FBI director, MI5 chief warn of China threat

FBI Director Christopher Wray and United Kingdom MI5 Director General Ken McCallum have urged business leaders to be aware of the threat from the Chinese government and help the government agencies protect corporate secrets from theft by China.  in a joint address at the British intelligence service's London headquarters. The top domestic security service officials said the threat from Chinese spies is paramount in both countries and only continues to grow.

Addressing business leaders in London on Wednesday, 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.” He said the Chinese government poses an even more serious threat to Western businesses than even many sophisticated businesspeople realize. “The Chinese government is set on stealing your technology–whatever it is that makes your industry tick–and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market. And they’re set on using every tool at their disposal to do it,” he said.

Wray said China often disguises its hand in order to obtain influence and access where companies don’t suspect it. “Outside of China, their government uses elaborate shell games to disguise its efforts from foreign companies and from government investment-screening programs like CFIUS, America’s Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S.” Adding to what FBI Director, McCallum said most of what is at risk from Chinese Communist Party aggression is not, so to speak, my stuff. “It’s yours.” “The world-leading expertise, technology, research, and commercial advantage developed and held by people in this room, and others like you.”The Chinese government has a longstanding practice of hacking and stealing proprietary information to try to get an economic advantage.

“And I want to be clear that it’s the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party that pose the threat we’re focused on countering. Not the Chinese people, and certainly not Chinese immigrants in our countries,” he added, highlighting that they themselves are frequently victims of the Chinese government’s "lawless aggression". "The Chinese Communist Party is interested in our democrati  media and legal systems. Not to emulate them, sadly, but to use them for its gain," said McCallum.