Does Rishi Sunak have a China problem?

Mounting concerns over Chinese surveillance could prove to be a ‘crunch point’ for the prime minister

Rishi Sunak
Rishi Sunak is under pressure from backbench MPs to designate China as a threat
(Image credit: Tolga Akmen/AFP via Getty Images)

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.

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 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.