UK must make its red lines clear to bolshy Beijing

More than a century ago, Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu made British flesh creep.

- MARK ALMOND

Long after Imperial China had imploded, the diabolical mandarin could still weave a fiendish plot to be the world's “super-boss” – at least in fiction and flickering black-and-white films. Who doesn't sneer at the “Yellow Peril” of yesteryear? Past scares are not necessarily a guide to current dangers. But aren’t Chinese tentacles now embedding across Britain - in our universities, which have queued up to accept Chinese students and their generous fees; in Westminster, where this week MI5 warned that Chinese spies have been targeting MPs on LinkedIn as part of an operation to access government information; and with its much-delayed plan to build a “super-embassy” in east London, which could have grave implications for our national security?