中文
People walk on Westminster Bridge in the mist in London, Britian. [Photo/Xinhua]
This is an editorial from China Daily.
According to the "United Kingdom's National Security and Investment Act 2021: annual report 2022-23", 866 investment notifications were received for the 12-month period to March 31 this year. Of these, "national security powers" were employed to "call in" 65 acquisitions for a further assessment review.
And of the call-ins that were closed during the reporting period, the secretary of state made 57 final notifications and issued final orders "to block, unwind or impose conditions on" 15 acquisitions, with one of the final orders subsequently being revoked.
Although the UK claims "that the Act remains country agnostic", of the 65 call-ins, 42 percent were acquisitions involving acquirers associated with China. This, despite the acquirers associated with China being involved in only 4 percent of the 866 acquisition notifications. And while acquisitions associated with China also received the highest number of final notifications (clearances), of the 15 final orders, eight involved acquirers associated with China.
Given that the final decision-maker has rather tellingly been designated with the US-style title of secretary of state for the purpose of investment review, that China is such a prominent presence among the recipients of final notifications should perhaps come as no surprise.
In an interview with BBC, UK Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden, who currently holds the position, claimed that the UK doesn't want to decouple with China but the government had to be "clear-eyed" about protecting the country's national security.
He was far more forthright with his bias in his remarks upon the release of the report, calling China the "largest state-based threat" to the UK's economic security. A prime example of if the shoe fits, wear it, since he seems to be a significant state-based threat to China's legitimate economic activities in the UK.
As a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the UK said, the measures against China-related investments are discriminatory. "We strongly urge the British side to stop its unreasonable oppression of Chinese companies and provide a fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies," the spokesperson said.
But the Washington-washed mentality that pervades the UK government is obvious in Dowden's words. That the White House is seemingly possessed by blood-thirsty vampires at present perhaps explains why the UK is so eager to curry favor with the US administration — the defense sector being a big money magnet for the UK, as the report indicates.
Abusing national security laws to deliberately suppress foreign companies violates World Trade Organization rules and is the weaponizing of investment reviews as championed by the US. Clinging so tightly to the US' coattails is unlikely to benefit the UK economy in the long run to the extent it hopes. It only has to look at the EU to see how the US treats its supposed friends.
