Chinese spies could use web equipment sold to UK firms as an 'espionage opportunity', MPs warn
Intelligence and Security Committee raises concerns about Huawei
Chinese telecoms giant has multi-billion pound deals with BT and 02
MI5 voiced fears about links with Chinese state a decade ago
| China could spy on British citizens and firms through its supply of broadband equipment to UK telecoms giants, Parliament’s intelligence watchdog has warned.
MPs on the Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) said they had serious concerns about the internet deals signed by BT and O2 with the Chinese telecoms firm Huawei.
China could ‘intercept covertly or disrupt traffic passing through Huawei-supplied networks’, their report said, adding that oversight of the firm in the UK is ‘feeble’ and suffers from the ‘absence of any strategy’.
Security risk: Chinese hackers could use weaknesses in equipment sold to British firms as an espionage opportunity, MPs said
So scathing was the report that George Osborne, the Chancellor, yesterday took the unusual step of issuing a statement in response to the ISC’s findings, stressing the importance of Chinese investment in Britain.
Clearly anticipating a diplomatic row, he said: ‘Inward investment is critical to generating UK jobs and growth. It is a personal priority of mine to increase trade links between the UK and China and I cannot emphasise enough that the UK is open to Chinese investment.’
The MPs’ report even called for staff from the GCHQ listening agency to take over the running of Huawei’s cyber security evaluation centre which it built in Banbury, Oxfordshire.
Failings: The Intelligence and Security
Committee, chaired by Sir Malcolm Rifkind, said government action to
address concerns had been unaccceptable
National security concerns were sidelined in favour of money as the Chinese had managed to undercut local companies for the contracts, the report said.
Members of the ISC were ‘shocked’ that ministers were not even informed about the BT deal until a year after it was signed. Chairman Sir Malcolm Rifkind said: ‘Such a sensitive decision with potentially damaging implications should have been handed to ministers. A lack of clarity around procedures, responsibility and powers means that national security issues have risked, and continue to risk, being overlooked.’
Ahead of the report’s publication, members of the committee had warned that it would be heavily censored because of the Treasury and Number 10’s fears of scaring away Chinese investors – claims denied by Downing Street.
Relations with China have been strained since David Cameron agreed to meet the Dalai Lama, Tibet’s spiritual leader, last year. Granting him an audience was seen by Beijing as a terrible snub to China’s sovereignty over Tibet.
In its last annual report, the ISC said that a fifth of detected cyber attacks against the UK were so sophisticated that they had to be state sponsored or part of an organised crime ring.
China is often cited as one of the main perpetrators of state- sponsored cyber attacks.
Suspicions: Questions have been raised about whether Huawei's intentions were 'strictly commercial or are more political'
In a statement BT said: ‘Security is at the heart of BT and it will continue to be so in the future.
‘Our testing regime enables us to enjoy constructive relationships with many suppliers across the globe. One of these is Huawei, with whom we have had a long and constructive relationship since 2005.’
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