Does Rishi Sunak have a China problem?
Mounting concerns over Chinese surveillance could prove to be a ‘crunch point’ for the prime minister
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is coming under increasing pressure to adopt a “hawkish” view on China as concerns mount over the UK’s ability to deal with the threat of Chinese spy balloons.
Several unidentified flying objects have been shot down over North America in the past week, with one brought down by an American F-22 fighter jet after it had floated over the United States for several days.
The prime minister said that the UK was “in touch with our allies” over the apparent Beijing spy missions and said the government would do “whatever it takes” to protect the country. “We have something called the quick reaction alert force, which involves Typhoon planes which are kept on 24/7 readiness to police our airspace, which is incredibly important,” Sunak told reporters on Monday.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
The prime minister made the comments after transport minister Richard Holden told Sky News it was “possible” that Chinese spy balloons had already flown over the UK.
The Telegraph reported yesterday that Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has ordered a security review in the wake of the advance of Chinese spy balloons into Western airspace, and would work closely with the US and other partners to “analyse intelligence and assess the dangers posed by the balloons”.
What did the papers say?
Amid increasing concerns over China’s attempts to gather intelligence in the West, the use of Chinese-made drones in British policing has also sparked security fears, according to a report in The Telegraph.
The paper reported that “more than two-thirds” of drones operated by police forces in the UK are made by a Chinese firm that is blacklisted in the US as a national security risk. Home Secretary Suella Braverman is now “urging” the police to ensure their use of Chinese technology does not expose them to interference by Beijing, said the paper.
The “many strands of concern” relating to Chinese surveillance might be “coalescing into something of a crunch point for Sunak”, suggested Politico’s London Playbook. And putting further pressure on Sunak is the news that his predecessor Liz Truss – who formally designated China a “threat” to the UK during her short tenure as prime minister – will give a major foreign policy speech in Japan on Friday, where she will highlight “growing concerns” over China and its place in the Indo-Pacific region.
Truss is not the only Tory grandee putting pressure on Sunak from the backbenches. Yesterday, former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith joined Uyghur activists outside the Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office in Westminster to protest a reported visit to Britain by the governor of Xinjiang, Erkin Tuniyaz. Duncan Smith said the visit, reportedly scheduled for this week, is “unacceptable”.
What next?
In November, Sunak “signalled the end of the ‘golden era’ of relations between Britain and China” when he used his first major foreign policy speech to warn of Xi Jinping’s increasingly authoritarian regime, said The Guardian. But he now finds himself under pressure to “go further” from some sections of his party as the integrated review of global security, mooted to take place on 7 March, approaches.
The review into the UK’s defence and foreign policy is due to be published in the run-up to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s first budget and is expected to “clearly spell out the increased risk to the UK from countries including Russia and China”, said the i news site.
While Hunt has said he will listen to demands to increase the UK’s military spending, the review is nevertheless likely to bring about a “clash” between the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence over the size of any spending rise.
Wallace is reportedly demanding an uplift of up to £11bn in the MoD’s budget over the next two years “just to put the defence budget back to where it was before rampant inflation ate away at resources”, said the paper.
In pressing his case, the defence secretary will now “not only be able to point to Ukraine, and a renewed push from Russia looming as winter turns to spring” but also the “elevated threat” from Beijing, the paper added.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.
-
7 beautiful towns to visit in Switzerland during the holidays
The Week Recommends Find bliss in these charming Swiss locales that blend the traditional with the modern
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Werewolf bill
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
'This needs to be a bigger deal'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
John Prescott: was he Labour's last link to the working class?
Today's Big Quesiton 'A total one-off': tributes have poured in for the former deputy PM and trade unionist
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Last hopes for justice for UK's nuclear test veterans
Under the Radar Thousands of ex-service personnel say their lives have been blighted by aggressive cancers and genetic mutations
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
What message is Trump sending with his Cabinet picks?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION By nominating high-profile loyalists like Matt Gaetz and RFK Jr., is Trump serious about creating a functioning Cabinet, or does he have a different plan in mind?
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Can Europe pick up the slack in Ukraine?
Today's Big Question Trump's election raises questions about what's next in the war
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
What does the G20 summit say about the new global order?
Today's Big Question Donald Trump's election ushers in era of 'transactional' geopolitics that threatens to undermine international consensus
By Elliott Goat, The Week UK Published
-
Will Trump fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell?
Today's Big Question An 'unprecedented legal battle' could decide the economy's future
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
Biden arrives in Peru for final summits
Speed Read President Joe Biden will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, visit the Amazon rainforest and attend two major international summits
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Will Donald Trump wreck the Brexit deal?
Today's Big Question President-elect's victory could help UK's reset with the EU, but a free-trade agreement with the US to dodge his threatened tariffs could hinder it
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published