cross-posted from: lemmy.sdf.org/post/44601407

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China hits out at UK as PM Starmer interfering in £1.5bn Scottish factory

• Chinese firm wind turbine firm Mingyang announced in October its plans to build the UK’s largest wind turbine manufacturing facility in Ardersier in the Highlands.
• However, the proposals may be blocked by the UK Government on national security grounds as experts are concerned that the factory could give China “enormous” power over Scotland and the UK’s electricity grid, posing “an enormous threat” over Mingyang’s links to the Chinese Communist Party
• Now China hits out over what a spokesman called “absurd, ridiculous, and ignorant ‘China threat’ fallacies” that could seriously impact how Chinese companies assess the investment environment in the UK
• Scotland’s government said it will be working in close consultation with the UK government, stating the issues of national security are relevant to be addressed in this particular case
• The UK Government has yet to confirm whether it will allow the project to go ahead, saying that “this is one of a number of companies that wants to invest in the UK" and "any decisions made will be consistent with our national security”

[It is noteworthy that the Chinese government has frequently been banning European and other non-Western companies - recently, for example, Nokia and Ericsson - from its domestic markets over national security concerns - exactly for the same reason Beijing now is trying to slam the UK.]

#world