PM says UK approach to China 'more robust' than allies, as senior Chinese diplomat summoned
Rishi Sunak says the UK's approach to China is "more robust" than most of its allies after questions about their relationship emerged following reports of two cyber attacks.
It was revealed on Monday that China was responsible for cyber attacks on UK democracy, after spies hacked the elections watchdog and the email accounts of MPs and peers.
In response to a grilling by MPs at the Liaison Committee, Mr Sunak said: “I am entirely confident that our approach to dealing with the risk that China poses is very much in line with our allies and in most cases goes further in protecting ourselves.”
He also rejected the suggestion from Business and Trade Committee chairman Liam Byrne that where allies acted on China, the UK was merely “thinking about it”.
Mr Byrne referenced the US House of Representatives passing legislation to ban TikTok unless its Chinese Bytedance owner sells the platform.
The PM pointed to European countries not removing Huawei equipment from their telecommunications networks, not placing similar restrictions on exports of sensitive technology to China and said the UK’s foreign investment regime was the most recently implemented and therefore the most robust, among other examples.
China's charge d'affaires was also summoned to the Foreign Office on Tuesday, and was told the UK will not tolerate “threatening” cyber attacks.
A spokesperson for the department said: “Today, on instruction from the Foreign Secretary, the Charge d’Affaires of the Chinese embassy in London was summoned to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
“The FCDO set out the Government’s unequivocal condemnation of Chinese state-affiliated organisations and individuals undertaking malicious cyber activity against UK democratic institutions and parliamentarians.
“The UK Government would not tolerate such threatening activity, and would continue to take strong action with partners across the globe to respond.
“The summons followed yesterday’s announcement in Parliament by the Deputy Prime Minister (Oliver Dowden) that the UK had imposed tough, targeted sanctions on a front company and two individuals involved in China’s malicious cyber activity targeting officials, Government entities, and parliamentarians around the world.”
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Downing Street said UK has its “eyes wide open” when it comes to China’s increasing authoritarianism.
Cabinet minister Gillian Keegan said on Tuesday China is a "security threat" to the UK.
Asked whether she was “comfortable with unequivocally saying China is a threat”, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan told Times Radio: “As I’ve said before, I’m not in the Diplomatic Service or the Foreign Office but it is obviously a security threat."
On Monday, the UK publicly blamed Beijing for the cyber attacks on voters, peers and MPs, sanctioning a front company and two individuals involved in the state affiliated APT31 hacking group.
Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron said the actions were “completely unacceptable” and he had raised the issue with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.
"We will always defend ourselves from those who seek to threaten the freedoms that underpin our values and democracy," he added.
"One of the reasons that it is important to make this statement is that other countries should see the detail of threats that our systems and democracies face."
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