TEHRAN (Basirat)- UK Prime Minister Theresa May is having talks Monday (September 5) with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Relations between the two countries have chilled after May announced a delay regarding the final decision to go ahead with a nuclear power station co-funded by Beijing.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May is having talks Monday (September 5) with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Relations between the two countries have chilled after May announced a delay regarding the final decision to go ahead with a nuclear power station co-funded by Beijing.sputniknews.com reports:
China is due to co-fund a new nuclear powers station at Hinkley
Point in southwest England, which is being built by French energy giant
EDF. However, despite China backing the project and EDF giving the final
investment decision the go ahead, British Prime Minister Theresa May
surprised both France and China by deferring a decision over the plant.
It is rumored May was spooked by the idea of China having such
close access to Britain's national infrastructure, amid fear of nuclear
secrets being accessed by Beijing and second thoughts over allowing
China to build another plant at Bradwell in the east of England.
The decision came less than a year after — then — Chancellor George
Osborne told a meeting at the Shanghai Stock Exchange: "Let's stick
together to make Britain China's best partner in the West. Let's stick
together and create a golden decade for both of our countries. Britain
and China: we'll stick together."
The decision rattled Beijing, whose state news agency Xinhua wrote:
"Apparently, London's so-called 'national security' concerns over
Chinese investment into the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant could
well endanger the bright new prospects the two nations' leadership have
agreed to foster during Chinese President Xi Jinping' s visit to Britain
last October."
'Golden Era'
May's meeting with Mr. Xi — at the end of the G20 summit in the east
China city of Hangzhou — will be critical for Sino-British relations.
Osborne's "golden era" idea was aimed at attracting huge amounts of
Chinese investment in UK projects — particularly infrastructure.
In the event of May not giving the nuclear deal the go-ahead, it would
be seen as a snub to China, putting at risk future investments in the
UK. However, some analysts have pointed out that China is a long-term UK
investor, putting more finance into the UK that any other European
Union country, so any snub would be short-lived.
EDF Energy in the UK has been planning to build a new nuclear
station at Hinkley Point for several years, but the project has been
bedeviled by financial uncertainty and technical issues.
Despite the British Government agreeing a "strike price" with EDF Energy
in the UK, which guarantees EDF a price of US$141 MWh for generating
electricity over 35 years and a debt guarantee, EDF could not go ahead
with the project alone. Thus, China was brought in to shore-up the
financing of the plant.