CHINA will be declared an official “threat” in a new strategic review of Britain’s enemies, Trending In The News can reveal.
Ex-PM Boris Johnson’s landmark 2021 Integrated Defence and Security Review classed China a “systemic competitor” but stopped short of saying they were actively hostile to the UK.
Chinese President Xi Jinping
But now Liz Truss is preparing to toughen that stance after announcing a review of the policy last month.
Earlier today, top spook Sir Jeremy Fleming said: “China’s great strength combined with fear is driving them into actions that could represent a huge threat to us all.”
The boss of government listening agency GCHQ added: “They see nations as either potential adversaries or potential client states, to be threatened, bribed, or coerced.”
In a lecture at the Royal United Services Institute he said China’s approach to tech dominance puts them against “the whole open, democratic order and the international rules-based system.”
And a government source added: “The new review will uprate China’s threat level for sure.”
The decision last night delighted anti-China MPs, with Iain Duncan Smith telling Trending In The News it was “long overdue.”
The senior Tory, who is hoping to be elected chairman of the Commons powerful Foreign Affairs Committee tomorrow said: “We have been campaigning for this.”
“It is time we stopped messing around and recognised that China poses a threat to the way we live our lives, and it is time now to treat them in the same way we treat Russia.”
Rival candidate Dr Liam Fox said: “Given China’s belligerent stance over Hong Kong and Taiwan and its aggressive presence in cyber space, it is quite right they are upgraded to a national security threat.”
Luke de Pulford of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China said: This is a big deal. For years rhetoric from Ministers hasn’t been backed up with action.
“This shows that the Government is finally waking up to the biggest threat to world peace and stability of our times.”
