Britain has announced the removal of Chinese-made surveillance equipment from sensitive government sites as part of plans to address concerns they could be used for spying by China. The government told its departments last year to stop installing Chinese-linked CCTV cameras in sensitive buildings. In an announcement about a tightening of procurement rules, the Cabinet Office said: “We will also commit to publish a timeline for the removal of surveillance equipment produced by companies subject to China’s National Intelligence Law from sensitive central government sites.” The statement did not name…
Tag: Espionage
Erin O’Toole: China targeted me in election, says 2021 rival to Canada’s Trudeau
Canada’s spy agency told former Conservative party leader Erin O’Toole that China campaigned to discredit him and suppress votes ahead of the 2021 election he lost to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, O’Toole has said. In a briefing on Friday, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (Csis) informed O’Toole about intelligence saying Beijing had targeted him in 2021, when he was Conservative leader and running to defeat Trudeau. “The Csis briefing confirmed to me what I had long suspected – that my party, several of my parliamentary caucus members and myself were the…
GCHQ warns of fresh threat from Chinese state-sponsored hackers
The UK’s cybersecurity agency has urged operators of critical national infrastructure, including energy and telecommunications networks, to prevent Chinese state-sponsored hackers from hiding on their systems. The National Cyber Security Centre, part of GCHQ, issued the warning after it emerged that a Chinese hacking group known as Volt Typhoon had targeted a US military outpost in the Pacific Ocean. The so-called Five Eyes intelligence group – the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – issued a joint notice detailing the nature of the Volt Typhoon threat and how…
‘We in the west were blinded’: China crackdown on business has Maoist roots
To many western investors, China under president Xi Jinping is a tough nut to crack. While Chinese leaders insist that they welcome foreign investment, the ruling party’s extension of control to companies, with crackdowns on domestic tech giants and more recently the “anti-spying” raids on consulting firms, including America’s blue chip Bain & Company, are puzzling to the outside world. Chris Marquis, author and professor of Chinese management at the University of Cambridge, believes that part of the explanation lies in the ruling party’s ideology. He says one must “dig…
Canadian lawmaker says China targeted his family for harassment
A Canadian lawmaker has accused government officials of turning a blind eye to Chinese harassment of his family as pressure mounts on Justin Trudeau to launch a public inquiry into Beijing’s attempts to meddle in the country’s domestic politics. The Globe and Mail reported that China’s intelligence agency had sought information about Michael Chong’s family in Hong Kong “for further potential sanctions” over the Conservative MP’s criticism of Beijing’s human rights abuses. The paper also reported that Zhao Wei, a Chinese diplomat in Toronto, was part of the harassment campaign.…
China widens ‘already breathtaking’ scope to arrest foreigners for espionage
China has drastically broadened its anti-espionage laws in amendments that legal experts warn could further heighten risk to foreign individuals and organisations operating in the country. The amendments were passed by Beijing’s rubber-stamp parliament on Wednesday afternoon. The long-foreshadowed changes broaden the law’s scope to encompass anything deemed by authorities to cover national security, and expand the search and seizure powers of authorities, as well as the implementation of entry and exit bans on individuals. Wang Aili, director of the criminal law office of China’s legislative affairs committee, said the…
Surveillance fears as China resumes construction on fifth Antarctic base
China is increasing its Antarctic footprint according to new satellite imagery collected by a Washington-based thinktank that shows construction has resumed for the first time since 2018 on the country’s fifth station in the southern polar region. Beijing has sought to develop new shipping routes in the Arctic and expand its research in Antarctica, but western governments worry its increasing presence in the polar regions could provide the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) with better surveillance capabilities. The new station, on Inexpressible Island near the Ross Sea, is expected to include…
UK cyber security chief to warn of China’s rise as a technology superpower
China poses an “epoch-defining” challenge to the west, the head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is reportedlyto warn. Lindy Cameron, who is the director of the GCHQ arm, will use a speech in Belfast this week to warn the UK and allies of the “dramatic rise of China as a technology superpower”. The remarks, to be delivered this week at the CyberUK annual conference, come as the US, the UK and western nations attempt to navigate the growing economic and political reach of China amid concerns about the…
FBI arrests two New Yorkers accused of running covert Chinese police station
The FBI has arrested two men accused of running a covert station for China’s police force in New York, and using it as a base to track Chinese dissidents living in the US. The station, in Manhattan’s Chinatown, was allegedly set up in February 2022 and operated by Beijing’s ministry of public security (MPS) as part of a campaign of transnational repression against Chinese pro-democracy activists and other political opponents around the world. The justice department also announced charges on Monday against 40 MPS officers and four others for allegedly…
TikTok to be banned from UK parliamentary devices
Parliament is to ban the Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok from “all parliamentary devices and the wider parliamentary network”, citing the need for cybersecurity. The move goes further than the ban last week of the app on government mobile phones and devices, covering the whole parliamentary network. That means that MPs and parliamentary staff who continue to have TikTok installed on personal devices will find the service blocked if they try to access it over parliamentary wifi. A parliament spokesperson said on Thursday: “Following the government’s decision to ban TikTok from…