Securonomics, China at PMQs, new reports, NSIA
A Beijing to Britain briefing
Hello,
At a recent private dinner with an Ambassador and experts, the conversation turned to what a Labour Government’s China approach may look like. Asked to share a view, I put forward three observations.
Labour has not fully decided on its China approach but is working on it
It seems likely that we will see continuity with the current Government’s approach initially, but there will be a need to undertake an ‘audit’ at some level of the relationship
Much of this audit will probably dovetail under what Labour’s economic team have dubbed ‘securonomics’ - the marriage between national security, industrial strategy, and foreign policy
Like many political slogans - Get Brexit Done, Make America Great Again, Common Prosperity, 时与势在我们一边 - the concept of securonomics may well be used to push semi-relevant ideas and policies through the system. As noted in today’s briefing, Labour is beginning to think about China through the securonomics lens; just this week a senior official emphasised that “Chinese investment simply cannot be treated in the same way we would other countries.”
With the idea that Labour is still in receiving mode when it comes to forming a securonomics approach, two new reports are worth having sight of. The first is an attempt to provide some recommendations for a future government on how the UK can create more resilient solar supply chains. As readers will recall, the coupling of several large Chinese companies in the supply chain with the necessity of polysilicon in the panels (much of which is found in Xinjiang) has worried Western officials, who fear both that they may be cut off, and also that panels arriving in the country are tainted with forced labour. The second report takes a look at how British pension funds could be utilised to power the UK’s technology and science sectors, an issue close to the heart of many Westminster wonks because it falls under building national resilience too.
Finally, a Parliamentary Committee made up of the Chairs of all the Select Committees published evidence from Beijing to Britain this week on Westminster’s lack of strategic thinking regarding China. You can give it a read here. And as a little birthday treat, I’ve added a new forward-looking calendar of UK-China political and business events for the coming week.
- Sam Hogg, Editor
In this week’s briefing:
Labour, China and securonomics
China talk in Parliament
New research warning on China Scholarship Council
Tweaking the National Security and Investment Act
Two new reports on supply chains and pensions