Hardly a day goes by without reports of Chinese cyber attacks on foreign companies, media and governments. Concern over Beijing’s failure to rein in this assault has prompted governments from the US to India to intensify scrutiny of Chinese companies, especially in critical infrastructure. In Britain, however, serious lapses of oversight have been revealed by a parliamentary inquiry.

One of the biggest dilemmas for western countries today is the extent to which economic and security interests collide in doing business with China. Companies such as Huawei, the world’s second-largest telecommunications equipment supplier, have become the focus of this conflict. On the one hand, it provides affordable, high-quality equipment that many countries need. On the other, suspicions about China’s involvement in hacking and Huawei’s own links to the People’s Liberation Army raise grave concerns.

Britain’s Intelligence and Security Committee makes no judgment about the legitimacy of these suspicions. Huawei has never been linked to cyber attacks. The company may simply be the victim of wider wariness about the intentions of a rising superpower. But the report rightly highlights that the UK government did not do enough due diligence when it was told a Chinese company was in the running for BT’s ￡10bn upgrade of Britain’s telecoms network. Worse, cabinet officials chose not to inform ministers of potential security concerns for fear of damaging trade relations with China. Balancing commercial and security interests is always delicate. In this case the balance was misjudged.