UK quietly shifts China policy as trust between countries erodes

British stance edges closer to the US, but many MPs want government to go further and designate China as a threat

• 1,100 scientists and students barred from UK amid China crackdown

While Britain’s conflict with Russia is playing out on the battlefield of Ukraine, escalating tensions between London and Beijing are largely unfolding a little more discreetly at home: in universities, among researchers and in hi-tech and other strategic businesses.

It may not be a high-profile drama of poisonings and deadly weapons supply, but hundreds of Chinese researchers have been turned away from British projects over the last couple of years, as trust between the two countries has been eroded.