John Swinney says blocking Chinese wind investment would be 'setback' for Scotland
John Swinney has defending meeting Ming Yang to lobby for investment in Scotland, despite national security concerns.
John Swinney has said blocking wind turbine investment from a Chinese company would be a “setback” to Scotland’s clean energy hopes as he defended meeting with the firm.
As first reported by The Scotsman’s sister title, Scotland on Sunday, SNP ministers have met several times with Ming Yang, a Chinese wind turbine manufacturer over the firm’s £1.5 billion plans to establish a factory in the Highlands.
Mr Swinney has met with the firm’s CEO, Zhang Chuanwei twice, once at a UK government investment event in London that was not recorded in the official Scottish Government record. Officials insist this was a “brush-by meeting”, but correspondence shows the meeting was held “to discuss investment plans for Scotland” and was “followed up with a letter emphasising the strategic value that MingYang’s investment could bring to Scotland”.
The second of Mr Swinney’s meetings with Mr Chaunwei took place at Bute House while Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes and business minister Richard Lochhead have also held talks with the firm.
The meetings came to light while the UK government is still to determine whether it will allow Chinese firms into Britain’s energy amid national security concerns.
According to reports, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s national security adviser, Jonathan Powell, decided in June that the UK government would not publish details about espionage from the Foreign Office’s China audit after Treasury officials warned releasing information from the analysis of China’s influence could damage trade and investment links.
Director general of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum, has warned that Chinese state operatives pose a daily national security threat to the UK, adding that China was "the biggest state-based threat to the country's economic security".
Ming Yang’s manufacturing site could be crucial to Scotland scaling up its ambitions for offshore floating wind power at the pace hoped for, with the Green Volt project potentially lining up the Chinese firm as a supplier, although no decision has been made yet.
Asked about the meetings while on his trip to Malawi, Mr Swinney warned that the renewables industry in Scotland would be “set back” if the proposals are rejected by UK Labour ministers.
Asked about his meetings with the company, the First Minister said: “They are an investor interested in investing in Scotland and I think people would be very surprised if the government of Scotland was not talking to investors about the potential to invest in renewable energy technology.
“There is, obviously, a level of interest, and an important interest in this respect, from a national security perspective, which is the responsibility of the UK government, and the Scottish Government will be working in close consultation with them to understand and to consider the issues of national security that are relevant to be addressed in this particular case.”
Asked if he had concerns about national security around investment from Chinese companies, Mr Swinney said he did not have access to national security information, adding: “I’m dependent on the UK government to provide me with that.”
READ MORE: Will Chinese turbine national security concerns derail Scotland's floating wind ambitions?
He added: “The Scottish Government is doing what we do habitually, which is talk to investors, to ensure that we’re looking after the economic wellbeing of the people in Scotland.
“But there is a national security dimension, and we will, of course, engage in dialogue and are engaged in dialogue with the UK Government on those questions of national security.”
Mr Swinney stressed that “the proposal from Ming Yang is a very significant investment in Scotland”.
He added: “Clearly, if that could not go ahead on national security grounds, that would be a setback for the development of renewable energy technology.
“But we have to be cognisant of all of the relevant issues in dealing with investments of this type, and the responsible government behind me will be fully engaged with the UK government on that question, and we await the outcome of the UK government’s consideration of this matter.”
Ian Williams, an expert in Chinese affairs, warned at the weekend the Highland factory could give China “enormous” power over Scotland, and the UK's electricity grid, which he said posed “an enormous threat”.
READ MORE: Chinese firm piles pressure on UK government to approve massive wind turbine factory in Scotland
He also said the company, one of the biggest in the Chinese wind sector, had links to the Chinese Communist Party. And he said Chinese law meant companies in the country are obliged to work with security services.
A UK government spokesperson said: “This is one of a number of companies that wants to invest in the UK.
“Any decisions made will be consistent with our national security.”
Ming Yang has been approached for comment.
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