The British government is exploring ways to remove China’s state-owned nuclear energy company from all future power projects in the UK, including the consortium planning to build the new £20bn Sizewell nuclear power station in Suffolk, according to people close to the discussions.
The change in mood at the top of government also affects proposals by China General Nuclear (CGN) to build a new plant at Bradwell-on-Sea in Essex using its own reactor technology and raises questions about the UK’s future nuclear energy programme.
It follows the chilling in relations between London and Beijing in recent years over issues ranging from China’s clampdown on dissent in Hong Kong and the treatment of the Uyghur minority to its handling of the original Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan.
Foreign secretary Dominic Raab said last year the UK could no longer conduct “business as usual” with Beijing. The most high-profile action so far has been the government’s decision to force Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei out of Britain’s 5G network.
Five more stories in the news
1. SoftBank Vision Fund’s bet on Didi falls $4bn into the red The Vision Fund’s 20.1 per cent stake in the taxi app Didi Chuxing, for which it paid $11.8bn in 2019, is now worth $7.8bn after Chinese regulatory pressure hit Didi’s business prospects, cutting its market value almost in half.
2. Credit Suisse settles spying case Credit Suisse has settled one of the most explosive feuds in its history, reaching an out-of-court agreement with its former star wealth manager Iqbal Khan as it prepares for its first quarterly results under new chair António Horta-Osório on Thursday.
3. US lawmakers near deal on $1tn infrastructure bill A group of centrist US senators raced to reach a final deal on the text of a $1tn bipartisan infrastructure package on Sunday, with funding for mass transit emerging as a key sticking point and tensions rising over Joe Biden’s sweeping economic agenda.
More US politics news: Robert Moses, the 1960s civil rights activist who led black voter registration drives in the US South, died on Sunday. (AP)
4. China defies US pressure to change its behaviour As Wendy Sherman, US deputy secretary of state, prepared to fly to China at the weekend, Beijing imposed sanctions on seven Americans, in a tit-for-tat blow that illustrated the dismal state of US-China relations.
5. A fraught G20 meeting on new climate targets G20 environment ministers pledged to adopt new climate targets within the next three months, after a hard-fought summit in Naples that at times appeared to be on the brink of disintegrating. Meanwhile, extreme weather has taken climate change models “off the scale”.
Coronavirus digest
AstraZeneca admitted that launching Covid-19 vaccine production at Thailand’s Siam Bioscience had been “complicated”, but said it aimed to supply Thailand with up to 5m-6m doses per month.
The Japanese company Shionogi started human trials of the first once-a-day pill to treat Covid-19 patients.
US health officials are discussing tightening mask guidance for vaccinated Americans amid surging coronavirus infections related to the Delta variant.
Ibiza’s hopes of a summer-long party have been crashed by a boom in infections. (FT, WSJ)
It’s striking how much Covid confusion still reigns. Tim Harford outlines five counterintuitive truths that easily slip beyond our understanding. Sign up for our Coronavirus Business Update newsletter and get the latest with our live blog.
The days ahead
AstraZeneca’s EU deadline Today is the deadline for AstraZeneca to meet its contractual obligations to supply the first 15m of the 50m vaccines ordered by the EU. The company will have to pay €10 per dose not delivered, but that won’t be the end of the affair either, Tom Braithwaite explains.
Earnings Tesla, Hasbro, LVMH, Philips Electronics, Ryanair and Tata Motors are among the companies reporting results on Monday. Click here for our full list.
Olympics The men’s triathlon will take place today, featuring the UK’s Jonathan Brownlee and Alex Yee. Skaters will also drop in for the women’s street skateboarding competition Monday. Catch up with our round-up from Day 2 and add ‘Tokyo Olympics’ to myFT for the latest Olympic developments.
What else we’re reading
How Naomi Osaka became the face of the Tokyo Olympics Years of training, planning and marketing culminated on Sunday with Osaka’s Olympic tennis debut, in which she easily defeated Saisai Zheng of China, 6-1, 6-4. The first-round match came less than 48 hours after Osaka lit the Olympic flame, perhaps the most symbolic role a host nation can bestow upon one of its citizens.
Climate change and the future of food In some regions, heat and drought are threatening the cultivation of certain crops, raising food security concerns. But in others, the warming climate has allowed growers to cultivate new crops and varieties that in previous decades would have been difficult to produce profitably.
Opinion: With just 100 days day to go until COP26, it’s crucial for nations, particularly the most wealthy, to deliver on Paris agreement pledges writes Christina Figueres, the UN’s former climate chief.
South Africa counts the cost of its worst unrest since apartheid When President Cyril Ramaphosa took office in 2018, he promised to turn around a languishing economy, and hopes were high for Durban’s renaissance. But the eruption of huge civil unrest after former president Jacob Zuma was jailed has hit KwaZulu-Natal province hard, and nowhere is the economic impact more evident than in Hammarsdale.
Big headaches for Boeing as Dreamliner deliveries remain halted For the past two years Boeing has relied on its Dreamliner passenger jet, a popular widebody aircraft, to deliver sales after the grounding of the 737 Max following two fatal crashes. But now the tables are turned in a worrying sign for US aircraft manufacturer.
The game is still wide open The year 2021 has provided its fair share of challenges to professional fund managers as well as a somewhat less serious pursuit: the annual Financial Times stockpicking competition. Six months into this battle of cunning, wit and old-fashioned luck, it is time to see how FT hacks and 700 of our wiser readers are shaping up.
Work and careers
As more companies experiment with hybrid ways of working, PwC thinks there will be rising demand for tools that can check on workers’ welfare in real time and see, for instance, if rolling out meditation app subscriptions really makes a difference. But it would be easy to misuse such insights, Pilita Clark writes.
Source: Economy - ft.com
