China’s economic espionage threat increasing, warn chiefs of MI5, FBI
The heads of MI5 and FBI warned of the growing long-term threat posed by China to UK and US interests, in their first joint appearance on Wednesday.
MI5 director-general Ken McCallum said the service has already “more than doubled our previously-constrained effort against Chinese activity of concern,” adding it was running seven times as many investigations as in 2018. FBI director Christopher Wray said that the Chinese government “poses the biggest long-term threat” to economic and national security, for the UK, the US and allies in Europe and elsewhere.
“The Chinese government is trying to shape the world by interfering in our politics (and those of our allies, I should add),” Wray said, saying Beijing had directly interfered in a Congressional election in New York this year, as it did not want a candidate who was a critic and former protester at Tiananmen
Square to be elected.
Wray warned that the Chinese government “poses an even more serious threat to Western businesses than even many sophisticated businesspeople realise”, and is “set on stealing your technology”.
The Chinese governement’s hacking programme is “bigger than that of every other major country combined”, according to
Wray.
Over the past year, the UK has shared intelligence with 37 countries to help them defend against cyber espionage, McCallum said, adding that in May they had disrupted a sophisticated threat targeting critical aerospace companies.
Speaking about Taiwan, which China regards as a province, Wray said that China may try to forcibly take it over and if that were to happen, “it would represent one of the most horrific business disruptions the world has ever seen”.
“The widespread Western assumption that growing prosperity within China and increasing connectivity with the West would automatically lead to greater political freedom has, I’m afraid, been shown to be plain wrong,” McCallum said.
China lashes out
The US is “the biggest threat to world peace, stability and development,” China said on Thursday, continuing its sharp rhetoric in response to US accusations of Chinese spying and threats to the international order.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian’s comments came a day after the head of the FBI and the leader of Britain’s domestic intelligence agency raised fresh alarms about the Chinese government, warning business leaders that Beijing is determined to steal their technology for competitive gain.