Britain’s GCHQ spy agency chief yesterday was to warn Western nations of the “huge threat” from China seeking to exploit its technological dominance to control its own citizens and gain influence abroad.
GCHQ Director Jeremy Fleming was to tell a British defense studies body that the Chinese Communist Party views technologies such as satellite systems and digital currencies as a “tool to gain advantage.”
In excerpts of his speech released late on Monday, Fleming would use the annual “security lecture” at the RUSI think tank to argue that China could act in ways representing “a huge threat to us all.”
Photo: Reuters
He was to urge the UK and its allies to respond urgently.
“At GCHQ it is our privilege and duty to see the sliding door moments of history. This feels like one of those moments,” Fleming was to say. “Our future strategic technology advantage rests on what we as a community do next. I’m confident that together we can tilt that in our collective favour.”
Fleming has headed GCHQ since 2017, and has sought to bring the intelligence and security agency out of the shadows.
His comments came as China was in the process of launching its “digital yuan,” raising fears that authoritarian nations could use digital currencies to increase surveillance and control.
A centralized digital currency could “enable China to partially evade the sort of international sanctions currently being applied to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s regime in Russia,” Fleming was to say.
China has also launched a satellite navigation system, Beidou, as a rival to GPS, compelling Chinese to use it, Fleming was to say.
“Many believe that China is building a powerful anti-satellite capability, with a doctrine of denying other nations access to space in the event of a conflict,” he was to say. “And there are fears the technology could be used to track individuals.”
He was to accuse China of seeking to gain “control of the markets,” as well as “those in their sphere of influence and of their own citizens.”
Fleming was also to blame Beijing for creating “client economies and governments” by exporting technology to nations which risk “mortgaging the future” by buying in Chinese technology with “hidden costs.”
OUT OF NIGER: The US joint chiefs of staff chairman is in Botswana for a gathering of African chiefs of defense as Washington seeks to rebuild its presence in the continent The top US general is making a rare trip to Africa to discuss ways to preserve some of the US presence in West Africa after Niger decided to kick out the US military in favor of partnering with Russia in a major setback for Washington. US Air Force General C.Q. Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters before landing in Botswana yesterday for a gathering of African chiefs of defense that he was going to speak with several partners in the region. “I do see some opportunities. And there’s countries that we’re already working with in West Africa,” Brown
In a market in the Chadian capital, N’Djamena, customers flock to Ache Moussa’s stall to have their long plaits smeared with a special paste in an age-old ritual. Each strand of hair, from the root to the end, is slathered in a traditional mixture of cherry seeds, cloves and chebe seeds, the most important ingredient of all. Users say the recipe makes their hair grow longer and more lustrous. Local and natural hair products are gaining popularity across Africa as people turn away from commercial cosmetics. Moussa applies the mixture and shapes the client’s locks into a gourone — a traditional hairstyle consisting of
LITHIUM BATTERY: Twenty foreign workers, including 18 Chinese, were among the fatalities in the massive blaze that engulfed the Aricell factory in Hwaesong Twenty-two people were killed — including 18 Chinese nationals — in a massive fire at a South Korean lithium battery factory, the fire department said yesterday, one of the nation’s worst factory disasters in years. More than 100 people were working in the factory when workers heard a series of explosions from the second floor, where lithium-ion batteries were being inspected and packaged, firefighter Kim Jin-young told media. In the massive blaze that ensued, 22 people were killed, including 20 foreign nationals — 18 Chinese, one from Laos and one of unknown nationality, he said. “Most of the bodies are badly burned so
An ethnic armed group in Myanmar has seized the nation’s most popular beach resort town, with junta troops holed up in a nearby airport, military and local sources said yesterday. Clashes have rocked western Rakhine state since the Arakan Army (AA) attacked the military there in November, ending a ceasefire that had largely held since the 2021 military coup. For days, fighting has raged around Ngapali beach in the south of the state, where upmarket resorts dot the pristine, palm-fringed sands of the Indian Ocean. The town of Thandwe, a few kilometers from the beach and home to the local airport, was largely