The government is in a tough spot when it comes to how to deal with China

Should Britain be wary of its reliance on Chinese suppliers for the growth of its electric vehicles industry? The question is vexing the cabinet, wherein a split is developing between the prime minister and his colleagues.

Boris Johnson is said to be relatively relaxed about the supply chain of parts and know-how leading so often back to Chinese companies with close links to the state. His colleagues, however, fear that the supply of parts and technology may cease one day and leave Britain’s (hopefully) resurgent and electrified automotive sector grinding to a halt.

Factories in Sunderland or Merseyside could thus find themselves subject to industrial pressure as a result of differences over, say, Hong Kong or the persecution of the Uyghur. It is not a position any proud sovereign nation would wish to be in, but it may be inevitable, given China’s technological prowess and economic clout.

Some ministers are concerned about the Chinese (and perhaps other world powers) gaining control of Britain’s nascent high-tech winners of the future. The recent sale of Newport Wafer Fab – who design chips for use in electric cars – to the Chinese-backed Nexperia is said to be a “textbook example” of an area in which Chinese involvement in the UK economy is seen as undesirable. The Newport deal is now subject to a review by the prime minister’s national security adviser, Sir Stephen Lovegrove.

This cautionary school of thought in official circles derives in part from experience during the early chapters of the Covid-19 pandemic, when it became alarmingly apparent how little domestic manufacturing capability existed in Britain for items such as masks and ventilators.

The diminution of Huawei’s role in the 5G rollout, and of Chinese industrial giants in the UK’s nuclear power programme, were earlier examples of the same sort of looming fear. Mr Johnson seems to take the view that China is such a dominant industrial power and technological leader in so many areas that cooperating with Beijing in economics and trade is inevitable.

The prime minister seems to think that closer relationships on inward investment and the climate crisis are compatible with harsh rhetoric over issues such as Hong Kong, and with the sending of the new Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier to the South China Sea as a gesture of defiance against Chinese expansionism in the region.

Such subtlety may be lost on President Xi Jinping, who has self-consciously adapted to suit a more assertive China on the international stage. It takes two sides to trade and cooperate, and even if Mr Johnson thinks he can have his cake and eat it, Beijing may beg to differ.

Mr Johnson’s interventionist industrial policy in partnering the state with private companies over promising new technologies includes the new UK Advanced Research and Invention Agency (Aria). Active and bold as it may be, and in contrast to the older laissez-faire Thatcherite instincts of some Tories, it is probably too little and too late to attempt to overhaul China’s lead in battery electric vehicles. It is as simple as that.

Long ago, the Chinese authorities formed the view that they could never overtake the advantages of the German and Japanese-based brands in the manufacture of conventional cars built around the internal combustion engine, and opted instead to invest heavily in the green cars of the future. It proved a wise strategic move.

Even if it were proven, in other words, that China’s growing power was necessarily inimical to that of the west, there is not much that can be achieved by boycotting and blocking Chinese investment and trade.