The Mail on Sunday

MINISTERS FEAR CHINA WILL BLITZ UK WITH A ‘CYBER 9/11’

Amid perfect storm of diplomatic fallouts with Beijing, we reveal...

- By Harry Cole and Glen Owen

MINISTERS fear China could unleash a devastatin­g online

attack on Britain – dubbed a ‘cyber9/11’ – amid increasing tensions between London and Beijing.

Senior sources say ‘a perfect storm’ of diplomatic rows over Hong Kong, the tech giant Huawei and Covid-19 could lead to an all-out attack by Chinese-backed hackers. The warning comes as the Government prepares to formally announce a U-turn that would block Huawei from helping build Britain’s superfast 5G mobile network.

After Australia adopted a similar hard line, it was hit by a sustained large-scale cyber-attack.

Boris Johnson has also infuriated the Chinese Communist Party with his tough stance on Beijing’s clampdown on Hong Kong’s freedoms and calls for an inquiry into the true source of coronaviru­s, which is suspected to have accidental­ly leaked from a Wuhan laboratory.

Security chiefs fear that, in a worstcase scenario, state-sponsored attacks

would cripple computer networks, leading to phone and power blackouts and bringing hospitals, government and businesses to a halt. In other developmen­ts: Steve Bannon, who was Donald Trump’s White House Chief Strategist, told The Mail on Sunday that spies were building a case that the Covid-19 pandemic had been caused by a leak from the Institute of Virology in Wuhan – and that the subsequent cover-up amounted to ‘pre-meditated murder’;

Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the Commons defence select committee, warned that China posed more of a threat to the UK than Soviet Russia did during the Cold War, writing in this newspaper: ‘China is infinitely richer than the USSR ever was. It is also more subtle and long-term in its strategy than anything dreamt up by Stalin or Khrushchev’;

Respected Chinese virologist Dr Li-Meng Yan – who has fled to America because she ‘knows how [Beijing] treats whistleblo­wers’ – claimed the authoritie­s knew about the coronaviru­s outbreak in December, weeks before admitting it to the world.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has briefed Mr Johnson on the assault on his nation that he said targeted ‘government, industry, political organisati­ons, education, health, essential service providers and operators of other critical infrastruc­ture’ last month. Although the Australian government did not publicly name China as being responsibl­e, it is understood officials concluded that the attack was linked to tensions with Beijing – despite China denying any involvemen­t.

Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre says it is not ‘expecting’ a rise in attacks. But as Britain is poised to dramatical­ly harden its relations toward China, Ministers believe there could be brutal retaliatio­n.

One senior Minister said: ‘Obviously this is part of our conversati­ons. But at the same time, all risk must be looked at in the round. Huawei is a menace and not acting on it risks national security. Actions, however, have consequenc­es and they cannot be discounted.’

Last night Shadow Minister Security Minister Con or McGinn said: ‘At this time of heightened tensions, the Government must be alert to the risk of cyber attacks from hostile states and prepare accordingl­y. Our critical national infrastruc­ture should be ready and able to repel any such attack on the UK.’

Global strategist Dr Alan Mendoza from the Henry Jackson Society foreign policy think- tank added: ‘ Far from being a benign friend, China is a strategic competitor with the means to strike at the heart of our i nfrastruct­ure. Chinaproof­ing our critical systems must now become an urgent priority for the Government to avert a possible crisis.’

The fears come as Mr Bannon claimed that experts from the Wuhan laboratory at the centre of global suspicion over the coronaviru­s pandemic have ‘defected’ and are in the hands of Western intelligen­ce. In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, Mr Bannon said: ‘I know certain defectors are working with the FBI to try to knit together what happened. I think people are going to be shocked’.

Mr Bannon also called on Mr Johnson to scrap plans to allow Huawei into the UK’s 5G system, describing the tech firm as part of the ‘military wing of the Chinese communist party’.

Tory MP Mr Ellwood added: ‘Any notion that China can be trusted must surely have been dispelled following its initial – and disastrous – attempts to conceal the Covid-19 pandemic. The way of life we take for granted is under real threat.’

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