<div id="readability-page-1"><div><div><p>A Chinese wind turbine maker has accused Ed Miliband of blocking a £1.5bn factory for “political” reasons after it was effectively banned from doing business in Britain.</p><p>Aman Wang, head of Ming Yang Smart Energy in the UK, said<strong> </strong>an official warning from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero that the company posed an unacceptable national security risk had blindsided executives following two years of engagement with senior government ministers.</p><p>Speaking to The Telegraph, Mr Wang said: “We are very puzzled, confused and frustrated. All we have been told so far is ‘national security’ and that’s it.</p><p>“Of course, I understand national security is a complex matter and it involves a different, much deeper analysis beyond the commercial world.</p><p>“But there should at least be some kind of framework, otherwise it can be used and abused very easily.”</p><p>Asked whether he was suggesting the company had been blocked for being Chinese, he replied: “That’s very clear. That’s why we’re calling for some clarity.</p><p>“Otherwise, everyone understood, not just me, that this was more of a political decision than anything else.”</p><p>On the day DESNZ moved to block Ming Yang, the Energy Secretary announced a separate investment into the UK by the Danish wind turbine maker, Vestas.</p><p>The Government has denied that the two decisions were linked.</p><p>Mr Miliband’s decision is understood to have caused Cabinet tensions, with Peter Kyle, the Business Secretary, said to be “furious” after he personally courted the Chinese company, according to sources.</p><p>Mr Wang said he first heard about the Government’s decision through the media and had so far been given no supporting evidence.</p><p>He also claimed there was no legal mechanism to actually enforce it, leaving the company in limbo with potential customers.</p><p>The decision has also been criticised by Octopus Energy, Britain’s largest energy supplier, which had partnered with Ming Yang and pledged to put in place technological safeguards.</p><p>Ming Yang is now considering investments in rival European countries, including France, Spain and Ireland, which Mr Wang said had contacted the company following the British announcement.</p><p>He warned that Mr Miliband’s decision would deprive the British wind turbine market of competition at a time when prices are rising, meaning households would face higher energy bills.</p><p>Ming Yang was proposing the country’s first full wind turbine manufacturing complex near Inverness, where it would have made blades, casings and assembled turbines at a “mother port” and sold them across Europe.</p></div></div><div><div><p>The company says the project would have created 1,500 local jobs and could potentially have cut wind farm capital costs by up to 40pc.</p><p>But the plans were effectively blocked last month on the grounds that Ming Yang posed “national security risks,” with DESNZ telling wind farm developers it could not support them using the technology.</p><p>No formal mechanism has been imposed to enforce this so far, although wind industry executives have been warned that the Government has a range of powers at its disposal.</p><p>Major companies, including RWE and Orsted, are thought to have been pushing to use the Chinese company’s turbines. The European market is currently dominated by Vestas and Siemens.</p><p>Ming Ying’s plans prompted warnings from the Ministry of Defence that its turbines could be used for spying or interference in Britain’s energy grid. The Trump administration is also reported to have raised concerns with Downing Street about the planned factory.</p><p>The Conservatives have warned against a “complete surrender to China at the expense of British industry,” while a Scottish Labour parliamentary candidate, Paul Sweeney, claimed last week that the company was a “Trojan horse”.</p><p>There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by Ming Yang. But the rise of China in providing renewable energy infrastructure has unnerved many Western security experts, who fear it risks giving Beijing leverage in the future.</p><p>Last year, a Royal United Services Institute report said that relying on Chinese kit to hit Labour’s clean energy targets could “hardwire” vulnerabilities into British infrastructure – potentially repeating Europe’s past mistake of becoming too dependent on Russian gas.</p></div></div><div><div><p>Ming Yang had partnered with UK-based Octopus Energy to assuage concerns, with the companies pledging to create a joint venture in which the British company would “create the highest levels of data protection and cyber security.”</p><p>Mr Wang said his company had also been in a prolonged dialogue with both energy officials and the National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, over the past two years, and had met with ministers including Mr Miliband and Mr Kyle.</p><p>“We actually really want, and welcome an opportunity, for an independent study or investigation, you could call a commission by the UK Government, into our technology and its potential for being deployed in UK waters,” he said.</p><p>“The work we have done so far with DESNZ and the National Cyber Security Centre is absolutely the right work to do.</p><p>“But we’re just the first one. We have to develop a transparent, understandable, standard and regulation that could protect and govern and guide the likes of Ming Yang from countries such as China or others.”</p><p>He also claimed that “Chinese supply chains are here anyway,” adding: “If you open up a Vestas or Siemens turbine, more than 70pc of the components are from China. So what are we really talking about here?”</p><p>A spokesman for Siemens Gamesa denied that 70pc or more of the components are Chinese. Vestas declined to comment.</p><p>The Vestas investment in Britain was also smaller than that promised by Ming Yang and conditional on the company winning more contracts with wind farm developers, he said.</p></div></div><div><div><p>Mr Wang said he understood European concerns about industrial policy in China, where many firms receive large subsidies and generous loan terms from state-owned banks, but insisted Ming Yang was “a family controlled, publicly listed company.”</p><p>“Number one, we are just here to do business,” he said. “Number two, I think the concerns are intuitive, right?</p><p>“That’s exactly why we want to localise our value chain into the UK and become a local corporate citizen.”</p><p>Asked whether he believed rivals would pass the same security tests, he said: “I don’t know. I just hope there can be a level playing field for everyone coming in, instead of people being badged as a ‘national security concern’ or being demonised for unspeakable political reasons.”</p><p>A DESNZ spokesman said: “We do not recognise these claims.</p><p>“After careful consideration the Government has concluded that there are national security risks associated with the use of Ming Yang wind turbines in UK offshore wind projects.”</p></div></div></div>

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<p>A Chinese wind turbine maker, Ming Yang Smart Energy, claims Ed Miliband blocked a £1.5bn factory in the UK for political reasons, citing national security concerns. The company, which had engaged with UK officials for two years, expressed confusion over the decision, suggesting it was politically motivated. The blockage has led to tensions within the Cabinet and criticism from energy suppliers. Ming Yang is now considering investments in Europe, warning that the decision could increase energy costs for UK households and reduce competition in the wind turbine market.</p>

Miliband blocked us for ‘political’ reasons, says Chinese wind farm boss