Security fears over Minister’s relationship with Chinese energy giant
SERIOUS concerns have been raised over new SNP Health Secretary Michael Matheson and his relationship with Chinese firms linked to the country’s ruling Communist Party, The Scottish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
In January, we told how Mr Matheson used a Beijing newspaper article to boast of China’s close ties to Scotland and joint energy ambitions – despite international condemnation of Xi Jinping’s regime for using brutal detention camps to ‘re-educate’ ethnic minorities.
Documents released under freedom of information laws now show Mr Matheson held meetings with Petro-China while he was Energy Minister. In heavily redacted min utes obtained by this newspaper, he tells the oil giant’s boss, Mr Junli Wu, the Scottish Government ‘values our long and constructive relationship’, adding that the firm has a ‘legacy in Scotland to be proud of’.
In August they also discussed the future of Scotland’s only oil refinery at Grangemouth, which is owned by Petroineos – a joint venture between Ineos and Petro-China – a subsidiary of the Chinese National Petroleum Corporation.
The refinery supplies 70 per cent of Scotland’s oil. Sam Goodman, director of UK-based Hong Kong Watch, has urged the Scottish Government to review its dealings with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its affiliated companies.
He said: ‘The narrow interests of the Scottish energy sector should not trump national security.
‘Scottish Ministers do not sit in a vacuum from UK’s wider foreign policy and when they meet privately with Chinese state-owned enterprises and refuse to meet basic transparency standards it raises questions about the relationship with the PRC.
‘China poses an epoch-defining challenge. In light of this the Scottish Government should audit its dealings with it and ensure Ministers are not wilfully undermining our national security interests.’ The intervention comes as calls for Western nations to divest from Chinese firms ramp up in the wake of human rights abuses against minority groups such as Muslim Uyghurs and fears of secret surveillance in hi-tech devices. Earlier this month, Police Scotland was criticised for failing to remove CCTV cameras made by Hikvision, a Chinese state-owned firm sanctioned in the US over ‘national security’ concerns. Meanwhile, the Scottish parliament has recently followed Whitehall’s lead in banning the use of Chinese social media app TikTok on government-issued phones.
We reported in January that the Scottish Government continues to use China-based platform WeChat to grow its influence in the region, while the controversy involving Mr Matheson is only the latest surrounding the Government’s ties with President Xi’s regime.
In 2016, former first minister Nicola Sturgeon signed a £10 billion deal with two Chinese firms for unspecified projects, but kept the transaction a secret. It only came to light when the Chinese media wrote about the agreement.
In the same year Ministers gave £5.3 million to a Chinese Confucius Institute teaching project in Scottish schools, despite the institute being accused of sharing Beijing propaganda.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We engage with the businesses, asset owners and operators in our energy system and economy as a matter of course.’
PetroChina said: ‘We have a good relationship with the Scottish Government founded on over a decade of supporting reliable fuel supply from the Grangemouth refinery.’
A Petroineos spokesman said: ‘Given his position as Energy Minister it would be more concerning had Mr Matheson not met with Petroineos, as Scotland’s only refinery which provides all its fuel.’
‘Refuse to meet basic transparency standards’