MI6 Chief, in a rare live broadcast interview with BBC, spoke on various matters concerning Chinese debt and data traps, the fall of Afghanistan, the Russia-Ukraine crisis and the need for MI6 to maintain a public face.
China’ Debt And Data Trap Policy
Richard Moore, also known as “C”, talked about China’s policy of holding nations and people accountable through their Debt and Data Policy. He warned about China’s method of using money as leverage, “to get people on the hook”. He spoke about Chinese economic policies which were made to influence and leverage people and organizations. He spoke of how China had provided loans and eventually taken control of ports which had the capability to be turned into Naval stations. The statement was a clear indication of the recent development in Uganda, where China’s EXIM (Export-Import) Bank took control of the country’s only international airport, Entebbe International Airport.
Speaking further about China’s data traps, he said, “If you allow another country to gain access to really critical data about your society, over time that will erode your sovereignty, you no longer have control over that data. “That’s something which, I think, in the UK we are very alive to and we’ve taken measures to defend against.” He said that in the 21st century, it was really important to keep up with the new technology, for those who commanded key technologies had significant advantage. The west needed to keep up
When asked about Chinese President, Xi Jinping’s ambitions, Richard Moore said that China had certain expectations and role in the international community but also pointed out that China was controlled by an authotarian regime and hence, Britain needed to be robust in fighting their corner.
Russia-Ukraine Crisis
Mr Moore was further asked about the crisis between Russia and Ukraine, where he went on to call the issue of Ukraine as a chronic problem as Russian President, Vladmir Putin has failed to recognize Ukraine as an independent country. He said that the situation needed ‘careful watching’ and ‘careful signalling’ warning Russia of repercussions in case of an intervention. Moore said that the UK’s Integrated Review on National Security Policy described Russia as an “acute threat”.
Fall of Afghanistan – An Intelligence Failure?
The former ambassador spoke of how the assessment regarding the fall of Kabul was wrong as they never predicted the outcome. But, he also went on to say that “Frankly, if we had recruited every member of the Taliban Shura, you know, the leadership group of the Taliban, [if] we recruited every one of them as a secret agent, we still wouldn’t have predicted the fall of Kabul because the Taliban didn’t.”
Calling the victory of Taliban as a “rallying cry for extremists” and for those “sitting in capitals of Beijing, Tehran and Moscow”, Moore spoke about the threat of Al-Qaeda being able to build back their terrorist infrastructure and how they were taking the necessary steps to not let that happen.
MI6 – A Public face
Moore also spoke about how MI6 chiefs used to avoid the spotlight before, only to be known by a select few. But Moore, who is even active on Twitter spoke about public support and the need to use the publicity to help recruit the best staff to their ranks and gain the support of businesses and others to help in their mission.
