UK Deputy Prime Minister set to address MPs on Chinese cyber security threat

LONDON (Reuters) – British Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden is set to address the country’s lawmakers on Monday about the cybersecurity threat posed by China as concerns grow about possible interference ahead of elections later this year. Has been.

Dowden is expected to make a statement on Monday, a government official said, declining to confirm whether the deputy PM would also announce retaliation, including sanctions.

Concern is growing in Britain over alleged Chinese espionage activity, particularly after it emerged last year that a parliamentary researcher was arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

The government said last year that Chinese spies were targeting British officials in sensitive positions in politics, defense and business as part of an increasingly sophisticated espionage campaign to gain access to secrets.

The Chinese Embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Last year, the embassy accused the British government of “making baseless allegations” after the head of MI5 accused China of running an espionage campaign on an “epic scale”.

Britain’s domestic intelligence service MI5 has said it is now investigating seven times as many Chinese activities as in 2018 and is planning more.

In 2022, MI5 issued a rare security alert, warning Members of Parliament that a suspected Chinese spy was “engaged in political interference activities” in the UK.

(Reporting by Sarah Young and Andrew MacAskill; Editing by Hugh Lawson)

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