CHINA has targeted senior UK politicians in a string of dangerous cyberattacks, spurring a crisis meeting in Westminster.
Four MPs who are all harsh critics of Beijing have been called to an urgent briefing by parliament‘s director of security.
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The deputy PM, Oliver Dowden, is set to tell parliament on Monday that China has been targeting the MPs with a vicious string of cyber attacks.
China has been executing the attacks in an attempt to undermine the British government and democracy, The Times reports.
All four MPs are active in the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group that aims to ramp up international attention on Beijing’s activities.
And British intelligence services believe this latest grasp by China at interfering with British politics is part of a long-term plan.
Former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and ex-education minister Tim Loughton are among those invited to the briefing.
House of Lords peer Lord Alton and SNP MP Stewart McDonald have also been contacted.
A last-minute briefing of the 1922 Committee has also been called, where foreign secretary Lord David Cameron is expected to bat questions on China and British security.
It appears to be urgent as the final pre-Easter gathering of the Committee was expected to be last week’s, led by Sunak.
The update on China is thought to be linked to a specific task force dedicated to monitoring threats to UK elections and British democracy.
Tom Tugendhat, UK security minister, chairs the group which uses intelligence and security agency wisdom to judge risks posed by China.
A meeting between the two groups took place on Friday, and even politicians from other countries in the West were present.
Luke de Pulford, executive director of IPAC, said: “About a year ago the Belgian and French foreign ministries publicly confirmed [Chinese state] sponsored cyber attacks against our members.
“Other countries have done the same privately. Beijing has made no secret of their desire to attack foreign politicians who dare to stand up to them.”
It comes after a bombshell intelligence report last year warned that China was targeting the UK “prolifically and aggressively”.
The Commons intelligence and security committee said the government was not equipped to handle threats posed by Beijing.
It also warned that China had managed to “successfully penetrate every sector of the UK’s economy”.
The concerning report said Britain’s intelligence community was “playing catch up” in response to threats as they were too focused on the short term.
And it warned China poses an existential threat to liberal democracy which could create a “nightmare scenario” where the nation is poised to exert its influence at every step.
