Description
In recent years, an increasing number of countries have begun to consider foreign direct investments (FDI) originating from China as a matter of national security. To a certain degree, the UK has been following this trend; from the mid-2010s, it has committed to strengthening the government’s ability to discretionally restrict and block the inflow of potentially security-harming investments into the country. FDI are an inherently economic tool and in the UK has only recently assumed security implications. The timing and nature of the securitizing process clearly suggest that the growth of China-originated investments played a fundamental role in triggering and shaping the process as well as broader European (and global) move in such a direction. However, the reasons behind the securitization of FDI have received very marginal and limited analysis. Rooted in the theory of securitization of non-traditional security issues (NTS), this article seeks to explain the reasons behind the recent securitization of investments in the UK and spell out its relations with the Chinese origin of such investments.
