May to travel to China to quell concerns over Hinkley Point

Prime Minister Theresa May is to travel to China in September in order to strengthen trade ties and steady relations with Beijing after trepidation from Westminster regarding China’s involvement in the Hinkley Point nuclear power project.

May wrote a letter to the Chinese president Xi Jinping and premier Li Keqiang, on Tuesday, with a view to “strengthening cooperation with China on trade and business and on global issues”, according to China’s foreign ministry.

The letter was hand-delivered by Alok Sharma, the foreign minister for Asia, who is on his first official trip to the world’s second largest economy.

Sharma said: “The UK’s relationship with China is strong, growing and delivering benefits for both our countries. Britain is open for business and an attractive destination for international investors, including from China."

May postponed agreeing to going ahead with the Hinkley Point C nuclear reactor in July, as she said she had concerns over security and wanted more time to asses the plans. A decision will be made in the autumn close to the G20 summit in Hangzhou.

The £18bn project was being built by French state energy provider EDF and a Chinese consortium was providing about £16bn, which upon completion was expected to provide for about 7% of the country’s energy needs.

In response to the delay, China's ambassador to the UK wrote in the Financial Times that the relationship was “at a crucial historical juncture” and the UK should come to a “decision as soon as possible so that the project can proceed smoothly”.

Former foreign secretary, Sir Malcolm Rifkind writing in the Telegraph on Tuesday said that China could turn off the nuclear power plant over any disagreement with the UK.

“For the first time in living memory, Britons may find the lights going out – in the dead of winter… It may sound like fantasy. It may be fantasy. But it is a worst case scenario that some security experts predict could occur.”

Hinkley Point was supposed to herald the dawn of a golden era in bilateral ties between the two nations, as established during former Prime Minister David Cameron's premiership. When president Xi Jinping visited the UK last year nearly £40bn worth of investment deals were made with China during the state visit.

At $11.3trn, China’s economy is more than four times as big as Britain's economy at $2.4trn.