Beijing’s UK Lending Operations

The lending operations of Chinese state-owned banks and enterprises in high-income countries—such as the United Kingdom—are not well understood. In this brief, the authors describe the nature and composition of Beijing’s $60 billion lending portfolio in the UK and the role that the National Security and Investment Act (NSIA) has played in screening inbound sources of official sector credit from China. The brief also includes several case studies that reveal how Chinese capital has financed both commercially routine and strategically sensitive deals—from uncontroversial acquisitions in consumer sectors to transactions that have raised national security concerns.