Beijing’s threats must be firmly challenged

China’s involvement in state-sponsored cyber espionage is hardly a revelation. Only a few months ago, Ken McCallum, the director general of MI5, said Beijing was engaged in spying “on an epic scale” and the FBI has more than 2,000 current investigations into Chinese snooping. 

The Chinese Communist Party’s tentacles are everywhere, seeking to siphon up cutting-edge technology and interfering in the democratic political processes of dozens of countries. Here, the personal details of millions of voters were accessed through a cyber attack on the Electoral Commission in August 2021, now confirmed as of Chinese origin.

In the Commons, deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden said a second attack on British parliamentarians has also been identified in what he called “the latest in a clear and consistent pattern of hostile activity”.

Since all this has been known for some time, why have Western countries collectively decided only now to call Beijing out? More to the point, having done so, what do they intend to do about it?

Mr Dowden said that while the attacks had not affected the democratic process, the Government nonetheless proposed to impose sanctions against two Chinese individuals and an entity alleged to be involved in the espionage. The Chinese ambassador was summoned to the Foreign Office for an explanation. 

For all the outrage, this response is surprisingly mild. One reason for this circumspection is that however insidious the activities of the Chinese state, its economy is deeply intertwined with our own.

It is the biggest importer to the UK and it was reported at the weekend that EVE Energy, a Chinese manufacturer of electric vehicle batteries, is in talks to invest more than £1 billion to build a giant new factory on the outskirts of Coventry, creating 6,000 jobs. 

China is now one of the world’s leading suppliers of electric vehicles, all fitted with “smart” data-collecting technology. A single compromised device somewhere in the wider network could be used for cyber attacks.

Policymakers here are in a bind: we do not have the clout of the Americans to engage in an all-out trade war, yet cannot let the Chinese get away with a flagrant disregard for the norms of international relations. However, Beijing is unlikely to be cowed by this modest response.

We need to make sure that whatever China – or anyone else – tries, our data systems are resilient enough to see off the threat.