The head of the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) is allegedly to warn that China presents the West with a “epoch-defining” issue.
Director of GCHQ Lindy Cameron will use a speech this week in Belfast to warn the United Kingdom and its allies about the “dramatic rise of China as a technology superpower.”
The comments, scheduled for delivery this week at the CyberUK annual conference, come as the United States, the United Kingdom, and other western nations try to navigate the expanding economic and political influence of China amid security worries.
After a security investigation, the British government banned ministers from using the popular Chinese video-sharing software TikTok on their official smartphones.
The Chinese internet corporation ByteDance owns the app, and both the House of Commons and the House of Lords have banned it out of security concerns.
Cameron will reportedly declare, “We cannot secure future technology without addressing the epoch-defining challenge that we are facing: the dramatic rise of China as a technology superpower.”
China has great technological goals
According to the Chinese government, a number of currently available and developing technologies are essential to the country’s long-term national security. It also aspires to be a pioneer in establishing global technical norms.
So let’s be clear: China isn’t just trying to catch up to the West; it also wants to surpass us in terms of technology. It plans to exploit its technological prowess as a fulcrum to propel it to the forefront of international politics. For the sake of cyber safety, what does this mean? To put it bluntly, if we don’t stay up, China will eventually overtake us as the leading cyber power.
While this warning may seem extreme to some, I think it’s important for you to take it seriously. None of us can afford to be complacent in the face of this.
The “refreshed” integrated review published last month serves as the government’s updated blueprint for UK foreign and defence policy. It describes China under Communist party rule as a “epoch-defining and systemic challenge” to nearly every aspect of government policy and the everyday lives of British people.
However, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak continues to face pressure from some of his own party’s legislators to take a stronger stance against Beijing.
Continuing her campaign to get Sunak to be tougher on China, former prime minister Liz Truss recently called French President Emmanuel Macron’s trip to China a “sign of weakness” after Macron asked Beijing for support in ending the Ukraine conflict.
To read ourr article about “WhatsApp and other apps oppose UK’s ending user privacy bill” click here.
