Undermining a priority American foreign policy objective, the United Kingdom has authorized the sale to China of its largest semiconductor chip manufacturer, Newport Wafer Fab.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson appears to have abandoned his commitment to protect this supply chain area more actively. As Tom Tugendhat, an influential Conservative parliamentarian, observed to CNBC, it was only last month that Johnson “pledged to take steps to build economic resilience in critical global supply chains, such as semiconductors. This appears to be an immediate and very public reversal of that commitment.”