The FBI director and MI5 director General first time shared a stage in London to alert the world about Chinese economic espionage on Wednesday. They warned business leaders that Beijing is trying to steal their technology for its competitive advantage.
In the joint presser alongside MI5 director-general, Ken McCallum at MI5 London headquarters, Christopher Wray, the FBI director reiterated the old concern of hacking and economic espionage and crushed dissent on foreign land.
FBI Chief Wray told China is the biggest economic and security challenge for Europe. He said that the “Chinese government that poses the biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security, and by ‘our’, I mean both of our nations, along with our allies in Europe and elsewhere,” AP reported.
He further said that China is on the way to steel your technology that makes your industry downgraded and “using it to undercut your business and dominate your market”.
MI5 Chief McCallum revealed that Uk’s domestic intelligence agency was running seven times as many operations over the four years to tackle the widespread Chinese interference in many aspects of our national life.
McCallum said that it is the first time that the Chief of MI5 and FBI shared a public platform. He added that We are doing this to send a clear message to the world that we have a massive common challenge and that is China.
McCallum also states that this time it might seem abstract but it is a real and pressing situation. We should talk about this and take action.
However, a Chinese embassy Spokesperson, Liu Pengyu in Washington dismissed all the allegations in an emailed statement. Statement reds that We “firmly oppose and combats all forms of cyber attacks,” and “We will never encourage, support or condone cyber attacks,” Associated Press reported.
Therefore, MI5 Chief recalled to the audience the interference alert issued earlier to parliament by MI5. In this case, an individual who had extensive links with the UK parliament and had connected with the United Front Work Department (UFWD) of the Chinese Communist Party.
