The British media revealed that they could not make it themselves, and they were afraid that China would "spoil" it

[Text/Observer Yang Rong]

The Financial Times disclosed on the 15th that King Charles III of the United Kingdom has been on the throne for nearly two years, but the British military has postponed the full replacement of military badges designed for the new monarch, for fear that Chinese factories that may be outsourced to manufacture some badges will "implant tracking devices" in them.

According to tradition, after the new British monarch ascends the throne, money, stamps, flags and military and police clothing need to be re customized. According to British media, after the death of Elizabeth II in 2022, the British royal badge will be replaced by the Tudor crown chosen by Charles III instead of the Queen's favorite St. Edward crown.

The Financial Times said on the 15th that what makes this process "complicated" is that some of the production capacity of Wyedean Weaving, the company that won the military badge manufacturing contract, comes from Chinese factories. A senior British defense official said: "There is a concern that the badge may be implanted with a tracking device or GPS transmitter."

Stamping die for hat badge with Tudor crown and new royal logo (Financial Times)

It is reported that in 2022, Wedian Weaving Company won a three-year subcontract worth 2.9 million pounds with Leidos, a US listed defense service company, to provide badges for the British military. Ledos has a direct contract with the British Ministry of Defence.

At present, the company is still waiting for final approval to promote the production of badges. Susannah Walbank, the director of the company, stressed to the Financial Times: "China is a part of our supply chain. We have 15 years of history in China, have a long-term cooperative relationship, and have never had any problems."

Volbank said that the new badge will be produced in "many places including China" and will be inspected in the UK.

In fact, since its establishment in 1964, Wedian Weaving Company has been providing equipment for the British Armed Forces and the security forces of several other countries, including the Canadian Mounted Police. Last year, together with another British manufacturing company headquartered in Birmingham, the company produced a small number of badges for the troops to be read at Charles III's coronation ceremony.

In the opinion of the Financial Times, these problems reflect the widespread confusion in western countries about whether China, the world's second largest economy, should be "regarded as a friendly trading partner or an irreconcilable enemy". However, the result of such "suspicion", said the aforementioned senior defense official, is that "the introduction of badges has been delayed because the UK does not have the capacity to produce them (as China does) so quickly or cheaply".

The report mentioned that the British government's public procurement guidelines in 2015 emphasized that the "first" requirement for all public procurement is that the procurement price is reasonable, and "national security risks" are also taken into consideration. Some officials believe that for safety reasons, the hat badge "certainly" should be made in the UK. However, other officials pointed out that the risk of Chinese made hat badges is very small, because "they are very small, and the battery life of any eavesdropper will not be too long, nor can it transmit signals from a long distance".

There are more examples of the entanglement of British politicians. It is reported that the National Defense Committee of the British Parliament recently decided to purchase a batch of "honor coins" to give away visiting dignitaries, but the committee members should "buy British goods" and cast coins in Britain, or at a price of one fifth, the question of whether to hand over the contract to a Chinese factory was hotly debated.

Tobias Ellwood, the former chairman of the National Defense Committee of the British Parliament, said that, for "security reasons", the committee finally decided to choose British products, but he frankly said that this issue reflected some ambiguity in the British policy towards China. "It's a bad policy to say 'everything related to China is bad' - we won't reap any (positive) impact in doing so."

The so-called "threat of Chinese spies" is not new in European public opinion, and China has refuted it many times. Earlier, the British media said that the so-called Chinese tracking equipment was found on the relevant vehicles. The spokesman of the Chinese Embassy in Britain responded that the above accusations were groundless and totally fabricated. China has always been open and aboveboard. It is unnecessary and uninterested for China to collect information on vehicle location in the UK. Some people on the British side should not suffer from the delusion of being murdered, and they are always suspicious. Advise the relevant British personnel to stop spreading false information and stop the trick of thieves shouting to catch thieves.

The spokesman of the Embassy also pointed out that the Chinese government has always encouraged Chinese enterprises to carry out foreign trade and investment cooperation in accordance with market principles and international rules and on the basis of abiding by local laws. We are firmly opposed to political manipulation of normal economic and trade cooperation to discredit and stigmatize Chinese enterprises. Some forces maliciously slander and suppress Chinese enterprises and attempt to decouple and break the chain, which will not only seriously undermine the rules of international trade, but also cut off the global market, increase their own development costs, and ultimately hit their own feet by lifting a stone.

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