Rishi Sunak has said China presents an “epoch-defining challenge” after Beijing was accused of cyberattacks in the UK.
The prime minister reiterated the government’s position on China while visiting an engineering firm in Barrow where he unveiled a £200m package of investment to secure the future of the UK’s nuclear industry and boost jobs.
“We’ve been very clear that the situation now is that China is behaving in an increasingly assertive way abroad, authoritarian at home and it represents an epoch-defining challenge, and also the greatest state-based threat to our economic security,” he said.
“So, it’s right that we take measures to protect ourselves, which is what we are doing.”
Oliver Dowden is expected to announce sanctions on individuals linked to China after Beijing was accused of carrying out “malign” cyberattacks on UK democracy.
The deputy prime minister will tell parliament that China is behind a wave of cyberattacks on the Electoral Commission as well as against 43 MPs and peers, in a major hack that is reported to have begun in August 2021 but was not identified until October 2022.
Watch: Grant Shapps and Oliver Dowden address alleged China cybersecurity threat
Half of 2019 Tory voters won’t back party in next election – poll
More than half of 2019 Conservative voters won’t back the party again at the next general election, according to a poll.
The Helm/Detapoll Monitor survey found 49 per cent of the cohort plan to stick with the party at the next national vote, which must take place by January 2025.
It is a 5 per cent drop since the Budget and the lowest level of support ever recorded by the firm.
No 10: UK worked ‘closely’ with allies to identify Electoral Commission attack
The UK has worked “closely” with its allies to identify the state behind a 2021 cyber attack on the Electoral Commission, Downing Street has said.
Asked about the length of time between the attack, which came to light in 2022, and the announcement expected later today, the prime minister’s official spokesman said: “The investigation) was obviously complex and sensitive and we have been working closely with international partners over a period of time to identify those responsible and hold them to account.”
IDS: China must be classified as a ‘threat’ not ‘challenge’
Former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith urged the government to take tougher action against China.
He said: “We must now enter a new era of relations with China, dealing with the contemporary Chinese Communist Party as it really is, not as we would wish it to be.
“Today’s announcement should mark a watershed moment where the UK takes a stand for values of human rights and the international rules-based system on which we all depend.”
He called for China to be labelled as a “threat” by the government, rather than an “epoch-defining systemic challenge”.
China should also be in the “enhanced” tier under the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, sanctions should be imposed on those responsible for human rights abuses in China, and support should be given to MPs and others targeted by Beijing in the UK, Sir Iain added.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith: We won’t be bullied into silence by Beijing
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, a prominent critic of the Chinese government, said MPs would not be “bullied into silence by Beijing”.
He told a press conference in Westminster: “We have been subjected to harassment, impersonation and attempted hacking from China for some time.”
While that was “extremely unwelcome”, Sir Iain said “our discomfort pales in comparison to Chinese dissidents who risk their lives to oppose the Chinese Communist Party”.
UK’s eyes ‘wide open’ to China threat – No 10
The UK has its “eyes wide open when it comes to China”, Downing Street has said as the government is expected to blame Beijing for cyber attacks on the Electoral Commission and parliamentarians.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “We have our eyes wide open when it comes to China.
“The Integrated Review Refresh set out that the UK regards China under the Chinese Communist Party as an epoch-defining challenge and as the biggest state-based threat to our economic security.”
He added: “In relation to specific examples, we’ve used our new national security investment powers to block investment from China into sensitive technology sectors like semiconductors.
“Our National Security Act and others means we can take any steps that we need to, for example removing Huawei from our telecoms network.”
Foreign affairs committee MP says UK/China relationship is ‘still too one-sided’
Conservative MP Bob Seely has criticised the government’s policy on China and called for a “more robust and consistent” approach, Zoe Grunewald reports.
Posting on social media site X, Mr Seely said the Electoral Commission hack is “more evidence today, on top of all the wealth of evidence, that we need a robust and consistent approach to China”.
He added: “China’s community leaders seek to dominate the West, not live on harmony with it. They make no secret of it. Freedom anywhere is a threat to dictators everywhere.
“We need to engage with #China, but let’s do so whilst doing more to protect our interests. The relationship is still too one-sided.”
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ICYMI: Kate Middleton conspiracy theories ‘fuelled by China, Russia and Iran’ after cancer diagnosis
The government is reportedly concerned that Britain’s adversaries are deliberately fuelling disinformation about the Princess of Wales to “destabilise the nation”.
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Senior Tory MP: ‘We cannot be naive on China’
Senior Conservative MP Henry Smith, a member of the Inter Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), told The Independent the government should not be “naive” and should recognise China is a “threat”, Archie Mitchell reports.
Responding to the news of China’s hacks targeting British MPs and the electoral system, he said it was “no surprise, sadly”.
Mr Smith added: “I think we need to get a lot more serious when it comes to China. We have this dichotomy of them being a huge part of global markets, and they can’t be ignored, but at the same time, the way they don’t play by the international rules based system is something we need to get real about and take defensive measures against quite frankly.
“Whether it’s hacking MPs in the UK, whether it’s abusing the Uyghurs or democracy campaigners in Hong Kong, or threatening Taiwan, we need a much more robust response.”
Mr Smith said: “Clearly they are a threat by their actions, what more do they need to be doing before people acknowledge that?
“Now, it’s difficult because they’re a key part of the global economy, but I take the view of Anthony Blinken and the US administration on that, of not being naive in terms of our relationship with China, both in terms of being a trading partner but also the threat that they pose to the international world order and democratic values.”
