Calls for Government to ban Hikvision, Xinjiang Bill, Chinese FDI in UK
A Beijing to Britain Briefing
Hello,
Another busy Parliamentary session has come to an end. As MPs return to their constituencies, WhatsApp groups, Twitter feeds and Fleet Street editorials are abuzz with news of an unfolding series of sexual misconduct cases and scandals which go right to the top of Government. This is to say nothing of the cost of living crisis, a Prime Minister with a tenacious grip on power or the invasion of Ukraine. And if that wasn’t enough, Russia announced a slapdash list of sanctions on a number of MPs and Peers this week. It included duplicates of MP’s names, former MPs who are no longer in Parliament, and in one case a duplicate of someone who hasn’t been an MP for three years. Westminster will swing back into action on 10 May for the State Opening of Parliament, where the Queen will deliver a speech setting out the Government’s agenda for the upcoming year. In the meantime all eyes are on local elections next week.
In Parliament, an SNP MP pitched the concept of a Xinjiang specific Bill in the Commons - it may interest to readers to know that the UN team tasked with reporting back on the region has touched down in China. The Prime Minister’s National Security Adviser was grilled by a Committee over the latest on Newport Wafer Fab - time is running out for a Government intervention. In the Lords, the Government told Peers it’s keen to get the Modern Slavery Amendment to the Health Bill up and running “within 12 to 18 months.” This will have implications for UK legislation and supply chains across the board. And in another win for transparency, the Government has refused to reveal if the Prime Minister discussed India’s relationship with China during his recent visit.
Away from the spotlight, as we reported last week, the UK’s Biometrics and Surveillance Camera Commissioner has now written to the Cabinet Office and the Government department in charge of local councils. He’s demanding to know why all departments and local authorities have not yet followed in the footsteps of Sajid Javid by barring Chinese firm Hikvision’s equipment. This is a significant escalation and we expect it to spill over to other Chinese firms in the sector.
In the City, the Financial Times scooped on pressure building from HSBC’s largest shareholder to split the firm in two. Elsewhere, analysts poured over the latest Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) data compiled by Merics and Rhodium Group, the main points from which we’ve compiled later in the briefing. We look at an explosive interview with the president of the EU Chamber of Commerce in China, and a story quoting PAG founder Weijian Shan, both of which have been doing the rounds on China-watcher Twitter. Back in London, China’s Ambassador to the UK, Zheng Zeguang, delivered a speech to investors and private sector grandees, and Zheng’s predecessor Liu Xiaoming met a series of old friends on the UK arm of his world tour.
Finally, public affairs teams - take note. Trouble is brewing around a new Standards Committee report which has examined the use and abuse of All Party Parliamentary Groups (APPGs) and identified them as being vulnerable to political interference and commercial lobbying. More on that later.
Welcome to ‘Beijing to Britain’ - a weekly overview of the ebbs and flows of the discussion in Westminster and the City around the UK’s relationship with China, and how it impacts politics, the private sector and society.
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