The Henry Jackson Society welcomes the Government’s new National Security and Infrastructure Investment Review, noting that it opens up an important national discussion and consultation on how foreign direction investment into sensitive parts of the British economy are monitored, screened, and when necessary, blocked for reasons relating to national security.
As foreign-owned state-owned enterprises continue to buy more and more British firms in this country, we must be wary of investments in our digital infrastructure, our nuclear and energy sectors, and in our advanced technologies – all of which help our security and armed forces defend the national interest.
Dr John Hemmings, Director at the Asia Studies Centre summarised that: “The UK should of course welcome inward investment to feed the economy. Britain needs investment. But not at all costs. We have to ensure that foreign state owned enterprises are not compromising our most critical infrastructure or vital future technologies.”