Born in the southwestern city of Chongqing, Cheung Chung-kiu owns swathes of London property, including the 52-floor Leadenhall Building. Better known as “the Cheesegrater”, the tower block has delivered rental cheques totalling £42.1M over the past year.
The “Walkie Talkie”, another famous fixture on the City skyline, garners £46M a year of rent for Lee Kum Kee Group, the Hong Kong-based food manufacturer owned by the Lee family.
There are 28 private schools owned by Chinese investors. “Britain’s world-leading education system is an obvious target for influence for China.”
Labour’s introduction of VAT on private school fees has increased the attractiveness of institutions to Chinese investors because it could lead to more schools requiring financial support.
China represents the biggest source of non-British pupils whose parents live overseas and accounts for 6,258 of the 25,526 pupils in this category, according to the Independent Schools Council census published in April, an increase from 5,824 the year before.
Dynamic CCTV is one of many retailers to appear in the list of assets owned by China. The business, based in Middlesbrough, sells security cameras and alarms, and has “the UK’s largest Hikvision stock holding”.
With headquarters in Hangzhou, 
Hikvision has already proved controversial in the UK because its surveillance equipment has been installed in the Uighur “re-education camps” operated by Xi’s regime. The company has been sanctioned by the US for more than five years and has been flagged as a security concern by the UK government.
Dynamic CCTV is owned by Hangzhou Yipai Import and Export Trade Company, an operation based in China’s Zhejiang province, and continues to sell Hikvision products in the UK.
Political influence
Of all the Chinese families and individuals who invest in the UK, none has more British business interests than Li Ka-shing. A secondary school dropout and former factory worker, the Chinese-born billionaire began his entrepreneurial career in Hong Kong in the 1950s by selling plastic flowers.
Li’s investments here range from the Greene King pub and brewing group to critical power and gas networks.
The 97-year-old tycoon and his family own 75% of Northumbria Water and nearly half of VodafoneThree, the telecoms goliath. Superdrug, Savers and The Perfume Shop are also part of Li’s CK Hutchison group.
The data center operator Global Switch, an integral part of the UK’s digital infrastructure, is another of his holdings. Li is reportedly considering a sale of Eversholt Rail, a company that makes hundreds of millions of pounds a year by leasing carriages and locomotives to train operators. He bought the outfit for £2.5B in 2015 and a sale price of £4B has been mooted.
Li’s relationship with the state is complex. He served on committees paving the way for China’s takeover of Hong Kong and, more recently, the body that selects the province’s chief executive. His elder son, Victor Li, is a member of the Beijing municipal committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference — an advisory body to the government.
However, Beijing was enraged by the family’s sale of two Panama ports this year. It urged CK Hutchison to “think twice” about “what position and side they are on”, later ordering state-owned companies to stall new contracts with the Lis’ companies. Beijing regulators were also ordered to conduct an audit of the family’s investments at home and abroad.
No Chinese or Hong Kong company is ringfenced from Xi’s regime. There is a legal duty for all Chinese companies to follow the state’s instructions when required.
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Hikvision has already proved controversial in the UK because its surveillance equipment has been installed in the Uighur “re-education camps” operated by Xi’s regime. The company has been sanctioned by the US for more than five years and has been flagged as a security concern by the UK government.
Dynamic CCTV is owned by Hangzhou Yipai Import and Export Trade Company, an operation based in China’s Zhejiang province, and continues to sell Hikvision products in the UK.
Political influence
Of all the Chinese families and individuals who invest in the UK, none has more British business interests than Li Ka-shing. A secondary school dropout and former factory worker, the Chinese-born billionaire began his entrepreneurial career in Hong Kong in the 1950s by selling plastic flowers.
Li’s investments here range from the Greene King pub and brewing group to critical power and gas networks.
The 97-year-old tycoon and his family own 75% of Northumbria Water and nearly half of VodafoneThree, the telecoms goliath. Superdrug, Savers and The Perfume Shop are also part of Li’s CK Hutchison group.
The data center operator Global Switch, an integral part of the UK’s digital infrastructure, is another of his holdings. Li is reportedly considering a sale of Eversholt Rail, a company that makes hundreds of millions of pounds a year by leasing carriages and locomotives to train operators. He bought the outfit for £2.5B in 2015 and a sale price of £4B has been mooted.
Li’s relationship with the state is complex. He served on committees paving the way for China’s takeover of Hong Kong and, more recently, the body that selects the province’s chief executive. His elder son, Victor Li, is a member of the Beijing municipal committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference — an advisory body to the government.
However, Beijing was enraged by the family’s sale of two Panama ports this year. It urged CK Hutchison to “think twice” about “what position and side they are on”, later ordering state-owned companies to stall new contracts with the Lis’ companies. Beijing regulators were also ordered to conduct an audit of the family’s investments at home and abroad.
No Chinese or Hong Kong company is ringfenced from Xi’s regime. There is a legal duty for all Chinese companies to follow the state’s instructions when required.
3/n