Ed Miliband to visit China amid wind farm security fears
Ed Miliband is preparing to visit China for talks about closer energy cooperation despite growing concerns over Beijing's involvement in British infrastructure including wind farms.
The Energy Secretary will reportedly fly out from March 17 to March 19 as he seeks to secure potential investment in UK projects.
He will meet Wang Hongzhi, head of China's National Energy Administration, according to Reuters.
Mr Miliband would be the third cabinet minister after Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, and David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, to visit Beijing amid efforts by Labour ministers to establish more cordial relations with the world's second-biggest economy.
A spokesman for Mr Miliband's department declined to comment on 'speculation'.
It comes as he is seeking to drum up investment for wind farms, solar farms, batteries and other energy projects in Britain, as the Government races to deliver its promise of a 'clean' power system by 2030.
But the attempt to thaw diplomatic relations comes at a sensitive time, with a cross-Whitehall review of UK-China relations underway.
This month, MPs also raised concerns about Chinese involvement in a major wind farm project which is said to have rung alarm bells in the Ministry of Defence.
Mingyang Smart Energy, which is based in China, has been selected to provide the turbines for the Green Volt floating offshore wind farm, off the coast of Scotland.
But MoD officials are said to have warned that the turbines, equipped with an array of sensors, could be used for spying or give Chinese engineers 'a legitimate excuse to visit any time for maintenance' and 'install almost anything they like'.
Andrew Bowie, the Conservative shadow energy secretary, said there was a risk that the 'green revolution will come with a 'made in China' label'.
While in Beijing, Mr Miliband will reportedly seek to revive talks known as the UK-China Energy Dialogue.
These were started under the last Conservative government and covered 'clean energy technologies, civil nuclear energy, power market reforms and third country activity'.
However, the talks stalled when Theresa May's administration made clear there would be no further Chinese involvement in any nuclear power stations after Hinkley Point C, in Somerset, owing to security concerns – infuriating Beijing.
Nuclear will remain off the table in the latest discussions between Mr Miliband and Mr Wang, Reuters said.
Labour officials have said they want to improve UK-China ties, following a hot-and-cold relationship under the Conservatives.
As prime minister, David Cameron declared relations had entered a 'golden age' in 2015, following a high point that saw Chinese Premier Xi Jinping tour Britain on an official state visit.
But just less than a decade later, Rishi Sunak branded Beijing the 'greatest state-based threat' to the UK's economic security following Chinese cyber attacks on infrastructure and warnings from the security services that Beijing was seeking to meddle in British politics.
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