Ed Miliband's reliance on Beijing will come at huge cost to our national security: IAN WILLIAMS
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By IAN WILLIAMS
Published: | Updated:
In trying to square his Net Zero obsession against protecting Britain from the growing menace of Beijing, Ed Miliband has a China-size conflict of interest that threatens our national security.
Chillingly, the Foreign Secretary appears to have thrown in his lot with the Chinese Communist Party, committing Britain to Chinese renewable energy technologies that would hand control of our de-carbonised power grid to the CCP.
This was spelt out in a deal he struck as Energy Secretary, committing the UK to closer co-operation with Beijing on a slew of 'green' technologies.
These include offshore wind farms, solar, electricity grids, battery storage, carbon capture and hydrogen – areas where China has built global dominance through massive subsidies and colossal over-production – sending prices plummeting.
Miliband sees this as perhaps the only way of getting close to his unrealistic climate goals. But the dangers are stark.
The energy shock from Russia's aggression against Ukraine showed the damage from over-dependence on Moscow for old energy, yet Miliband seems set on creating a dependency on another hostile state.
So-called 'green' technologies enable data theft, sabotage and espionage.
Take wind turbines. These are not just pieces of steel, but smart devices – potential weapons that could be used for purposes ranging from secretly mapping a wind farm to shutting it down altogether.
The Foreign Secretary appears to have thrown in his lot with the Chinese Communist Party, Ian Williams writes
President Xi Jinping sees creating dependencies in critical supply chains as an instrument of CCP policy – a means of coercion.
That Miliband cannot or will not see that is an abrogation of his duty as Foreign Secretary.
China is a state that brutally represses its own citizens. It targets Britain with aggressive cyber espionage and theft and undermines our democracy with brazen influence operations.
Yet Britain's top diplomat, appears to regard none of this as an impediment to his embrace of Chinese technology.
A dangerous reliance on Beijing may well serve his Net Zero zealotry, but at a huge cost to our energy – and national – security.
- Ian Williams is the author of Vampire State: The Rise And Fall Of The Chinese Economy.
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