China has warned the United Kingdom that bilateral relations between the two countries could be hurt if the British government fails to go ahead with the Hinkley Point nuclear project.
Advertisement
Writing in the Financial Times, Liu Xiaoming said the delay to approving the plant had brought the two countries to a “crucial historical juncture”.
“It has not been easy for China and the United Kingdom to have come this far”, Liu wrote, adding that mutual trust should be all the more treasured as bilateral ties reached a crucial juncture.
China’s ambassador to the United Kingdom has issued a warning over relations between the countries as the British government considers whether to approve the Hinkley Point project.
On July 28, Britain’s new government said it was delaying final approval of the £18-billion (21-billion-euro, $23 billion) project to build Hinkley Point, the country’s first new nuclear plant in a generation.
“There are lots of other things we can do with the Chinese which are much positive and are economically, socially useful”, Legal & General Group Plc’s Chief Executive Officer Nigel Wilson said Tuesday in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
Liu’s comment came after new British Prime Minister Theresa May reportedly postponed the project’s final approval because of security concerns over China’s involvement in it. The suggestion? Row back on Hinkley and China will interpret the decision as Britain closing the door to China. “There’s a high price to be paid in terms of the reliability of the United Kingdom as a partner”.
Cameron raised some eyebrows with allies by pitching Britain as the pre-eminent gateway to the West for investment from China and made London the biggest global trading centre for offshore yuan outside China. “An important reason why this has been possible is that both China and the United Kingdom have consistently respected and trusted each other”, he wrote.
“If Britain’s openness is a condition for bilateral co-operation, then mutual trust is the very foundation on which this is built”, said Liu.
“Of course we must continue to engage and trade with China, but we can and also should speak out more on its appalling human rights abuses”.
Comments made a year ago by May’s chief of staff and a longtime advisor, Nick Timothy, have led to claims that the delay was prompted by concerns that state-owned Chinese companies are being allowed to invest in sensitive infrastructure.
Since May won the top job, Britain has repeatedly said that it values its relationship with China and that it was natural for the incoming government to want to look at the plans in detail.
A Government spokesperson told The Independent: “As we’ve already made clear – this decision is about a huge infrastructure project and it’s right that the new Government carefully considers it”.
“We co-operate with China on a broad range of areas from the global economy to worldwide issues and we will continue to seek a strong relationship with China”, he added.
BBC News reports that May’s chief of staff and longtime adviser, Nick Timothy has previously expressed doubt over the deal, even going so far as to say that Chinese intelligence services “continue to work against United Kingdom interests at home and abroad”.
Advertisement
It emerged last week that EDF chairman and chief executive Jean-Bernard Lévy sent a letter to top executives this month admitting he knew the United Kingdom government would postpone a final decision, but understood this would be only by “a few days”.
