Britain will undertake a security review in the wake of the incursion of Chinese spy balloons into Western airspace, the Defence Secretary has said.
Ben Wallace will work with the US and other close partners to analyse intelligence and assess the dangers posed by the balloons.
The review will be used to help decide whether any changes need to be made to the surveillance of British airspace. MPs have warned that balloons may have already crossed over the UK, a possibility the Ministry of Defence has refused to rule out.
It comes amid increasing fears over the threat from China as the US on Sunday night shot down a fourth suspected spy balloon in just over a week.
On Sunday night, Mr Wallace said: “The UK and her allies will review what these airspace intrusions mean for our security. This development is another sign of how the global threat picture is changing for the worse.”
Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, is under mounting pressure to take a harder line on China. On Friday, Liz Truss is set to warn of the threat from Beijing in her first public speech since quitting Downing Street.
Last week, the White House said Chinese balloons had been spotted over five continents – but did not reveal where.
The first balloon was spotted floating over military installations in North Carolina, and shot down last Saturday. A smaller balloon was shot down over Alaska on Friday, followed by another one on Saturday over the Canadian province of Yukon.
On Sunday, the US military said it had downed another unidentified object flying over Lake Huron, which divides the US state of Michigan and the Canadian province of Ontario.
China claimed it was preparing to shoot down an object near its coast, but gave no further information.
Mr Wallace has previously said that if one of the balloons was sighted over the UK, he would shoot it down.
Alicia Kearns, who chairs the Commons foreign affairs select committee, said: “British airspace is protected by an exceptional quick reaction force, which has proved itself very capable against unknown and hostile aircraft.
“The US will share with us and Five Eyes allies its conclusions on the capabilities of the Chinese balloons, and at that point an internal review of our ability to identify, track, disrupt and destroy these balloons will be undertaken.”
The spy balloons are the latest development in the UK’s increasingly fractious relationship with China.
Two years ago, Britain ordered 5G mobile networks to eliminate technology from the Chinese firm Huawei over security concerns, and there are claims that the country’s Confucius Institutes are being used to spread Communist Party propaganda and spy on students in British universities.
Last year, government departments were banned from installing Chinese CCTV equipment at “sensitive sites” due to national security concerns. It came after a Hikvision camera caught then-Health Minister Matt Hancock embracing his lover in his office.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith, the former Tory leader, urged the government to stop “kowtowing” to Beijing, citing as an example the Foreign Office inviting the governor of Xinjiang province for a meeting even though he has been accused of human rights abuses against Uiygurs.
Sir Iain will take part in a protest outside the Foreign Office on Monday and has backed calls for Erkin Tuniyaz to be arrested if he sets foot in the country.
He urged the government to “come clean” over whether spy balloons have been spotted over the UK, adding: “China looks at us and sees we are weak. It is ludicrous for Rishi Sunak to say when he is standing for the leadership that he wants to characterise China as a strategic threat, but then say it is just a strategic challenge.”
Tobias Ellwood, the chairman of the Commons defence select committee, said that if Parliament was sitting he would be raising a question on whether the balloons had been seen above the UK.
He said: “I want to know – if this is what China is doing, what is our response? This is intrusion and intelligence-gathering. There are some big questions to be asked across Nato. I would encourage the Government to provide assurances that our skies are patrolled and that there is no infiltration at high altitude.”
Mr Ellwood also called on Jeremy Hunt, the Chancellor, to increase defence spending in next month’s Budget amid claims Mr Wallace is asking for at least £10 billion more.
He said: “The defence committee warned a year ago that our armed forces were now too small to meet our security obligations, given the growing threats on the horizon.
“We’ve consistently called for an increase in defence spending but instead we’ve witnessed scything cuts to our sea, land and air assets.
“When the US military says we no longer have a tier one army and Germany raises concerns about us meeting our Nato obligations, it’s time to stop being in denial. As the world becomes more dangerous we need to spend more on defence.”
