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The Trump government has expressed concerns about the British government of one of the largest wind turbine manufacturers China to provide North Sea wind farms from a new factory in Scotland.
A US official told the Financial Times that Washington had warned London what the national security risks are that enable Mingyang to build a work in Great Britain.
US intervention takes place if the British ministers should block the factory Cyber security And the risk of being dependent on the Chinese technology.
Mingyang, based in Guangdong, is not a state possession, but critics claim that Beijing interference is in his decision -making.
The British government is more cautious about Mingyang’s potential participation in British offshore wind After a row British civil servants said that a non -connected Chinese company, the Jingye Group, which has a critical steelworks in northeastern England.
A person who was familiar with London’s process about Mingyang’s possible participation in British wind supply chains added that it was an “ongoing discussion” and that there were mixed views as to whether the company should be blocked or not. Minister can block investments in Great Britain according to the National Security and Investment Act.
The American warning is the most recent example of Washington, worried about Chinese activities in Great Britain, since Sir Keir Starer’s Labor government tried to revive relationships between London and Beijing.
The white house also has warned Downing Street about Beijing’s permission to build a new message in London.
In the United States, security officials have warned of the risk in the last few years that Chinese wind turbines accommodate electronic surveillance technology if they are near military bases.
The US officer said Washington also said at Berlin that it worked in Germany Chinese wind turbines. Mingyang has won a contract as a preferred supplier for a German offshore wind power project in the North Sea. However, parts of the German government have expressed concerns about national security and unfair Chinese competition.
The US intervention in Great Britain underlines the difficult expansion law for Great Britain, since it also pursues clean energy goals than when he hardens the relationship with Donald Trump with the American allies, from trade to defense spending.
Mingyang has not made any wind turbines for the British market in the past, but in conversations with the flotation energy and Vårgrønn to deliver floating offshore wind turbines for a North Sea project called Green Volt and a separate project developed by Ceruleean -Wind. It also has a preferred supplier agreement with the Swedish developer Hexicon for a floating offshore wind project in the Celtic Sea.
Mingyang’s supporters say that the Turbines of the Chinese company enable the British government’s ambitions to build floating wind farms. They argue that a factory in Scotland would also help create jobs.
However, the opponents believe that the United Kingdom is the risk that they depend on Chinese technology if it could encourage European turbine manufacturers instead, and have aroused security fear through Chinese suppliers in British waters.
“When Chinese-turbines are installed, security experts have warned that sensors could spy on the British seas, the submarine programs for defense and the layout of our energy infrastructure,” said Andrew Bowie, Foreign Minister of Tory Shadow for Scotland, in February to the House of Commons.
Followers argue that risks can be managed and ask whether it is appropriate for the US government. “America does not invest in its supply chain. Why are they disturbing other people’s options now?” said a wind industry source. “It is important for government and industry to push back and say that this is nothing in your business.”
Great Britain’s security services have a review of China’s role in the British energy system that Financial times registered in February.
The deputy first minister of Scotland, Kate Forbes, previously stated the Scottish government Is open to Mingyang’s factoryWith the FT in November last year there was “room” for the company.
The Scottish government is waiting for the clarification of the security effects – a matter that Westminster is reserved under the British system of devolving regional governments.
Blocking Mingyang would risk hazardous to antagonize Beijing at a time when Great Britain changes Chinese investments and cooperation with NET zero.
Ed Miliband, the Minister of Energy, traveled to Beijing in March in March to be the first formal climate talks in the United Kingdom since 2017.
Since then, the series with Jingye has been concerned with the British Steel Works in Scunhorpe’s concern about the foreign control of the most important assets. The ministers used emergency powers to take control of the site to prevent Jingye from closing the blast furnaces.
A spokesman for the British government refused to comment on the case of Mingyang, but said that Britain “never stood in the way of our national security”, adding that “investments in the energy sector are subject to the highest level of national security test”.
A spokesman for the Green Volt project said: “We welcome all investments in the investments in offshore wind to expand the sector, create jobs and build a flourishing supply chain here in Great Britain.” Mingyang refused to comment.
Additional reporting by George Parker and Simeon Kerr
