China’s warning to the UK that the future of bilateral ties stand at a “crucial historical juncture” over the deferral of an ￡18bn nuclear project cannot be dismissed as mere rhetoric. Beijing has a record of rounding on countries that displease it. It downgraded its ties with Norway after the Oslo-based Nobel committee awarded a prize to the Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010. Similarly, a meeting two years later between the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, and former UK premier, David Cameron, temporarily plunged London’s relationship with Beijing into the deep freeze.

The decision of Theresa May’s new government to review the proposed Hinkley Point power station imperils a project in which Beijing has invested a great deal of political capital. The deal was described by Xi Jinping, China’s president, as the “flagship project” in a new phase of relations lionised by both countries as a “golden era”. China’s stake in Hinkley is seen as a potential springboard for its nuclear industry, an important part of the country’s military-industrial complex, to broaden its international footprint.

With this background, it is no surprise that Liu Xiaoming, China’s ambassador to the UK, warned London in an article published in the Financial Times that the deferral imperils the UK-China relationship. He urged London to approve Hinkley as soon as possible and expressed a hope that “the UK will keep its door open to China”.