The news that a parliamentary researcher was arrested earlier this year on suspicion of spying for China has inevitably brought a flurry of attention to Beijing’s espionage operations. No charges have yet been brought, six months after the arrest under the Official Secrets Act, and the man involved insists that he is innocent. Countries spy on each other – be they allies, foes or somewhere in between. But whatever the truth of this case, there are reasons to be particularly concerned about Chinese intelligence efforts and Britain’s response.
One is simply that China is increasingly powerful, forceful and hostile to the west, and more repressive at home. Its nationalism is likely to intensify as its economy struggles. Another is its broad-brush approach. It seeks economic and technological advantage as well as traditional intelligence by a wide variety of means. As this year’s intelligence and security committee report on China noted, its “whole‑of-state” approach means that businesses, academic institutions and ordinary citizens are liable to be co-opted, willingly or not. A third is that governments are concerned about Beijing’s other covert operations. Canada has just ordered a public inquiry into alleged election interference by both China and Russia. Beijing may also be learning from Moscow. It has moved beyond covertly promoting its own position on issues via social media to, reportedly, spreading more general disinformation designed to sow distrust within the United States. Researchers say that the Chinese state was behind posts falsely claiming that Hawaii’s wildfires were caused by a “weather weapon” being tested by the US.
