Ministers are considering blocking British investors from funding emerging technologies in hostile countries if they believe the technology could pose a threat to UK security, the deputy prime minister has said. Oliver Dowden said on Thursday the government would consult on curbing British investment abroad, after becoming concerned that money from the UK could be used to finance projects that could undermine national security. His comments come eight months after the Biden administration gave regulators the power to stop US investment in Chinese institutions in three sectors: semiconductors, quantum computing…
Tag: Defence policy
Australia says AI will be used to help track Chinese submarines under new Aukus plan
Artificial intelligence, drones, and deep space radar are among the technologies that will be used by Australia and its Aukus allies to counter China’s aggression in the Pacific. Australia’s defence minister, Richard Marles, met with his counterparts from the United States and United Kingdom – Lloyd J Austin and Grant Shapps – in California on Saturday to announce the second “pillar” of the Aukus deal. It came after the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, last month accused a Chinese naval ship of “dangerous, unsafe and unprofessional” behaviour after Australian naval divers…
Forget ‘Chinese spies’, trade not espionage should be Britain’s main concern with China | Simon Jenkins
Today’s claim that a Chinese spy in his 20s cruising the Westminster drinks circuit might pose a threat to the British state is absurd. MPs always overstate their role in foreign affairs. Boris Johnson, back in 2017 when he was foreign secretary, might have felt a macho thrill from sending an aircraft carrier to the South China Sea – where it could be sunk in an hour – but Britain’s defences are no more vulnerable to Chinese attack than China’s are to Britain. It is all defence lobby hyperventilation. Linking…
US China hawks to press UK minister for tougher line on Beijing
A Republican-led group of China hawks from the US Congress will visit Westminster on Friday where they are expected to meet the defence secretary, Ben Wallace, for lunch and press for the UK to take a tougher line on Beijing. The 11-strong delegation is led by the Republican congressman Mike Gallagher, who chairs a high-profile, newly created China committee. Some fear a strident anti-Beijing tone will alienate centrist and left-leaning politicians in the UK. Gallagher has called for a total ban on the Chinese-owned app TikTok, and argued in the…
Rishi Sunak seeks to build stronger defence with Japan at Tokyo G7
Rishi Sunak will seek to build a stronger defence with Japan amid fears of China’s rising militarisation as he travels to Tokyo and Hiroshima for the G7 summit. The prime minister will be accompanied by his wife, Akshata Murty, on their first official visit since he entered No 10 for the meeting of leaders from the US, France, Germany, Canada, Japan, Italy and the EU. Sunak is expected to unveil the Hiroshima accord, an agreement with Japan aimed at stepping up defence cooperation and improving supply chains, when he meets…
UK cyber security chief to warn of China’s rise as a technology superpower
China poses an “epoch-defining” challenge to the west, the head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is reportedlyto warn. Lindy Cameron, who is the director of the GCHQ arm, will use a speech in Belfast this week to warn the UK and allies of the “dramatic rise of China as a technology superpower”. The remarks, to be delivered this week at the CyberUK annual conference, come as the US, the UK and western nations attempt to navigate the growing economic and political reach of China amid concerns about the…
UK expected to ban TikTok from government mobile phones
Britain is expected to announce a ban on the Chinese owned video-sharing app TikTok on government mobile phones imminently, bringing the UK inline with the US and European Commission and reflecting deteriorating relations with Beijing. The decision marks a sharp reverse from the UK’s previously relaxed position, but some critics and experts said Britain should also extend the ban to cover personal phones used by ministers and officials – and even consider a complete ban. An announcement is expected from the Cabinet Office potentially as soon as Thursday, sources said,…
UK quietly shifts China policy as trust between countries erodes
While Britain’s conflict with Russia is playing out on the battlefield of Ukraine, escalating tensions between London and Beijing are largely unfolding a little more discreetly at home: in universities, among researchers and in hi-tech and other strategic businesses. It may not be a high-profile drama of poisonings and deadly weapons supply, but hundreds of Chinese researchers have been turned away from British projects over the last couple of years, as trust between the two countries has been eroded. A further 50 researchers, already in the UK, have also been…
Size of UK’s nuclear submarine fleet could double under Aukus plans
The UK’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet could double in size as plans were revealed for the new “Aukus” vessels to be based on a British design. In a bid to counter the growing threat from China, the UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, vowed alongside his US and Australian counterparts to stand “shoulder to shoulder” to protect peace in the Indo-Pacific given its implications for security across the world. A “historic” deal 18 months in the making was announced by the three leaders in Point Loma, San Diego, that will see new…
‘Danger, disorder and division’: defence review refresh sees a more hostile world
Britain’s refresh of its defence and foreign policy may mark the moment when the UK sobers up about its place in a world that it now describes as “defined by danger, disorder and division”, and increasingly tilting to authoritarianism. Gone is the optimistic Global Britain bombast of the Boris Johnson era, set out in the original integrated review only two years ago. That version championed the UK as “a beacon of democratic sovereignty” and one of the most influential countries in the world, and hailed its ability to draw on…