Chinese companies are spending more money than ever before to buy up other businesses around the world, scaring Western governments and even worried the Chinese authorities, according to dealmaking lawyers at Clifford Chance.

Spending on foreign businesses more than doubled to hit $208bn (£165bn) in 2016, with mergers and acquisitions with European companies up by 200pc and investment in US firms up 400pc.

The biggest individual deal was the ChemChina takeover of Syngenta, a Swiss agrichemical firm which sold for $45.9bn.

The flow of cash has worried some Western governments which fear that swathes of their economies are being bought up by Chinese companies - often government-owned - while their own firms do not have the same access to China.

Such concerns are particularly important in industries such as advanced technology, where Western governments do not want to lose control over a sector of strategic value.