China is engaged in a ‘whole of state’ assault on the UK and the government’s approach has been ‘completely inadequate’. That is the devastating verdict of today’s long-awaited report on China by parliament’s Intelligence and Security Committee. The committee accepts that Chinese influence and interference activities may be difficult to detect, but questions whether the government has even been looking in the first place. ‘China’s size, ambition and capability have enabled it to successfully penetrate every sector of the UK’s economy,’ it states.
The committee notes that there is still no comprehensive list of areas of sensitive UK research which need protecting
The nine-member committee, under the chairmanship of Sir Julian Lewis MP, began its inquiry in 2019 and is scathing about the government’s failure to wake up to the challenges faced in academia, industry and technology, where the UK has been too willing to engage in tie-ups and to accept Chinese funding with few questions asked.
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