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Five Chinese state-owned companies have been blocked from getting involved in a British government-led plan to help rebuild Ukraine, citing tensions between the United States and China.
The clause is included in a contract promoted by the UK Foreign Office (FCDO) to companies to supply vehicles and demining equipment as part of the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine (PFRU). .
The plan is led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with the Ukrainian government and other governments, including the United States. This is intended to help rebuild regions of Ukraine currently under government control.
Five Chinese companies, including Huawei and Hangzhou Hikvision technology company, were barred from applying to participate, according to publicly available government documents.
the expert said I This is a “very unusual arrangement” and unusual for a government contract to exclude a named company that the US believes raises security concerns.
The contract reads: “All items made by Huawei Technology Company, ZTE Corporation, Hytera Communications Corporation, Hangzhou Hikvision Digital Technology Company, Dahua Technology Company are not accepted. Please note that if items from Entities are included, they will be considered technically incompatible and excluded from competition.”
The U.S. government has banned the import or sale of telecommunications equipment from five companies in the U.S. in November 2022. This is after these companies have been added to the “Target List”. The companies have been accused of posing an “unacceptable risk to the national security” of the United States, according to the US Federal Department of Communications Regulation. U.S. aid firm Kemonics is processing the contract on behalf of the Foreign Office.
Other companies not named in the contract that are listed as national security risks by US government telecommunications regulators include other Russian and Chinese companies.
British government official said I The subcontracting process for the PRFU scheme was run by Chemonics and the contract was not the responsibility of the government.
The scheme is led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with funding coming from other governments such as the United States, Switzerland and Sweden.
An executive at a major UK government contractor said: I The firm’s name on the contract is “very unusual” and unlike any government-related contract he has seen before.
Hong Kong Watch Policy Director Sam Goodman said: I This provision proved the need for a more proactive approach from the British government to Chinese state-owned enterprises.
The UK government recently backed out of its plans to crack down on Chinese state-owned enterprises in the Procurement Bill. This hoped campaigners could raise security concerns or limit access to government jobs for companies involved in human rights abuses.
Mr Goodman said: A Ukrainian tender contract that expressly excludes a Chinese surveillance firm subject to a U.S. investment ban.
“When ministers were willing to exclude Hikvision, Dahua and other companies from government procurement contracts at the request of the US government, they did the same with local authorities, police, NHS trusts and schools. is quite a thing of the past.”
Luke de Pulford of the Inter-Parliamentary Union on China applauded the move but called for its expansion. De Pulford said: The British public does not want their hard-earned money filling the pockets of these companies, especially given Beijing’s “unhindered” support for Russia. But it also doesn’t reflect the full coherence of British and Chinese policies: on the one hand, the UK banned her TikTok when other governments banned her for data security reasons. refusing to do Confusion could be exploited by Beijing, so some consistency needs to be seen. ”
The British government has recently fallen behind other Western countries in combating security threats from China.
Both the EU and US have banned TikTok from federal devices due to data collection concerns. TikTok owner ByteDance has faced questions over its ties to the Chinese government and censorship allegations have been filed against the app. TikTok claims it does not censor its content.
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Rishi Sunak made his first major foreign policy speech as prime minister in November, heralding the end of the “golden age” of Britain-China relations.
The allegations followed a rise in animosity between Britain and China after years of tension. I previously revealed how a Chinese tracking device hidden in a government vehicle was discovered last year.
An FCDO spokesperson said: This is standard practice for this type of commercial procurement. ”
Kemonics did not respond to multiple requests for comment. We also reached out to Huawei, Hikvision, ZTE, Dahua and Hytera for comment.