MI5 investigates use of Chinese green technology in UK
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Britain’s security services are taking part in a review into China’s growing role in the UK’s energy system amid concerns over Beijing’s influence in strategic national infrastructure.MI5 is helping establish the extent to which the use of Chinese technology such as solar panels or industrial batteries could pose potential future security threats, according to people close to the situation.Concern over Chinese companies’ dominance of international supply chains for technologies crucial to decarbonisation is growing as the UK tries to shift away from fossil fuels.That has sparked concern in Whitehall about the potential for sensitive data to be shared with the Chinese government as well as the country’s potential control over strategic energy assets.The review into China’s growing role in the energy system is part of the government’s broader “audit” of UK-China relations that will report later this year.“The spooks are looking at it,” said one official. “It’s tied to the industrial strategy, looking at general questions of where we get our things from, and the security risk.”MI5 director-general Ken McCallum said in October that the “National Protective Security Authority” — a branch of the domestic security service responsible for monitoring technical threats — has had a long-running “focus” on supply chain security.Ken McCallum, MI5 director-general, says a branch of the domestic security service responsible for monitoring technical threats has had a long-running ‘focus’ on supply chain security More
