As Australia allows for China to take over a strategic military port, Great Britain allows for its nuclear power infrastructure to be compromised.
In the first major Chinese investment in a Western nuclear facility, China’s General Nuclear Corporation (CGN) will take a one-third stake in the planned 18 billion-pound ($28 billion) Hinkley Point nuclear plant controlled by France’s EDF.
State-owned CGN will also take a two-thirds stake in the Bradwell nuclear plant east of London, where it plans to build a Chinese-designed reactor, and a one-fifth stake in a project for Areva designed reactors at the Sizewell plant.
“We will build a global, comprehensive strategic partnership between our countries in the 21st century and jointly open up a golden era,” Xi told reporters via a translator, adding that the nuclear deal was a flagship investment.
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British officials and business leaders say the rise of China is impossible to ignore: China’s economy is four times the size of Britain’s.
Cameron wants to make London, the biggest global foreign exchange center, into the dominant Western hub for trading, clearing and settlement of renminbi.
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Steve Hilton, a former policy adviser to Cameron, told the BBC that Britain should impose sanctions on China for political oppression and cyber attacks instead of rolling out the red carpet.
“This is one of the worst national humiliations we’ve seen since we went cap-in-hand to the IMF in the 1970s,” said Hilton, referring to the 1976 crisis during which Britain was forced to ask for a loan from the International Monetary Fund.
“The truth is that China is a rogue state just as bad as Russia or Iran, and I just don’t understand why we’re sucking up to them rather than standing up to them as we should be.”
China has strongly denied previous accusations of espionage, saying it is itself a victim of cyber attacks. Cameron said Britain had signed an agreement with China on preventing cyber espionage.
Full article: Chinese President Xi Jinping Seals Multi-Billion Dollar Nuclear Power Deal With Britain (Newsweek)
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