The former deputy head of MI6 has warned that the British intelligence community lacks the skills to deal with the “industrial-scale” espionage threat posed by Beijing.
Nigel Inkster has warned that MI6 “clearly does have difficulties, in terms of language expertise and collective general historical and cultural awareness” required to neutralise China’s operations.
Speaking to the i, Mr Inkster blamed then-Prime Minister David Cameron’s approach to Beijing for the blindness of British intelligence. He said: “In 2015, the British government was talking about a ‘golden era’ of UK-China relations… Given that situation, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the security service isn’t where it might be.“
During Lord David Cameron’s tenure as Prime Minister, UK relations with Beijing warmed and entered a so-called “golden era”.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, however, stressed in November that Lord Cameron’s entry into the Foreign Office will not see this friendlier approach make a similar return.
According to Mr Inkster, issues with “awareness” of China are present across “all the UK intelligence community,” including MI5 and GCHQ as well as the foreign intelligence service.
He also warned that Britain was under-equipped to manage the complex cyber threat that China poses, which he describes as a network of “industrial-scale cyber espionage operations directed against advanced Western countries.”
China’s approach to spying is multifaceted, Mr Inkster noted, with Beijing operatives being sent abroad to conduct in-person spying.
He said: “We’re seeing a significant increase in human intelligence collection operations, with the Chinese services essentially seeming to be operating under no political constraints – incentivised to take risks and to do whatever it takes to get the intelligence that is required.”
MI6 maintains, however, that they are manging the Beijing threat. Last July, current MI6 boss Sir Richard Moore claimed that China ate up more of the security services’ funding than any other mission.
Speaking to Politico, he said: “We’re seeing a significant increase in human intelligence collection operations, with the Chinese services essentially seeming to be operating under no political constraints – incentivised to take risks and to do whatever it takes to get the intelligence that is required.”
Despite this, Mr Inkster worries that there is simply not enough time to catch up with reinforcing the UK’s defences against Chinese espionage.
He warned: “I know that there is a big effort underway to remedy those deficiencies.” He continued: “A lot of resources are now being put into getting the UK intelligence community in a better state, but it does take a certain amount of time.”
However, he praised the steps taken by the Government to shore up UK security like the National Security Act, which came into force in July.
He said that the new legislation brought Britain into the modern era of espionage, with its predecessor being “an Official Secrets Act that was derived from the First World War”.
According to Mr Inkster, the new Act will allow for full-scale prosecution of Chinese spies.
In what was described as “the most significant reform of espionage law in a century”, the National Security Act is intented to give security services the ability to tackle modern threats in a modern way.
