Ministry of Foreign Affairs summons senior Chinese diplomat over ‘malicious cyber activities’ | Cyber war
Ministers summoned a senior Chinese diplomat to the Foreign Office on Tuesday after accusing Beijing-backed hackers of a cyber attack on Britain’s election watchdog and a political surveillance operation.
The department summoned China’s chargé d’affaires and told him the UK would not tolerate “menacing” cyber attacks.
An FCDO spokesman said the ministry “expressed the government’s unequivocal condemnation of Chinese state-linked organizations and individuals engaging in malicious cyber activity against British democratic institutions and parliamentarians.”
“The UK Government will not tolerate such dangerous activity and will continue to take decisive action with partners around the world to respond,” they said.
The call came after Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden announced sanctions on Monday against a company and two people accused of involvement in China’s malicious cyber activities.
However, ministers faced criticism from Tory MPs, including former immigration minister Robert Jenrick and foreign affairs select committee chair Alicia Kearns, who described the government’s actions as “weak” and “insufficient”.
Rishi Sunak has defended his approach to China, maintaining that the UK is “undoubtedly more robust than most of our allies”. MPs on the liaison committee criticized him for the government’s reluctance to take action against Chinese-owned companies such as ByteDance, the owner of TikTok.
The Prime Minister told MPs that the UK has introduced stronger controls on the export of sensitive technologies and a stricter foreign investment program than other countries. “When it comes to trade, we are already less dependent on China than Australia, Korea, Japan, the United States, Germany and many other countries,” he said.
“I have full confidence that our approach to dealing with the risks posed by China is largely consistent with that of our allies and, in most cases, goes further in protecting ourselves.”
Sunak also cited the government’s decision to remove Huawei equipment from British telecommunications networks, which Boris Johnson made in 2020 after a major rebellion by Tory supporters.
Dowden indicated on Tuesday that the government was preparing to place China on a higher tier of the government’s new foreign influence registration program. It would require organizations or individuals to register with the government if they conduct advocacy or canvassing activities on behalf of Beijing.
The prime minister’s spokesman said the program was “being finalized and no countries have been identified yet.”
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On Monday, Dowden told MPs that ministers “will be in the process of reaching a collective agreement” on the issue and that “the procedure I have outlined today will have a very large impact on the decision we make on this matter.”
Ministers are also under pressure to formally recognize China as a threat to Britain’s security in the Integrated Government Review, which sets out the country’s foreign, defense and security policy. He now calls China an “era-defining challenge.”
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan told Times Radio that China “clearly poses a security threat.”
There are differing views within the government on a decisive approach to China, which is one of the UK’s largest trading partners.
The sanctions announced on Monday were part of a joint effort by Britain and its allies to expose the scale of China’s cyber espionage activities, in which the United States has charged seven alleged Chinese hackers.