LONDON — Britain will take a “grown up” approach to Chinese involvement in its energy system, a senior government official told POLITICO, after the government blocked a deal which would have seen a Chinese firm build a wind turbine factory in Scotland.
Chris Stark, a key ally of Energy Secretary Ed Miliband, insisted the decision to reject Ming Yang’s factory was not a “Huawei moment for us.”
Former Prime Minister Theresa May chose to phase out the role of the Chinese telecoms giant in the U.K.’s 5G network in 2019, amid pressure over alleged security risks from the White House and her own ministers.
But Stark, Miliband’s pick to head his department’s efforts to replace nearly all fossil fuels in the U.K. energy system with solar, wind and other clean power by 2030, said that green transition would still involve deals with Beijing.
