We need to talk about Chinese intentions - Alex Cole-Hamilton

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with President Xi Jinping of China during a bilateral meeting in November (Picture: Stefan Rousseau) | PA

President Xi Jinping has ordered that the Chinese military be in a state of operational readiness to take Taiwan by force in 2027. This is no idle threat and the free democracies of the world have to consider how we would respond to that.

An invasion of Taiwan should be met with the same kind of outrage that we greeted Russia’s illegal and barbaric invasion of Ukraine, but it may not be that simple.

British commercial interests and reliance on Russia were by and large limited and as such made the imposition of sanctions fairly straightforward, yet still cutting in terms of their impact on household budgets in the UK. China is a wholly different matter.

Since 2013 the Chinese Government has embarked on a massive programme of international financial outreach. By investing in infrastructure, universities and key strategic projects the world over through something called the Belt and Road Initiative, it has quietly obtained the kind of leverage that would make it exceptionally difficult to plunge Western-Chinese relations into the same deep freeze as Russia.

Britain has been a ready and willing recipient of this funding. Our universities are heavily reliant on Chinese investment and their students who choose to study here. Those institutions are already struggling financially and they could collapse entirely with the loss of Chinese finance. We must address that as a matter of urgency.

Another area of concern is in energy security. With the renewables revolution underway in the North Sea, Chinese company Mingyang Smart Energy are poised to establish a major wind turbine factory right here in Scotland.

Their "cyclone proof" technology would seem ideally suited to weather Scottish storms, but the risk is that such turbines could contain firmware that is subject to Chinese state security laws, and in a time of hostility, these turbines and the power they provide could be shut down remotely by China.

Keir Starmer has sought to reset relations with Beijing in recent weeks and don’t get me wrong I would far rather have China as a benign trading partner. But whether it’s allegations surrounding Prince Andrew’s associates, the so-called ‘secret Chinese police station’ uncovered in Glasgow or the spy-balloons operating in the lower atmosphere above America, the signs are already there that we are entering a period of winter in our relations with China.

Our governments both in Edinburgh and in London must conduct immediate strategic audits of the reach of China’s interests and influences in our country and our exposure to hostile intent by the Chinese Communist Party should diplomatic relations break down.

That must cover every aspect of our society that is dependent on Chinese cash and technology, from university departments to wind turbines.