Britain must “wake up” to the challenges China presents to global security, a former head of MI6 has said, as questions have been raised over the UK’s ability to respond to threats. Alex Younger, who led Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service from 2014 to 2020, said that “trust is plummeting to zero” between Washington and Beijing.
Britain is reviewing its own security measures after the US shot down four flying objects, including a suspected Chinese spy balloon, during the past week. Sir Alex claimed that the UK is “in a competition” with China and that “we need to wake up to this”. “This is a gross and really visible transgression of the sovereignty of many nations,” he said of the alleged spy balloons.
On Tuesday morning, Lord Darroch, a former British ambassador to the US, questioned whether the UK had a “watertight capability” to deal with such spying, claiming there had been “underinvestment” in defence.
But the former national security adviser said people could “sleep easy in their beds”, and that such surveillance techniques had been “going on for years” and “we shouldn’t be panicking about it”.
“It’s still, I think, unless we discover something new, it’s still well-known technology,” he told Times Radio. “It’s still basically surveillance, still basically spying, and the reality is an awful lot of that goes on everywhere.”
Rishi Sunak has said he would “do whatever it takes to keep the country safe”, telling reporters on Monday that there is “24/7 readiness to police our airspace”. “People should be reassured that we have all the capabilities in place to keep the country safe,” the prime minister said.
His comments came after transport minister Richard Holden said it was “possible” Beijing had already targeted Britain with balloon spyware.
Nato defence ministers, including defence secretary Ben Wallace, are set to meet in Brussels on Tuesday and Wednesday, where they will discuss the issue of spy balloons.
On 4 February, the US military downed a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the South Carolina coast after it had travelled over sensitive military sites across North America. Almost a week later, they shot down an unknown “car-sized” object flying in US airspace off the coast of Alaska.
On Saturday, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau ordered a US warplane to shoot down an unidentified object that was flying over northern Canada. On Sunday, a further unidentified object was shot down with a missile by US fighter jets over Lake Huron.
US officials said they still know little about the three objects downed since Friday, but the White House has ruled out “extraterrestrial activity” following wild speculation about their origins.
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.”
Meanwhile, home secretary Suella Braverman has told police forces to be careful about using Chinese surveillance technology. Two-thirds of drones used by UK police are made by a Chinese firm blacklisted in the US, and a Home Office source told The Daily Telegraph that Ms Braverman has “concerns” about their use.
