British response to China threat ‘completely inadequate,’ damning report warns

LONDON — The British government has taken too long to act against Chinese interference, leading to a “serious failure” in its response and “one that the U.K. may feel the consequences of for years to come,” a cross-party committee of lawmakers warned Thursday.

In a long-awaited and damning report, the Intelligence and Security Committee — which oversees the work of the U.K.’s intelligence community — said the resources dedicated to tackling security threats posed by China are “completely inadequate.”

And it accused the British government of being too “slow” to develop policies to protect key U.K. assets from Chinese interference.

“We found that the level of resource dedicated to tackling the threat posed by China’s ‘whole-of-state’ approach has been completely inadequate, and the slow speed at which strategies and policies are developed and implemented leaves a lot to be desired,” the committee wrote.

That contradicts the government’s rosy self-assessment of its approach to China as “robust” and “clear-eyed.”

‘World power’

The 207-page report is the result of an inquiry launched by the ISC in 2019 to probe national security issues relating to China, including the controversial role of Huawei in British telecoms infrastructure.

In previous years, the British intelligence apparatus focused its efforts on terrorism, the ISC said, but in doing so failed to recognize that it had a responsibility for countering Chinese interference activity in Britain.

Short-termism still dominates the government’s thinking, the committee warned, as it urged ministers to think longer-term when developing security policy.

ISC Chairman Julian Lewis warned China “represents a risk on a pretty wide scale” for Britain, as Beijing “is increasingly thinking of a future in which it could be the world power.”

The report argues that Beijing’s ambition to become a technological and economic superpower, on which other countries are reliant, represents the greatest risk to the U.K.

Beijing, it says, seeks to influence elites and decision-makers, to acquire information and intellectual property (IP) using “covert and overt methods,” in a bid to “gain technological supremacy.”

‘Unacceptable’

The ISC accuses the government of putting the economy over national security by welcoming Chinese investment in British tech.

It singles out the U.K.’s business department, arguing it would be “unacceptable” for ministers to accept Chinese involvement in British critical national infrastructure, including the U.K.’s civil nuclear sector.

China has also stepped up its espionage efforts in Britain, the committee said, with civil intelligence officers “prolifically and aggressively” collecting human intelligence, and carrying out “highly capable and increasingly sophisticated” cyber-espionage.

China’s economic might, takeovers and mergers, and its links with British academia and industry have allowed Beijing to extend its reach into every sector of the U.K.’s economy, the report says.

It warns that China has been particularly effective at using its money and influence to “penetrate or buy academia” in a bid to “ensure its international narrative is advanced and criticism suppressed.”

Warnings over Chinese influence in the U.K. academia are not new, but the ISC says British academic institutions “provide a rich feeding ground for China to achieve political influence in the UK and economic advantage over the UK.”

The committee sent its report to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on May 15 and he replied about a month later — leading to accusations that the government has sat on the findings. Sunak is expected to issue a written ministerial statement on the report later today.

Speaking at the launch of the report in London, Lewis conceded “there is now some movement and the security aspects appear to be beginning to be taken more seriously,” by the government.

He pointed to recent legislation giving ministers the power to block investment decisions on national security grounds. But he said ministers have “failed to put in place independent oversight of those decisions.”