In a rare joint statement at the London headquarters of the British intelligence service on Wednesday (July 6), the leaders of MI5 and the Federal Bureau of Investigation cautioned about China's push into economic espionage in the West.
MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum and FBI Director Chris Wray said the threat from Chinese espionage is critical in both nations and only intensifies in their remarks to a group of government representatives and business executives in Thames House.
McCallum and Wray gave their first joint talk in front of a crowd that included government representatives and business leaders.
According to McCallum, MI5, the British domestic intelligence organization, has significantly increased the scope of its operations in China.
"Today we're running seven times as many investigations as we were in 2018," he said. "We plan to grow as much again, while also maintaining significant effort against Russian and Iranian covert threats."
Few of those targeted acknowledged they were being watched, he claimed, because Chinese intelligence develops sources and gains access to information slowly and patiently.
"Hostile activity is happening on U.K. soil right now," he said.
"By volume, most of what is at risk from Chinese Communist Party aggression is not, so to speak, my stuff. It's yours - the world-leading expertise, technology, research, and commercial advantage developed and held by people in this room, and others like you."
China's threat, according to Wray, poses a "complex, lasting, and pervasive concern" to the United States, the United Kingdom, and other allies.
China is "set on stealing your technology, whatever it is that makes your industry tick, and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market", he added.
A Chinese invasion of Taiwan, which Beijing regards as its own, would severely disrupt international trade and industry, the two also cautioned. They asked companies to be vigilant and report any threats.
"The Chinese Communist Party is interested in our democratic, media, and legal systems. Not to emulate them, sadly, but to use them for its gain," McCallum said.
Beijing denied the claims, calling them "completely groundless."
The Chinese embassy in Britain's spokesperson claimed in a statement that was published on the mission's website that the "so-called cases they listed are pure shadow chasing."
"They spread all kinds of lies about China in order to smear China's political system, stoke anti-China and exclusion sentiment, and divert public attention in order to cover up their own infamous deeds."
