A number of foreign media, including Reuters, noted that the Financial Times quoted news on the 17th to disclose that out of concerns about "network security", the British National Grid has begun to remove components provided by a subsidiary of a Chinese company in the UK from the British transmission network. The UK has carried out similar operations more than once under the banner of security to suppress Chinese companies, and China has repeatedly criticized and opposed such acts that seriously impact the cooperation and mutual trust between China and the UK.
According to the Financial Times, the National Grid operates most of the UK's electricity distribution system.
The Financial Times quoted a Whitehall as saying that the decision was made by National Grid after consulting with the National Cyber Security Centre under the UK** Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), terminating the contract with the Chinese company's British subsidiary in April this year and starting to remove components.
According to the Financial Times, National Grid declined to comment on its relationship with the Chinese subsidiary, citing trade secrets, saying in a statement that "we take the security of our infrastructure very seriously and have effective controls in place to protect our employees and critical assets to ensure that we can continue to transmit electricity reliably, stably and securely." ”
According to the report, an employee of the Chinese company's British subsidiary said that the British National Grid did not disclose the reason for the termination of the contract, and the former was no longer able to access the site where the modules were installed. The employee added that the company had discussed cybersecurity issues with National Grid in the past and that "we didn't find any issues" and that engineers had tested and "we didn't find any potential risks".
Pulling out the security banner to suppress Chinese companies, the UK has carried out similar operations more than once. In July last year, the United Kingdom banned a Chinese company from acquiring intellectual property related to visual sensing technology from the United Kingdom on the grounds of "**". In July 2020, the United Kingdom also followed the United States' sanctions on Huawei, and decided to restrict Huawei's 5G equipment and services. We are gravely concerned about this. China will make a comprehensive and serious assessment of this incident and take all necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that not long ago, China's first spokesperson Mao Ning said at a regular press conference in November this year on the appointment of former British Prime Minister David Cameron as foreign secretary that he expects the UK to work with China in the same direction and jointly promote the healthy and stable development of China-UK relations based on the principles of mutual respect and win-win cooperation.
According to the global network.