Chinese state intelligence targets the UK “prolifically and aggressively” in a way that poses a “challenge” for British intelligence agencies, parliament’s spy agency watchdog has said.
A wide-ranging report by senior MPs on the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) is scathing about the government’s “completely inadequate” response to the China threat – saying it had “no strategy” to tackle the problem.
It sparked an immediate row with Rishi Sunak – who insisted that his government was not “complacent” about China. But MPs on the committe branded his response “weak” and accused him of trying to “undermine the committee”.
The damining report raises concerns about China’s “coercive” influence in UK universities and Beijing’s intention to become a “permanent and significant player” in the civil nuclear energy industry.
The ISC also warned that Beijing had been “buying up” control and influence in Britain – condemning successive governments for accepting Chinese money with “few questions asked”.
The dossier published on Thursday also said the UK is of “significant interest to China when it comes to espionage and interference” – placing Britain “just below China’s top priority targets” around the world.
It stated: “China’s state intelligence apparatus – almost certainly the largest in the world with hundreds of thousands of civil intelligence officers ... targets the UK and its interests prolifically and aggressively, and presents a challenge for our agencies to cover.”
Chaired by Tory MP Sir Julian Lewis, the committee scrutinises the work of the UK’s intelligence agencies including MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.
The report said the government’s approach for dealing with the threat posed by China is “completely inadequate” – with the nation “severely handicapped” by too much focus on short-term economics rather than long-term risks.
Ex-Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith – sanctioned by Beijing – told The Independent that the report was “absolutely damning” and described Sunak government policy as a “shambolic mess”.
Rishi Sunak under pressure to toughen stance on China— (PA Wire)
“It is one of the most damning reports of government security failings that I have read in the 30 years I have been here,” Sir Iain said. “The government has got to pay attention, because they are in a mess. Their China policy is a complete and shambolic mess.”
Senior Tory Bob Seely, a leading China hawk, told The Independent: “It basically substantiates everything China-sceptics have been saying. There is a battle of values in the 21st century, between open societies like our own and closed societies like China.”
Responding to the report, Mr Sunak insisted that his government was “not complacent” and would “continue adapting our approach and actions to meet the challenge that China presents”.
In a written statement the PM also said: “We are not complacent and we are keenly aware that there is more to do. Wherever China’s actions or intent threaten the national interest, we will continue to take swift action.”
But committee member Kevan Jones, a senior Labour MP, called it a “weak” response and said the written response not been shared with MPs – saying it “shows you, I think, the depth to which the government is trying to again undermine the committee”.
China has exited the Sizewell C nuclear plant project in Suffolk— (PA Archive)
The report raise particular concerns about Chinese influence in UK universities – saying the government has shown “very little interest” in warnings from academics, despite being “rich feeding ground” for Beijing.
It warned that China “exerts influence over institutions by leveraging fees and funding, over individual UK academics through inducements and intimidation, over Chinese students by monitoring and controlling, and over think thanks through coercion”.
The report also said it was “unacceptable” for the government to be considering any Chinese involvement in the UK’s civil nuclear industry. China General Nuclear last year exited the Sizewell C nuclear power plant project in Suffolk. But MPs said serious questions remain about future projects.
“The government would be naive to assume that allowing Chinese companies to exert influence over the UK’s civil nuclear and energy sectors is not ceding control to the Chinese Communist Party,” the report said.
The report also found that state-owned and non-state-owned companies – as well as academic, cultural establishments and ordinary Chinese citizens – are “co-opted” into espionage and interference operations.
The senior group of MPs said China experts had concluded “that the government has no strategy on China, let alone an effective one, and that it was singularly failing to deploy a ‘whole-of-government’ approach – a damning appraisal indeed”.
In evidence to MPs, MI5 director-general Ken McCallum said the challenge posed by China “absolutely raises huge questions for the future of the western alliance”. He said Beijing was “the central intelligence challenge for us across the next decade”.
Liz Truss has warned the Cold War with China has already begun— (PA Wire)
The Sunak government has characterised the growing influence of China as an “epoch-defining challenge” but some backbench China hawks – including former PM Liz Truss – have pushed for a much stronger stance to counter Beijing’s influence.
Mr Sunak said he “welcomed parliament’s scrutiny” and called the report “rightly challenging.” He said the government was “alive to the need to make effective use of the new legislation and powers” to meet the challenge that China presents.
But the PM also claimed that the bulk of the committee’s evidence was gathered before the government’s integrated review of 2021 and “refresh” of defence and security policy in 2023.
Sir Julian Lewis, the committee chair, insisted that the group of MPs had been “continually in dialogue” with various agencies and had received quarterly reports.
Mr Seely called for the government to publish and annual statement on our trade dependency on Beijing. “China is not going to go away. We need to not only understand the nature of the threat but also to act on it,” he said.
Sir Iain said: “We are becoming far too dependent on China economically, and therefore worried about upsetting them, such that the economics of the government trumps any security concerns. That is very dangerous.”
He added: “There has been no strategic thinking about the China threat and no application of alternatives or countermeasures to the China threat in a consistent manner.”
It comes as it also emerged that the UK sent nearly £50m to China in aid last year, as a watchdog complained of “insufficient transparency” in how money is spent.
But Sir Hugh Bayley, who led the Independent Commission for Aid Impact review, warned that while UK aid to China has fallen rapidly, taxpayers “are still not being told clearly how much aid will continue and what it will be spent on”.
