China is the ‘largest threat’ to Britain’s and the world’s security and prosperity this century, and there is evidence that it has targeted countries ranging from the United States to India, according to UK Prime Ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak on Monday. The 42-year-old former Chancellor outlined a series of plans for a new NATO-style military alliance of ‘free nations’ to defend against Chinese ‘technological aggression’ if elected Prime Minister.
‘I would close all 30 of China’s Confucius Institutes in the UK – the most in the world,’ Sunak said during his Conservative Party leadership campaign pitch to members. ‘China and the Chinese Communist Party pose the greatest threat to British and global security and prosperity this century… I intend to form a new international alliance of free nations to combat Chinese cyber-threats and share best practises in technology security,’ he stated.
‘Given that there is evidence that China has targeted countries ranging from the United States to India, Rishi is confident that he can form a broad alliance that includes countries from all over the world. “As part of this new security alliance, the UK will coordinate efforts to influence international standards and norms on cybersecurity, telecommunications security, and preventing intellectual property theft,’ the ‘Ready4Rishi’ campaign said in a statement.
The UK-born Indian-origin MP for Richmond in North Yorkshire accused China of stealing UK technology and infiltrating universities while ‘propping up [Russian President] Putin’s fascist invasion of Ukraine,’ bullying Taiwan and violating human rights in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and suppressing their currency to continually rig the global economy in their favour.
‘They are saddling developing countries with insurmountable debt and using it to seize their assets or hold a diplomatic gun to their heads. They torture, detain, and indoctrinate their own people, including in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, in violation of their human rights. And they have consistently rigged the global economy in their favour by suppressing their currency,’ he said. He stated that he would close all 30 Confucius Institutes in the UK, the most in the world. ‘ Almost all UK government spending on Mandarin language teaching in schools is channelled through university-based Confucius Institutes, thereby promoting Chinese soft power,’ he added.
The Confucius Institutes are funded by the Chinese government and are intended to be cultural and language centres, but critics claim they are propaganda tools as relations between the West and China deteriorate. Sunak, who is competing with Foreign Secretary Liz Truss for the top Downing Street job to replace Boris Johnson, focused his message on China’s aggressive policies on Monday ahead of a key televised debate on the BBC, and also pledged to expand the reach of Britain’s security services to counter its ‘industrial espionage’.
‘I will broaden MI5’s reach to better support British businesses and universities in combating Chinese industrial espionage. We will collaborate across government and with security services to develop a toolkit to assist businesses in protecting their intellectual property,’ he said. ‘ I will safeguard key British assets. This includes examining the need to prevent Chinese acquisitions of key British assets, including strategically sensitive tech firms,’ he said. He promised to lead the world in confronting China’s ‘technological aggression’ by amending the Higher Education Bill to require British universities to disclose any foreign funding partnerships worth more than 50,000 pounds.
Sunak has committed to reviewing all UK-Chinese research collaborations that could aid China technologically or have military applications. ‘ I will work with [US] President Biden and other world leaders to transform the West’s resilience to the threat China poses,’ he said. The opposing team accused Sunak of being ‘soft’ on China as Chancellor. A spokesperson for Truss said she had ‘strengthened Britain’s position on China’ since becoming Foreign Secretary and ‘helped lead the international response to increased Chinese aggression’.
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