UK Spy Chief Warns China’s Use Of Technology As A Threat To Global Security

China is looking forward to utilizing technological assets like digital currencies and satellite systems to quell anti-regime activities at home and rise above the other big nations outside, according to a top United Kingdom spy chief.

According to Jeremy Fleming, head of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), U.K.’s electronic spy agency, China perceives technology as a “tool to gain advantage through control of their markets, of those in their sphere of influence and of their own citizens”. He will also comment on China’s plans to use its financial and scientific departments to manipulate technologies strategically that shape the global tech ecosystem. “CCP’s actions “represent a huge threat to us all.”

The GCHQ director will speak at an annual Security lecture at the Royal United Services Institute for Defence and Security Studies. GCHQ is an intelligence, cyber and security agency that works closely with MI5, the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), the military and international partners to counter threats from criminal groups and terrorists.

In the lecture, Fleming will emphasize several technologies as instances in which China is attempting to take leverage at home and abroad. Advanced technologies like digital currencies in the central bank can allow China to monitor the transactions of users.

China, a threat to all

“Great strength combined with fear is driving China into actions that could represent a huge threat to us all,” the intelligence chief will say. Highlighting China’s agenda centering around strategically crucial technologies, Fleming will say, “the future will be decided by how governments respond to China and the scientific and technological community in democratic countries will need to rise to the challenge.”

He will warn the Chinese state is “learning the lessons” from the Russia-Ukraine war and in this case, a centralized digital currency can “enable China to partially evade the sort of international sanctions currently being applied to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime in Russia”.

He will also highlight the BeiDou satellite system, which the CCP has “used every lever to force Chinese citizens and businesses to adopt” and export around the world.

Claims of China building capabilities

“Many believe that China is building a powerful anti-satellite capability, with a doctrine of denying other nations access to space in the event of a conflict. And there are fears the technology could be used to track individuals,” he will comment.

He will also claim that China’s construction of smart cities throughout the globe would have the ability to export surveillance and data if the incorrect technology is used.

The paradoxical fact that Beijing’s “great might coupled with fear is propelling China into measures that potentially constitute a big threat to us all” will be brought out by Fleming.

He will assert that the scientific and technology communities in like-minded nations must take action to address the “sliding doors moment in history” that the globe is presently experiencing and that “will define our destiny.”

According to the speech excerpts, China has also proposed new international standards for the internet that could endanger digital freedom and strengthen state control, endangering human rights “through the adoption of new tracking tools.”

China has refuted claims that it violates human rights or tries to exert pressure on other countries and accused the United States, Britain, and their allies of seeking to thwart China’s rise to global power.