The British government’s open-doors approach to electric vehicles from Communist China threatens to undercut domestic manufacturing and expose the country to national security risks, with a think tank warning that EVs could be “weaponised” by Beijing.
A report from the China Strategic Risks Institute (CSRI) warned that the growing market share of and dependency on Chinese-made electric vehicles in Britain presents both “economic and security risks” to the United Kingdom.
The report noted that the UK’s domestic car industry is responsible for 198,000 manufacturing jobs, representing 2.5 per cent of the country’s entire GDP.
However, given Communist China’s subsidization of its burgeoning EV sector, producing an excess of five to ten million cheaply-produced cars per year, the failure by Westminster to impose import restrictions will threaten the future of British car manufacturing.
This process has already begun to have major impacts, with the CSRI claiming that Chinese-made EVs have increased their UK market share from just 2 per cent in 2019 to 33.4 per cent in the first half of 2023.
The think tank warned that London’s refusal to levy tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, as opposed to the neighbouring European Union, could result in Britain becoming a “dumping ground and a potential backdoor into the European market” for Beijing. This could represent a point of friction between the UK and its allies in Europe as well as in the United States, potentially threatening trade with its closest partners, the CSRI said.
Yet, the threats posed by flooding the UK with cars made in China are not merely contained to the economic realm, with the CSRI warning that components within the foreign EVs could be “weaponised” by the communist nation.
According to the CSRI, Chinese-manufactured Cellular Internet of Things Modules (CIMs) used in EVs could be used to send data back the Beijing about British users. The paper noted that the totalitarian government mandates that all firms within the country provide data access to the state, which was one of the motivating factors for the UK’s previous decision to phase out Huawei components from its 5G networks by 2027.
Perhaps more concerningly, however, the think tank warned that the modules within Chinese-made EVs could even allow adversarial forces to remotely shut down or even control the cars in Britain, posing a direct threat to national security.
The CSRI suggested that the UK mandate foreign suppliers of EVs agree to not transmit data overseas under any circumstances, introduce a legal requirement to share their source code with the British government, and allow for regular inspections of data storage centres globally to ensure that sensitive data is not being sent covertly to other servers.
Additionally, the think tank said that to protect domestic car manufacturers, the British government should launch an anti-state subsidies investigation into the Chinese EV market while also considering providing subsidies to British manufacturers or direct subsidies to consumers to promote local industry.
Senior policy director at the CSRI, Sam Goodman said per The Telegraph: “The Government and the public appear to be unaware when it comes to the dependency, disruption, and data security risks the CIMs within Chinese EVs present to the UK.
“We have heard little from the new Government on the risks Chinese EVs present so far. We urge that this be addressed, otherwise, the UK risks alienating its closest allies, deepening its dependency on China for its EV supply chain and the green transition, and leaving itself exposed to being bullied and blackmailed by Beijing.”
