Zealots touted a future based on lucrative trade deals with Beijing. Only now are they are waking up to the risks
Anger and alarm about China is mounting rapidly in government circles and especially among Tory rightwingers, anxious about national security, unfair trade practices and Hong Kong. It’s certainly true that the increasingly aggressive behaviour of President Xi Jinping’s authoritarian regime is deeply worrying. It’s a pity that the Tory grandees who are making the most noise now did not raise their concerns much earlier, before Britain became dependent on Beijing’s favours to escape its Brexit mess.
As pressure grows on Boris Johnson to exclude the telecoms company Huawei from the UK’s 5G rollout and to review Chinese investment in nuclear, transport and other security-related projects, Iain Duncan Smith and former ministers David Davis, Liam Fox and Owen Paterson are backing an interparliamentary alliance to scrutinise China’s activities. Separately, Tories in the new China Research Group, modelled on Westminster’s pro-Brexit European Research Group, are boldly promising greater vigilance.
from World news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2Oh4K3U
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