CHINA's relations with the West continue to deteriorate with both the UK and the US at war with Beijing on cybersecurity, trade and rule of law - but the UK has more to lose than the US if China decides to retaliate.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump said his administration would look into putting sanctions on a list of 11 Chinese companies.
Commenting on the consequences of the move on the UK and on Britain's potential intention to follow suit, Professor Pabst said: "We know that whenever there are US sanctions against countries or companies, there are some ripple effects because the US sanctions tend to not just affect individual countries say, like Iran in the past or Russia, or indeed companies, but also affecting all businesses that want to do any kind of business with those companies.
"So it can have quite a ripple effect. And so all will depend on exactly which companies the US chooses to put on the sanctions.”
"And if, again, in relation to sanctions or in response to sanctions, China decides to retaliate, perhaps much more than it has done so far on the Huawei decision in the UK, then, you know, the predictions will be that things will get worse and that the economy will take a greater hit.
On Thursday, China's ambassador to the UK has warned against allowing "Cold War warriors" to damage relations between Beijing and Britain.
Rows over Hong Kong, the ban on tech giant Huawei playing a role in the 5G network, and British criticism of human rights abuses in Xinjiang have soured the relationship in recent weeks.