The scheme, proposed by Chinese turbine manufacturer Ming Yang, had promised to create around 1,500 jobs at Ardersier Port in the Highlands. It was vetoed by the UK Government in March this year on national security grounds, a move that First Minister John Swinney described as leaving him “bewildered”.
However, speaking to The Press and Journal during a visit to Brussels this week, three prominent MEPs said they believed the UK Government had made the correct call, and warned against Scotland deepening its reliance on Chinese capital.
Seán Kelly, an Irish MEP who sits on the European Parliament’s energy committee, said he would have opposed Ming Yang’s involvement had the project been proposed in Ireland.
“I think there are huge strings attached to any Chinese investment,” he said. “We’ve seen that right across the world essentially.” Mr Kelly added that “scrupulous investigation” was required for any Chinese investment in energy or industry, and that the EU had previously been “naive” in its dealings with Beijing.
Terry Reintke, the German MEP who leads the Greens in the European Parliament, said she supported an expansion of renewables over further North Sea oil and gas licences, but only if this did not come at the cost of dependency on China. Germany spent years reliant on Russian gas before the invasion of Ukraine prompted a rethink of its energy strategy.
“In the past we have made substantial mistakes,” she told The P&J. “China is not a functioning democracy. We have to be aware of this. And in order to be more sovereign, and in order to build a Europe that can depend on itself, we have to be much more vigilant when it comes investments like this.”
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French socialist MEP Christophe Clergeau said the legislation was intended to restrict Chinese involvement in European industry altogether, citing Ming Yang as a case in point. “I do not see any argument to see any Chinese plant in Europe,” he said, adding that Chinese investment tended to favour short-term gain over long-term industrial development, and that “we must control our production of renewables.”
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Just a small reminder that the Jackdaw Gas Field will create 27 direct jobs, is so small it won’t impact energy bills and is a fossil fuel so will be extracted and burned once and can never be reused.
“Chinese investment tended to favour short-term gain over long-term industrial development” AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH capitalism do that
“Germany spent years reliant on Russian gas before the invasion of Ukraine prompted a rethink of its energy strategy.”
lmao how is that remotely comparable. The GAZ was imported on trucks and through pipelines. The WIND is already in britain -_-
also, “rethink their energy strategy” = buy the same gas for a higher price, buy US gas for a higher price, and bring back coal
We just let the american crash our economy once again but they whine about chinese WINDTURBINE. Are you fkn kidding?
this so fucking stupid. shortsightedness and lies from the MEPs, to the detriment of the regular Europeans, as expected. “You will have nothing and be glad about it”, this fucking dysfunctional neoliberal shithole can’t fall fast enough
The last thing china deserves is more market access.
They’ve been fueling russias imperialist war in Ukraine and are constantly threatening Taiwan, the Philippines, and dissidents around the world.
Good idea: buying wind turbines from European companies, and potentially companies from other friendly nations (Canada, South Korea, Taiwan, etc)
Bad idea: buying wind turbines from China, when China despises democratic Europe and would probably try to weaponise European dependence on China
Yes, exactly this:
UK: Deal worth £12bn to build windfarms off Norfolk coast by Germany’s RWE
A £12bn deal to construct wind farms has been described by Prime Minister Andy Burnham as “a vote of confidence for building in Britain” …
The wind farms are expected to be fully commissioned in 2030, with offshore construction scheduled to begin in early 2027.
German firm RWE said the Vanguard projects, located between 50 and 80 km (31 to 49 miles) off the coast, represented one of the UK’s largest offshore wind developments, generating around 2.8 gigawatts, enough to supply three million homes.
Listen, I’m all for green energy and sovereignty (especially from US capital and tech) for European nations. But the reasons for declining Chinese manufacturing (for green energy transition, WHICH THEY ARE THE GLOBAL LEADER IN) sounds like absolute fucking hypocrisy and projection from the very same Euros whose welfare states only thrived thanks to policies of unequal exchange with countries in the global south. If this 12 billion pound investment delivers what they promise, nice. But I won’t be surprised if they managed to build like two windmills going massively over both budget and time estimates.
If you think Europe should have a fairer relationship with “the global south” then okay, that could be a reasonable point.
But I don’t think that means Europe must do business with China. The PRC is of course becoming more powerful, and they have shown hostile behaviour towards democracies, whether it’s their desire to take over Taiwan regardless of the wishes of the Taiwanese people, or whether it’s the PRC hacking western infrastructure.
I think it makes sense for Europe to build up its own sovereign technologies, perhaps with the cooperation of friendly non-European allies. As an example of what can happen when you rely upon the technology of another country which isn’t so friendly: look at how the US is interrupting Ukraine’s access to the Starshield satellite system, a system which helps protect the lives of Ukrainians. So I think sovereignly-owned technology is probably strategically better, even if it costs a little more.
What’s up with the quotation marks?
Anyway, do you not believe China to be a democracy, as by them being against democracies eg. Taiwan? That’s frankly ridiculous. Please stop spreading such baseless accusations if so. Also the statements by US officials regarding their geopolitical rivals, such as Iraq with its supposed WMDs in the past, often turn out to be the same kinds of accusation. I honestly have no reason to believe this is the one that isn’t. I don’t deny the existence of intelligence ops from any global power to another, but it seems to me that the US is perfectly capable of running itself into the ground with their own industrial, economic and political manouvres. The EU, by having placed all their trust on the US’s continued global supremacy via its financial institutions, like with the dollar being the world’s reserve currency and exchange currency of mostly all international trade (but especially oil, that isn’t moving) among others and also its military might and military-industrial-complex (currently struggling with output among everything), is going to go to the ground with it. That is why European nations are seeking this sovereignty.
That is why I think it foolish to effectively drive away the country with the world’s leading industry, infrastructure and expertise on renewable energy. I don’t have trust that the European nations can survival in this global race isolated because of the similar industrial, economic and polical issues as with the US. European industrial giants, namely the car-makers, in Germany are shedding workers to save money. Inflation and privatization drive prices higher for the workers, widespread unemployment only worsening the situation. The people are rioting because forced austerity measures, themselves an effect of US integration via NATO and the budgetary measures to accept the increase European’s share of its costs, are making life more miserable for the workers, especially among the lower incomed (not to even speak about the marginalized in our societies). Especially unlikely, to me, is the possibility of the Europeans managing this race isolated while also supporting the war effort against Russia. Russia has closer economical ties with China, so even without the war keeping such hostile ties to both Russia and China wouldn’t support the sovereignty hopes or green transition, in my opinion.
