UK's response to threat from China 'inadequate'

The UK's approach to a "whole of state" assault by the Chinese government on its economy, politics, civil infrastructure and academia is completely inadequate, an influential parliamentary committee has found.

- Patrick Wintour

China's state institutions were aggressively targeting the UK, the all-party intelligence and security committee (ISC) said, and "without swift and decisive action" a nightmarish scenario could emerge where China represented not just a commercial challenge but an existential threat to liberal democratic systems. 

The committee, which completed its inquiry into the Chinese threat in May, was scathing about the failure of the UK to wake up to the scale of the challenge. "We found that the level of resource dedicated to tackling the threat posed by China's 'whole of state' approach has been completely inadequate, and the slow speed at which strategies and policies are developed and implemented leaves a lot to be desired," the ISC said.

Until recently the UK government was willing to accept Chinese money with few questions asked, the ISC said, and "as a consequence the UK is now playing catch-up and the whole of government has its work cut out to understand and counter the threat".

The failure to respond to the economic threat posed by China, and to put in place a way of protecting UK assets, "is a serious failure and one that the UK may feel the consequences of for years to come", the parliamentarians found.

The committee said: "There is no evidence that Whitehall policy departments have the necessary resources, expertise or knowledge of the threat to counter China's approach."