Chinese investments threaten UK defense technology

Chinese investment may have handed over UK drone and missile tech

Over the past decade, rampant Chinese investments in the UK may have effectively handed over military grade technology to China.

Yet when one tech boss raised the alarm to the British government, he was told that nothing could be done.

The 2010s was a surge of Chinese investment in the UK. The £45bn Chinese spending spree included the purchase of a firm that developed technology with potential uses for drones and missiles. An investigation by BBC’s Panorama will reveal how the last Tory administration (2010-2024) did not intervene, instead standing by the sidelines.

A former British intelligence chief has warned that the UK was too permissive in allowing investments that carry security risks, without addressing the question of how to trade with China:

Former GCHQ chief Sir Jeremy Fleming said:

This is the trillion-dollar question […] My personal view is that we have been far too free in allowing access to strategically important industries in science and technology.

Canyon and Imagination deal

The concerns centre on Imagination Technologies, a Hertfordshire-based tech-firm.

Having lost a major contract in 2019, the equity firm Canyon Bridge brought out the company.

Canyon Bridge has one investor: Yitai Capital, owned by the Chinese state-linked body, China Reform.

Imagination’s engineers made semi-conductors used for a range of civilian tech like smart phones. As the BBC reported:

A potential buyer would be buying into this expertise. What is more, the algorithms behind its technology, although developed for other products, could be put to military use in missiles and drones.

Imagination’s CEO states that at the time he was told that the takeover was purely profit-driven. Later, the Chinese investors told him they were appointing new directors and would focus on leveraging its expertise and technology.

Black warned the British government, but officials said there was little they could do.

Concerned about the potential transfer of military-grade technology, Mr. Black resigned. Following his departure, he claims, the UK government began to take notice, and China Reform abandoned its efforts to appoint new C-suite directors.

Although Mr Black withdrew his resignation he was dismissed by the firm. He and sought legal recourse for unfair dismissal through an employment tribunal which ruled in his favour.

The firm involved and the Chinese embassy deny any wrongdoing. The Foreign Office said it had not published its full audit, citing security reasons and non-disclosure protocols.

Featured image via Getty Images/Upsplash

Comments 1

Dave Hansell says:

7 months ago

As with much of the output of the corporate media, this piece is high on conjecture and offers little of substance. Plenty of ifs and buts but, like a Labour Party disciplinary tribunal, totally lacking in substantive evidence, the scientific method, and any semblance of due process. The creation of the allegation serving as the equivalent of a guilty verdict on the basis of mere say so, limited only by the imagination.

Much like numerous other examples of The Official Narrative (TON) from WMD’s in Iraq to alleged state-of-the-art nerve agents which fail to work and magically don’t operate to the laws of physics by degrading in purity in the environment over time and everything in between.

Citing anything from the discreditable BBC Panorama crew………..

https://strategic-culture.su/news/2025/11/15/the-latest-bbc-scandal-reveals-perennial-problems-ofcorruption-so-wheres-the-investigation/

……….on the day of broadcast of this Official Narrative tale is, at best, piss poor journalism and suggestive of at least the pushing of The Official Narrative (TON) from a self-identifying so called ‘alt-media’ outlet – The Canary.

“…..Panorama, as a documentary series, is so badly produced, with such a vociferous political agenda. The show itself has had to weather a number of storms over the years which have thrown a spotlight on it and what its role really is. In my own personal experience of working for the show as a freelance foreign correspondent working on an investigation, while I was based in the Middle East, I was shocked to experience first hand how unjournalistic it operated. It almost seemed to have a phobia of making news stories which affect the lives of millions in preference for hidden agendas on its own political level, sometimes even down to office politics or based on the foibles of those who work for it.”
– Martin Jay: Journalist.

Question arises; how does this work? After all the shoddy output of this BBC production, among others – from the very obvious hit piece on alleged anti-Semitism in Corbyn’s Labour Party to doctoring videos – we are suddenly expected to fall into a moral panic over yet another concocted piece of story telling short on evidenc e and long on suggestion.

Seems like The Canary is doing it’s best to contribute to yet an other two minute hate session against another “Official Enemy”. Which goes some way to explaining the constant stream of negative amplification in respect of the internal problems of ‘Your Party’, along with other Official Narratives which undermine class politics.

A process described in more detail here:

https://davehansell.substack.com/p/cuckoos-in-the-nest