British and USA spooks are warning tech companies about the threat of Chinese espionage.
Christopher Wray, the FBI director, and Ken McCallum, the MI5’s director general, stood alongside each other at the MI5’s London headquarters to warn businesses that China is “set on stealing technology from other nations” and to stress the magnitude of the threat it poses.
“The Chinese government is set on stealing technology, whatever it is that makes industry tick, and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market”, Wray said.
“We consistently see that it’s the Chinese government that poses the biggest long-term threat to our economic and national security, and by ‘our’, I mean both of our nations, along with our allies in Europe and elsewhere. Maintaining a technological edge may do more to increase a company’s value than would partnering with a Chinese company to sell into that huge Chinese market, only to find the Chinese government and your partner stealing and copying your innovation.”
McCallum said the MI5 had more than doubled its work against Chinese activity in the last three years and predicted that it would double again.
