The British government is exploring ways to remove China’s state-owned nuclear energy company, China General Nuclear Corp (CGN, 中國廣核集團), from all future power projects in the UK, in a further sign that relations between the countries are deteriorating.
Projects potentially at risk include the £20 billion (US$27.5 billion) Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk and the proposed Bradwell-on-Sea development in neighboring Essex, a person familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.
CGN is also a 33 percent investor in the Hinkley Point C facility, which is under construction in Somerset and one of the biggest infrastructure projects in the country.
Photo: AP
The move underlines how British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s administration is hardening its stance toward Beijing.
Johnson has blocked Huawei Technologies Co (華為) from participation in the rollout of Britain’s 5G wireless network and earlier this month, the British National Security Adviser opened a probe into the takeover of the country’s biggest chip plant by Chinese-owned Nexperia NV.
“All nuclear projects in the UK are conducted under robust and independent regulation to meet the UK’s rigorous legal, regulatory and national security requirements, ensuring our interests are protected,” a British Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy spokesperson said in a statement, when asked about the stance. “Nuclear power has an important role to play in the UK’s low-carbon energy future, as we work towards our world-leading target to eliminate our contribution to climate change by 2050.”
News of the CGN plans was first reported by the Financial Times newspaper late on Sunday.
Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) yesterday said: “The British should earnestly provide an open, fair and nondiscriminatory business environment for Chinese companies.”
China and Britain are important trade and investment partners for each other, he added.
“It is in the interests of both sides to conduct practical cooperation in the spirit of mutual benefit and a win-win result,” Zhao said.
Members of Johnson’s Conservative Party have repeatedly expressed concern about China’s increasing involvement in critical aspects of UK infrastructure and in its major educational establishments, such as Cambridge University.
Former party leader Iain Duncan Smith has said that Britain should use its post-Brexit status to put human rights at the heart of trade deals.
Nuclear power is set to play a key role in the government’s commitment to slash greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050.
Although a major investment in offshore wind farms is set to help meet that goal, the country’s transmission network is to rely on nuclear as a backup — nuclear stations are designed to generate energy around the clock, whereas wind power is less predictable.
Additional reporting by Reuters
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The