They accused Beijing of waging a massive, covert financial and political offensive that is looting advanced technology worth billions of pounds, trying to influence elections and infiltrating academia. Ken McCallum, director general of MI5, said that while the US and UK were “pushing every pressure to support Ukraine to resist the appalling aggression”, another major threat loomed. “The most game-changing challenge we face comes from an increasingly authoritarian Chinese Communist Party. He is secretly putting pressure on the whole world… We need to talk about it. We have to act,” he said. Mr McCallum revealed that his agency has had to double down on operations investigating China’s illegal activities as it faces threats from the Kremlin and from Islamist and far-right terrorism. “Today we conduct seven times more searches than in 2018. We plan to increase the same again,” he said. Speaking alongside FBI director Christopher Wray, Mr McCallum also revealed that 50 Chinese students linked to the country’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) had been forced to leave Britain over the past three years as they were suspected of taking advantage of the “investigation ” to get a “peak”. national security advantage’. He continued: “The CCP (Chinese Communist Party) does not just use intelligence officers posing as diplomats. Insider information is collected through multiple channels, in what is sometimes referred to as a “thousand grains of sand” strategy. He referred to an “Interference Alert” earlier this year warning that an alleged Chinese agent had infiltrated parliament to interfere in the political system. The agency said Christine Ching Kui Lee, who ran a law firm, had “established links” for the CCP with current and aspiring MPs. Mr McCallum said the United Front Work Department (UFWD) – part of the CCP and once described by Mao Zedong as a “magic weapon” – had been running “patient, well-funded, deceptive campaigns to buy and exercise influence … aimed at amplifying pro-CCP voices and silencing those who question the legitimacy or authority of the CCP.” Giving an example of people being targeted, Mr McCallum told of a British aviation expert who had been approached online and offered an attractive job opportunity. The man traveled to China twice to be “wined and dined” before being asked for technical information on military aircraft by a company that was actually a front for Chinese intelligence officers. “That’s where we came in,” Mr McCallum said. Mr Wray said China had “calculated for too long that it would be everyone’s second highest priority”, adding: “They are no longer flying under the radar”. He described the challenge from Beijing as “enormous” and “breathtaking”. China’s military threat, he said, could lead to a global trade collapse. “There has been a lot of talk about the possibility of China trying to take over Taiwan by force,” he said. “If that were to happen, it would represent one of the most horrific business disruptions the world has ever seen.” Beijing is drawing “all kinds of lessons” from Russia’s war in Ukraine, he said, including trying to insulate itself from the effects of any future sanctions. “I have no reason to believe that their interest in Taiwan has waned in any way,” Mr Wray stressed. There is also massive covert aggression, Mr Wray said, from “a richly supported hacking program that is larger than that of all major countries combined”, adding: “The Chinese government sees cyberspace as the pathway for deception and theft on a massive scale. scale. “ While Russia has been accused of meddling in the US election to ensure Donald Trump’s victory, US intelligence agencies have also said that China has also been actively involved in political interference. Mr Wray described how Beijing had directly intervened in a congressional election in New York this spring because they did not want a former Tiananmen Square protester to be elected. The regime hired a private investigator to uncover derogatory information about the candidate and, unable to find anything, attempts were made to manufacture a controversy by using a sex worker, even hints of physical assault by staging a car accident.
