nuclear reactor on the site, as planned, it would be an enormous achievement and it would be a way of showcasing Chinese nuclear technology to the rest of the world.
There is, though, another side to this; the UK, dealing with a twin Brexit/COVID crisis, needs investment - and China is a country you simply cannot ignore.
Dr Yu Jie, senior research fellow on China at Chatham House, said the UK should be careful about sending out mixed messages.
She said: "I think at the moment there seems to be a lot of inconsistency happening with the UK government.
"On the one hand we hear rhetoric about a so-called 'golden era' welcoming the Chinese investment whilst on the other hand you have Tory backbenchers and the China Research Group scrutinising the Chinese investment, so I think there's kind of mixed messages making the Chinese very confused about exactly who's representing the United Kingdom."
In a statement CGN said it had already invested more than £3.8bn in the UK economy and had helped create many thousands of jobs.
It went on to say that it was proud of its work supporting the UK economy and the government's goal of achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
A spokesman from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: "Nuclear power has an important role to play in the UK's low-carbon energy future.
"All nuclear projects in the UK are conducted under robust and independent regulation to ensure that the UK's interests are protected."