End this dangerous addiction to tainted Chinese money
ONE of the most extraordinary espionage stories of recent years emerged at the weekend. While she was Foreign Secretary, Liz Truss’s mobile phone was hacked. Over a year of personal and highly confidential messages were downloaded, and calls eavesdropped.
The received wisdom is the hacker was the Russian state.
But when I first saw the story, my first thought was to wonder if she was using a Chinese phone. Because when it comes to espionage, no other nation comes close to China, in capabilities and determination.
That’s not my assertion: it’s the view of the heads of the FBI and MI5, who in July took the unprecedented step of making a joint speech to warn we need to take the threat of Chinese espionage far more seriously.
“We consistently see that it’s the Chinese government that poses the biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security,” said FBI director Christopher Wray, “and by ‘our’, I mean both of our nations, along with our allies in Europe and elsewhere.”
His MI5 colleague Ken McCallum added: “This might feel abstract. But it’s real and it’s pressing. We need to talk about it.We need to act.”
BARELY a day goes by without our discovering more Chinese malfeasance on British territory. Last week, human rights group Safeguard Defenders claimed China has set up dozens of secret police stations overseas – three in the UK – to force its dissidents to return home.
The week before saw appalling footage of a senior Chinese diplomat appearing to violently assault a Hong Kong prodemocracy protester outside China’s Manchester consulate.
In the Commons, Alicia Kearns, now chair of the foreign affairs select committee, said Beijing’s consul-general, Zheng Xiyuan, was seen pulling the hair of a demonstrator, who was then dragged inside the consulate grounds and beaten.
It is horrific enough seeing such scenes in China, where even mild dissent is met with brutality, but it is unconscionable that Chinese authorities can behave like this on our streets.
And yet to date, the response of the British Government has been to do nothing, citing a police investigation.
This is pointless.There will be no prosecution, because Beijing would have to agree to waive diplomatic immunity. So China’s officials remain here, free to carry on their nefarious activities as before.
David Cameron and George Osborne spent their time in office cosying up to China, hoping to secure some of the massive investment it throws worldwide. That culminated in 2015 with a state visit from President Xi Jinping. It was, however, a catastrophic policy, as Chinese investment is, overwhelmingly, not a blessing but a curse.
Take China’s involvement in our universities. Prior to Covid, 20 per cent of the income of the 24-strong elite Russell Group was from Chinese students and sponsorship. The consequences have been devastating to freedom of expression on campus.
Cambridge University has been one of the worst, gorging itself on hundreds of millions of pounds for buildings and courses and, in return, warning students not to criticise China’s human rights record.
Cambridge insists the warning is unconnected with the money. Believe that and you really will believe anything.
China has been open about all this, using its vast wealth to enable a form of imperialism by consent, such as the Belt and Road Initiative, which has paid for infrastructure investment in
nearly 70 countries. Other than those on the Chinese payroll, there are now few people who do not realise what China is up to. How could anyone, given how it acts?
THERE are occasional victories for good sense, such as removing Huawei from 5G infrastructure. It is scarcely believable that we asked the tech giant to be an integral part of our telecoms network, as if its status (which it denies) as an agent of China’s state was of no relevance.
Say what you like about Donald Trump, but if it wasn’t for his demand that we exclude Huawei, we would almost certainly still regard the company as a partner.
Elsewhere – such as its continued domination of our nuclear programme – China remains as integrated as ever into our infrastructure.
The arrival of a new PM offers a chance to reset relations with Beijing. Enough of the subservience and acquiescence.
Time to stand up to China – to expel Chinese officials who break our laws and to start the vital process of weaning our institutions off their dangerous addiction to Chinese money.
‘The arrival of a new PM offers a chance to reset relations with China’