China To UK: 'Golden' Ties At Crucial Juncture Over Nuclear Delay (reuters.com)

mdsolar quotes a report from Reuters: China has cautioned Britain against closing the door to Chinese money and said relations were at a crucial juncture after Prime Minister Theresa May delayed signing off on a $24 billion nuclear power project. In China's sternest warning to date over May's surprise decision to review the building of Britain's first nuclear plant in decades, Beijing's ambassador to London said that Britain could face power shortages unless May approved the Franco-Chinese deal. "The China-UK relationship is at a crucial historical juncture. Mutual trust should be treasured even more," Liu Xiaoming wrote in the Financial Times. "I hope the UK will keep its door open to China and that the British government will continue to support Hinkley Point -- and come to a decision as soon as possible so that the project can proceed smoothly." The comments signal deep frustration in Beijing at May's move to delay, her most striking corporate intervention since winning power in the political turmoil which followed Britain's June 23 referendum to leave the European Union.

Comments

It was a terrible deal for Britain anyway

[Anonymous Coward]

Given that the wholesale price being guaranteed by the government for each kWh was massively higher than even the price consumers are expected to be paying when it was due to open I see no reason to go ahead with it. Energy prices should be dropping not climbing as we have better renewables being developed.

Re:Not just the Chinese

[Feral Nerd]

...Yep, the same French government that is going to be taking a lead role in the Article 50 negotiations governing Brexit, already seems to be taking a hardline stance on the potential terms and, like all other members of the EU, has the ability to veto any deal that might be negotiated over Brexit. That all bodes well for a better Brexit deal with lower trade tariffs than the WTO default, doesn't it?

Anybody who thinks the UK will get some sort of sweetheart deal on access to the common market is delusional ...the same goes for anybody who thinks that only getting access to the common market on WTO defaults won't have an impact on the UK economy because UK trade in goods and services with the EU is so minimal as to be unimportant. I'm pretty sure the negotiations about a post Brexit relationship with the EU nations will not be hallmarked by the EU doing Britain any favours. These negotiations will be long be hard and quite mercilessly focused on what's in the best interest of the EU and as the negotiations drag on the uncertainty over what future they will face will either deter companies from making investments in the UK or if they have UK based operations they will simply move those operations elsewhere in Europe where the political classes are less likely to shoot themselves in both feet.

Meanwhile, having annoyed the Chinese, Theresa May is now apparently trying to improve relations with Russia which, while it definitely needs to happen in its own right, doesn't exactly scan well in connection with alienating the Chinese the week prior.

Not to mention that fact that normalising relations with Russia as long as the Ukrainian wound continues to fester will piss off a whole string off their allies, most of whom the UK will be conducting sensitive trade and economic negotiations that will severely affect the economic future of the UK for the foreseeable future.

Re:Not just the Chinese

[AmiMoJo]

Scotland will leave. Gibraltar will join them, either as part of Scotland or as an independent micronation. Otherwise they will have to accept joint Spanish sovereignty because once outside the EU, Spain will no longer be obliged to make passing through the border they depend on easy.

If Scotland leaves Sterling, it will only have to retain its own debts. It's bizarre to think it could be any other way. You are correct that the UK national debt is not tied to the currency, it's tied to the UK government. If Soctland retains Sterling it will be obliged to contribute to reducing that debt, because the value of Sterling is partially dependent on the ability for it to be serviced and because any agreement would likely mandate that they do. If they adopt the Euro, only debts belonging to the Scottish government and secured on Scottish assets will be carried with them, and the rest will be left to the rUK.

That's why the rUK will likely agree to let them keep Sterling, assuming they still want it. Post Brexit, they may feel that the Euro is a better bet, especially if Gibraltar joins them.