Article written by Tyler Durden, Zerohedge.com
In a rare public interview, the new chief of Britain’s domestic security service MI5 has vowed “to do more” in taking on China, as greater and more sophisticated ‘covert activities’ out of Chinese intelligence begin to surmount.
“The national security challenges presented by Russian, Chinese, Iranian and other actors are growing in severity and in complexity,” MI5 director-general Ken McCallum told a security briefing and UK media, later reported in Financial Times. Beijing’s espionage activities mark a unique kind of danger, according to the security services chief.
McCallum characterized China’s approach as focused on “hacking commercially sensitive information or commercially sensitive data, and intellectual property,” which in some cases have led MI5 to conclude it’s engaged in efforts ultimately aimed at influencing UK domestic politics.
“The UK wants to co-operate with China on the big global issues like climate change, while at the same time being robust in confronting covert hostile activity when we come across it.”
McCallum gave a current example of these activities.
“China will use hacks and espionage related to the global prize of having a first usable vaccine as a prime example of the type of intellectual property theft MI5 and other agencies are looking to thwart”.
Last month a former MI6 spy who heads up an EU-Asia relations think tank in Brussels became subject of a UK investigation over allegations he handed state secrets over the Chinese intelligence. While these types of human intelligence cases remain rare, corporate and research-related espionage out of China is widely viewed as more common and the greater threat.
Stay frosty.
Works Cited: