Chinese companies could be banned from building wind farms in Britain on national security grounds.
Sir Keir Starmer said his Government is still considering whether or not to allow one firm, Mingyang, to set up a £1.5billion turbine manufacturing plant in Scotland.
It had been expected that he would give the project, which could create up to 1,500 jobs, the go-ahead during his visit to Beijing this week.
But there are fears that it would leave the UK dangerously over-reliant on China for renewable energy technology.
The Trump administration is also thought to have warned the UK Government that it poses a national security risk, amid fears Chinese-built wind turbines could house surveillance technology and eavesdrop on military bases.
The Prime Minister was asked as he embarked on his trade mission if he backed the factory planned for Inverness-shire and replied: ‘No decision has been made in relation to Mingyang.
‘There’s no decision on that yet, one way or another, but obviously uppermost in our minds is the national security of the United Kingdom.’
It had been expected that Starmer would give the project, which could create up to 1,500 jobs, the go-ahead during his visit to Beijing. Pictured: the PM arrives in China, January 28
And asked if he thought wind power was similar to nuclear power in terms of counting as critical infrastructure from which the Chinese should be excluded, Sir Keir said: ‘That’s part of the consideration in any decision, but there is no decision.’
Labour MP Liam Byrne, who is chairman of the Commons business committee, told The Times: ‘We need to be far more vigilant than we have been about safeguarding the UK economy from coercion and unfair competition from China.
‘If we do not block China from projects such as this, we risk Beijing using unfair state subsidies to undermine UK and EU energy independence by destroying the renewable energy market in Europe.’
