There be dragons, as China eyes UK tech

Will Hutton

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China is simultaneously the workshop of the world and an economic calamity waiting to happen.

It is arguably the most successful autocratic regime on the planet monitoring, controlling and smothering every move of its 1.4 billion inhabitants, yet at the same time one of the most vulnerable and illegitimate. In some areas notably its commitment to green technologies, reliance on dirt cheap renewable energy and predictability in its approach to international relationships it is a welcome exemplar and partner. In others, such as cyber hacking, escalating military ambition and aggressive financial colonialism via its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), it is an adversary to be feared.

Yet for all the ambiguity, the second-largest economy in the world cannot be ignored. The International Standard Industrial Classification identifies 419 industrial product categories ranging from furniture to computer manufacture; China's industry minister boasts that because China produces in each of them it has a "comprehensive" industrial chain. President Xi Jinping's declared ambition is "completion" - or to dominate all 419 product categories and then do the same in science and technology.