Some time later this month the prime minister will make a decision on whether
the alleged security concerns raised
over Chinese investment in, and technological development of, the planned Hinkley
C and Bradwell B new nuclear plants respectively.
We know her chief policy advisor, Nick Timothy wrote on the Conservative Home
web site last October, when working for a conservative think tank:
Ironically, at
the beginning of the month, the United States Chamber of Commerce issued 116
page report on threats to international free trade in information technology,
highlighting the role played by China’s national security laws to exclude US (
and others’) companies from selling into
the Chinese market. The report notes:
“While globalization of the ICT sector has
been one of the most powerful drivers of global economic welfare during the past
several decades, a number of factors—particularly at the policy level—are now
threatening to slow or even reverse that trend.
In
particular, some national governments, by intentionally or unintentionally
defining security concerns in an overly broad manner, are applying intense
pressure on the ICT sector to localize rather than globalize. Such pressures
are manifesting in laws and regulations that expressly require the
indigenization of R&D, manufacturing, and/or assembly of products or
localization of data, or that otherwise effectively preference products and
services that localize assembly, source code development and storage, or the
storage of data.” Preventing Deglobalization,
1 September 2016 https://www.uschamber.com/sites/default/files/documents/files/preventing_deglobalization_1.pdf
The report
states on national security threats: “The Standing Committee of the National
People’s Congress (“NPC”) passed the country’s most comprehensive piece of
national security legislation in July 2015, a sweeping National Security Law
that establishes an expansive framework on security and that describes in
broad terms how the country’s leadership understands its security interests.
The
new law’s breadth is evident in its assertion that China’s security interests
extend far beyond its physical borders, even into the depths of the oceans, the
Arctic, outer space, and, of course, cyberspace.102 It describes national security
as encompassing political security, military security, social and cultural
security, ecological security, agricultural security, and much more……
At the end of December 2015, the NPC Standing Committee enacted a Counter-Terrorism
Law, which went into effect on January 1, 2016. Drafts of the law wereoriginally
released in November 2014 and February 2015 and attracted significant controversy.
The Counter-Terrorism Law reinforces the government’s broad powers to investigate
and prevent incidents of terrorism, and requires citizens and companies to assist
and cooperate with the government in dealing with such matters. It also imposes
new obligations on companies in certain sectors. Non-compliance or
non-cooperation can lead to significant penalties, including fines on companies
and criminal charges or detention for responsible individuals.”
Writing in the The Wall Street Journal on 7 September, Andrew Browne observed:” China plays by its own rules nowadays….
It bullies Washington’s regional friends and allies.. China is using
national-security laws and other means to exclude U.S. technology companies
from swaths of its vast market..” (“China’s Subtle War Against U.S. Dignity”; http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-subtle-war-against-u-s-dignity-1473151399
In light of the Chinese Government’s own
stated security concerns and enacted law, it is worthwhile recalling how China
abused s other states’ own security laws with its extensive overseas spying apparatus.
A month ago the press extensively reported on
an industrial espionage case involving a
Chinese nuclear engineer. One report explained “In a 17-page indictment, the US government said nuclear
engineer Allen Ho, employed by the China General Nuclear Power Company, and the
company itself had unlawfully conspired to develop nuclear material in China
without US approval and ‘with the intent to secure an advantage to the People’s
Republic of China’”. (“Nuclear
espionage charge for China firm with one-third stake in UK's Hinkley Point,”
Guardian, 11 August 2016; https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/aug/11/nuclear-espionage-charge-for-china-firm-with-one-third-stake-in-hinkley-point)
Two months ago the US Justice Department
issueda press release, which recorded in part”
“Kan Chen, 26, of Ningbo, China, in
Zhejiang Province, was sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of
supervised release for conspiring to violate the Arms Export Control Act and
International Traffic in Arms Regulations; attempting to violate the Arms
Export Control Act and International Traffic in Arms Regulations; and violating
the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.
On June 16, 2015, Chen was arrested by HSI
agents on the Northern Mariana Island of Saipan following an eight-month long
investigation into his illegal conduct and has remained in custody. He
pleaded guilty to the offenses listed above on March 2, 2016.
“The United States will simply never know
the true harm of Chen’s conduct because the end users of the rifle scopes and
other technology are unknown,” said U.S. Attorney Oberly. “No matter
their nationality, those individuals who seek to profit by illegally exporting
sensitive U.S. military technology will be prosecuted. It is important
that we take all necessary steps to prevent our military technology and
equipment from being exported and possibly used against our service members and
our allies overseas.”
The New York Times published a detailed update on September 26, 2000, stating
in part:
“On March
6, 1999, The New York Times reported that Government investigators believed
China had accelerated its nuclear weapons program with the aid of stolen
American secrets. The article said the Federal Bureau of Investigation had
focused its suspicions on a Chinese-American scientist at the Los Alamos
National Laboratory. Two days later, the government announced that it had fired
a Los Alamos scientist for ''serious security violations.'' Officials
identified the man as Wen Ho Lee. Dr. Lee was indicted nine months later on
charges that he had transferred huge amounts of restricted information to an
easily accessible computer. Justice Department prosecutors persuaded a judge to
hold him in solitary confinement without bail, saying his release would pose a
grave threat to the nuclear balance. This month the Justice Department settled
for a guilty plea to a single count of mishandling secret information. The
judge accused prosecutors of having misled him on the national security threat
and having provided inaccurate testimony. Dr. Lee was released on the condition
that he cooperate with the authorities to explain why he downloaded the weapons
data and what he did with it.”
In
between, the London Evening Standard
ran a front page revelation from Washington on 25 May that year “China’s army
of spies in U.S.”- which unveiled China controlled several thousand ‘front
companies’: “The
700-page [Congressional committee] document describes a massive and voracious theft
of American know-how in addition to the recently well-publicised espionage that
succeeded in stealing nuclear secrets from a supposedly secure weapons laboratory
run by the US Energy Department. President Clinton has falsely claimed he was
not told about the spying.
The
report discloses that China uses an extensive network of small and large
businesses operated by Chinese nationals in the US to penetrate civilian technology
centres. There may be more than 3,000 such firms, mainly concentrated in
California and Massachusetts, which are connected to the Chinese espionage
apparatus.
China
requires, as normal practice, that many of the thousands of students, tourists
and other Chinese visitors to the US seek out information that might be used
for military purposes. Christopher Cox, chairman of the committee which issued the
report, says Chinese espionage has been going on for two decades, and
continues.”
Today’s concerns over China undermining
nuclear security thus have a detailed history
