LONDON: The head of Britain’s cyber-intelligence agency on Tuesday accused China of trying to “rewrite the rules of international security”, saying Beijing was using its economic and technological clout to lock down at home and control overseas. doing to do.
Jeremy FlemingThe director of GCHQ said that despite the war in Europe since the Russian invasion UkraineBeijing’s growing power is “an issue of national security that will define our future.”
In a rare public speech for the Royal United Services Institute think tank, Fleming alleged that Beijing’s communist authorities seek to “gain strategic advantage by shaping the world’s technology ecosystem.”
“When it comes to technology, the politically motivated action of the Chinese state is an increasingly urgent problem that we must acknowledge and address,” Fleming said. “This is because it is transforming the definition of national security into a broader concept. Technology has not only become a field for opportunity, competition and cooperation, it has become a battleground for control, for values, and for influence. Has been.”
He argued that the one-party system in Beijing seeks to control China’s population and sees other countries as “potential adversaries or potential client states that are threatened, bribed or coerced.” She goes.”
Relations between Britain and China have cooled sharply in recent years, with UK officials accusing Beijing of economic fraud and human rights abuses.
British spies have made an increasingly negative assessment of Beijing’s influence and intentions. Last year the head of the MI6 foreign intelligence agency, Richard Mooredescribed China as one of the biggest threats to Britain and its allies.
In 2020, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson followed the United States in banning Chinese tech firm Huawei as a security risk, ordering it to be pulled out of the UK’s 5G telecommunications network by 2027.
Fleming warned that China is trying to sabotage the Internet infrastructure for greater control. He also said that China wants to use digital currencies used by central banks to monitor users’ transactions and as a way to avoid future international sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine’s invasion. .
Fleming argued that China’s BeiDou satellite system – an alternative to widely used GPS navigation technology – “could have a powerful anti-satellite capability, preventing other countries from denying access to space in the event of a conflict.” principle of.”
Fleming warned that the world was approaching a “sliding door” moment in history—a reference to the 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow film in which a woman’s fate rests on a trivial moment.
He called on Western firms and researchers to tighten intellectual property protections and for democracies to develop alternatives that could prevent developing countries from “mortgaging the future by buying into the Chinese vision for technology”.
He said that the democracies of the world cannot afford to lag behind in cutting edge areas such as quantum computing, and warned of potential weakness on semiconductors, important chips used in everyday electronics. Taiwan – which China treats as a separate province that can be recaptured by force if necessary – is a world leader in their production.
“The events in the Taiwan Strait – any risk to that critical supply chain – have the potential to directly impact the UK’s resilience and global future growth,” Fleming said.
Fleming also addressed the war in Ukraine, saying that Russia has an arms shortage and that Ukraine’s “daring actions on the battlefield and in cyberspace are turning the tide.”
“Russian army is finished,” he said. “The use of prisoners as reinforcement, and now the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced soldiers, speaks of a desperate situation.”
GCHQ, formally known as Government Communications Headquarters, is one of the three main intelligence agencies of Britain, along with MI5 and MI6. It did not disclose the sources of its intelligence on China and Russia.
Jeremy FlemingThe director of GCHQ said that despite the war in Europe since the Russian invasion UkraineBeijing’s growing power is “an issue of national security that will define our future.”
In a rare public speech for the Royal United Services Institute think tank, Fleming alleged that Beijing’s communist authorities seek to “gain strategic advantage by shaping the world’s technology ecosystem.”
“When it comes to technology, the politically motivated action of the Chinese state is an increasingly urgent problem that we must acknowledge and address,” Fleming said. “This is because it is transforming the definition of national security into a broader concept. Technology has not only become a field for opportunity, competition and cooperation, it has become a battleground for control, for values, and for influence. Has been.”
He argued that the one-party system in Beijing seeks to control China’s population and sees other countries as “potential adversaries or potential client states that are threatened, bribed or coerced.” She goes.”
Relations between Britain and China have cooled sharply in recent years, with UK officials accusing Beijing of economic fraud and human rights abuses.
British spies have made an increasingly negative assessment of Beijing’s influence and intentions. Last year the head of the MI6 foreign intelligence agency, Richard Mooredescribed China as one of the biggest threats to Britain and its allies.
In 2020, then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson followed the United States in banning Chinese tech firm Huawei as a security risk, ordering it to be pulled out of the UK’s 5G telecommunications network by 2027.
Fleming warned that China is trying to sabotage the Internet infrastructure for greater control. He also said that China wants to use digital currencies used by central banks to monitor users’ transactions and as a way to avoid future international sanctions imposed on Russia over Ukraine’s invasion. .
Fleming argued that China’s BeiDou satellite system – an alternative to widely used GPS navigation technology – “could have a powerful anti-satellite capability, preventing other countries from denying access to space in the event of a conflict.” principle of.”
Fleming warned that the world was approaching a “sliding door” moment in history—a reference to the 1998 Gwyneth Paltrow film in which a woman’s fate rests on a trivial moment.
He called on Western firms and researchers to tighten intellectual property protections and for democracies to develop alternatives that could prevent developing countries from “mortgaging the future by buying into the Chinese vision for technology”.
He said that the democracies of the world cannot afford to lag behind in cutting edge areas such as quantum computing, and warned of potential weakness on semiconductors, important chips used in everyday electronics. Taiwan – which China treats as a separate province that can be recaptured by force if necessary – is a world leader in their production.
“The events in the Taiwan Strait – any risk to that critical supply chain – have the potential to directly impact the UK’s resilience and global future growth,” Fleming said.
Fleming also addressed the war in Ukraine, saying that Russia has an arms shortage and that Ukraine’s “daring actions on the battlefield and in cyberspace are turning the tide.”
“Russian army is finished,” he said. “The use of prisoners as reinforcement, and now the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced soldiers, speaks of a desperate situation.”
GCHQ, formally known as Government Communications Headquarters, is one of the three main intelligence agencies of Britain, along with MI5 and MI6. It did not disclose the sources of its intelligence on China and Russia.