Chinese intelligence 'prolifically and aggressively' targets UK, watchdog finds

Successive governments have failed to grasp and respond to the scale of the threat posed by China, Parliament's spy agency watchdog said, as it warned that Chinese intelligence targets the UK "prolifically and aggressively".

A new report by the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC), which is appointed to oversee the work of the UK intelligence community, is critical of the government's response to the threat posed by China, questioning the trade-off between economic interest and security concerns.

It is also critical of Chinese influence in UK universities and the country's intention to become a "permanent and significant player" in the civil nuclear energy industry.

But when asked if the UK is too late to respond to the threats from China, security minister Tom Tugendhat said "we have woken up in time".

The report, published on Thursday, said the UK is of "significant interest to China when it comes to espionage and interference", placing the country "just below China's top priority targets".

It said: "China's state intelligence apparatus - almost certainly the largest in the world with hundreds of thousands of civil intelligence officers.... targets the UK and its interests prolifically and aggressively, and presents a challenge for our Agencies to cover."

MPs said the 200-page report should be a "wake-up" call for ministers, as the ISC warned that Chinese targeting of industry and technology could pose an "existential threat to liberal democratic systems".

Chaired by Conservative MP Sir Julian Lewis, the nine-member committee scrutinises the work of the UK's intelligence agencies including MI5, MI6 and GCHQ.

Its reports are seen by the Prime Minister before release, with the latest report coming amid ongoing tensions between the West and the rising Asian power.

The Government has characterised the growing influence of China as an "epoch-defining challenge" but MPs urged ministers and officials to consider more deeply the type of security threat it poses.

Security Minister Tom Tugendhat insists the UK has 'woken up in time' to threats posed by China, as outlined in a report by the parliamentary spy watchdog

The ISC report said the UK's resources are "completely inadequate" when it came to tackling what committee members labelled China's "whole-of-state" approach to espionage and interference overseas.

It warned of a danger of short-term thinking and a lack of long-term planning to counter the threat posed by China.

"The UK is now playing catch-up and the whole of Government has its work cut out to understand and counter the threat from China," the report said.

"The UK is severely handicapped by the short-termist approach currently being taken."

Mr Tugendhat said that the new national security act, which just gained royal assent this week, had a "huge numbers of powers, many of them address some of the concerns the committee raises".

The security minister, who was a vocal critic of China when a backbencher, said: "This Government has taken state threats and indeed the challenge of China more seriously than any of its predecessors. It is quite clear that the Prime Minister takes it seriously and so does the deputy prime minister."

He said that the Government was taking action, but he was "keenly aware there is more to do".

"This is a serious, systemic challenge. This is an issue the integrated review, that the prime minister refreshed only a few months ago, raises a very serious concern for us all.

"That is why this Government is taking it so seriously."

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