MI5 Head Warns of 'Epic Scale' of Chinese Espionage

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Facts

  • British intelligence agency MI5 has warned that China has increased its espionage network in the UK, stating that more than 20K people in the country have been covertly approached online by Chinese spies on websites such as LinkedIn.1
  • The British intelligence chief spoke at an event hosted by the FBI in California, alongside other chiefs from the 'Five Eyes' group — the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.2
  • Security heads of the 'Five Eyes' intelligence alliance have issued a warning to tens of thousands of British businesses concerning the risk of having their industrial secrets stolen, saying that advanced research is being targeted.3
  • MI5 chief Ken McCallum said that industrial espionage was happening at a “real scale” and that as many as 10K UK businesses were at risk, particularly in fields where China is trying to gain an advantage, including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and synthetic biology.4
  • Last year, MI5 dealt with over 20 cases of Chinese companies trying to access to sensitive technology developed by UK companies and universities. McCallum has further warned that the theft of research in cutting-edge fields, such as AI, could lead to authoritarian states utilizing technologies to interfere with western politics.5
  • FBI Director Chris Wray said at the same event that 'China has made economic espionage and stealing others' work and ideas a central component of its national strategy,' commenting there are currently more than 2K active FBI investigations linked to China. Wray also described the threat of Chinese espionage as 'existential.'5

Sources: 1The Times of India, 2Independent, 3Ground News, 4The Guardian and 5BBC News.

Narratives

  • Narrative A, as provided by BBC News. While all nations engage in espionage, China does so on an unprecedented scale. Beijing needs to stop stealing industry secrets from foreign companies and research universities, and instead focus on its own innovation. The threat of Chinese espionage is rising and its consequences are becoming more dangerous.
  • Narrative B, as provided by The Economist. While many global politicians and security experts have warned of the threat of Chinese espionage, the reality is that Chinese spies are not as effective as they think that they are. China’s focus on defense and technological and corporate secrets comes at the expense of insight into decision-making in foreign capitals. The country has focused too much on the wrong things and is far behind in spy tradecraft, recruitment, and foreign assets. Chinese espionage is not as advanced as some experts have warned.

Predictions