{"id":523448,"date":"2025-10-24T00:31:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-24T00:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/523448\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T00:31:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T00:31:17","slug":"china-hits-out-as-keir-starmer-interfering-in-1-5bn-scottish-factory-bid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/523448\/","title":{"rendered":"China hits out as Keir Starmer ‘interfering’ in \u00a31.5bn Scottish factory bid"},"content":{"rendered":"

A CHINESE minister has hit out at Keir Starmer<\/a> for interfering with the proposed construction of a major \u00a31.5 billion wind turbine factory in Scotland.<\/p>\n

The Chinese firm, Mingyang, announced in October its plans to build the UK\u2019s largest wind turbine manufacturing facility in Ardersier in the Highlands<\/a>, which it said would create as many as 1500 jobs.<\/p>\n

Under the first of three phases, Mingyang said it will invest up to \u00a3750 million in an advanced manufacturing facility \u2013 with the first production taking place by late 2028.<\/p>\n

However, the proposals may be blocked by the UK Government<\/a> on national security grounds.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Keir Starmer snubs Ian Murray as digital ID job given away<\/a><\/p>\n

Ian Williams, an expert in Chinese affairs, warned at the weekend that the Highland factory could give China \u201cenormous\u201d power over Scotland and the UK\u2019s electricity grid, which he said posed \u201can enormous threat\u201d.<\/p>\n

Williams also said the company, one of the biggest in the Chinese wind sector, had links to the Chinese Communist Party, and Chinese law means companies in the country are obliged to work with security services.<\/p>\n

Guo Jiakun, a foreign ministry spokesperson for the Chinese government, has hit back at the UK Government for interfering with the proposal, according to The Global Times, which is controlled by the CCP.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cIn recent years, normal economic and trade projects in the UK have frequently been subjected to politicisation and overreach in the name of national security.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jiakun reportedly added: \u201cUnfortunately, some people in the UK are constantly rehashing absurd, ridiculous, and ignorant ‘China threat’ fallacies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this trend is allowed to spread, it will seriously impact how Chinese companies assess the investment environment in the UK and cause them to make cautious decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jiakun’s comments come amid a stand-off between China and the UK over each other\u2019s embassy plans.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, John Swinney defended meeting with Mingyang to discuss the potential investment<\/a> in Scotland.<\/p>\n

Speaking from Malawi on Monday, the First Minister warned that the renewables industry in Scotland would be \u201cset back\u201d if the proposals are rejected.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey [Mingyang] are an investor interested in investing in Scotland and I think people would be very surprised if the Government of Scotland was not talking to investors about the potential to invest in renewable energy technology,\u201d he told LBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is, obviously, a level of interest, and an important interest in this respect, from a national security perspective, which is the responsibility of the UK Government, and the Scottish Government<\/a> will be working in close consultation with them to understand and to consider the issues of national security that are relevant to be addressed in this particular case.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UK Government has yet to confirm whether it will allow the project to go ahead.<\/p>\n

A UK Government spokesperson said: \u201cThis is one of a number of companies that wants to invest in the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny decisions made will be consistent with our national security.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A CHINESE minister has hit out at Keir Starmer for interfering with the proposed construction of a major…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5009],"tags":[748,4884,120686,807,18298,712,16,10788,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-523448","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-scotland","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-great-britain","10":"tag-ian-williams","11":"tag-keir-starmer","12":"tag-national-security","13":"tag-scotland","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-uk-government","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115426327473935298","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}