The UK has slapped sanctions on China after it accused statebacked hackers of carrying out two "malicious" cyberattacks, including one on Britain's election watchdog, Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden said the "malign❞ attacks on MPs and the Electoral Commission - during which hackers allegedly accessed the personal details of about 40 million voters marked a "clear and persistent pattern of behaviour that signals hostile intent from China".
The Foreign Office will now summon the Chinese ambassador to explain what happened, with Mr Dowden insisting the UK would take "swift and robust actions" against Beijing for any behaviour which targets the UK's democratic institutions and politicians.
But he stopped short of labelling the country a threat, admitting the UK will "continue to engage" with China on issues such as trade and climate change "when it's in our national interest". Cabinet Office minister Sir David Lidington is currently visiting China to talk with the Communist Party about relations between the two countries.
Mr Dowden's statement came after GCHQ identified a Chinese state-affiliated hacking group as the culprit of the cyberattack, which took place between 2021 and 2022 and gave the attackers personal details of those registered to vote between 2014 and 2022.
MPs calling for Rishi Sunak to use the statement as a "watershed moment" hit out at Mr Dowden's response, with China hawk and former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith describing it as "like an elephant giving birth to a mouse".
In a day of international political posturing:
• Sir Iain compared Mr Sunak's stance on China to Britain's appeasement of Hitler in the 1930s
• Former immigration minister Robert Jenrick said the government's response was feeble and would only "embolden China"
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