China’s vast “technological burden” must be of great concern to the West, and Britain and its allies must “act urgently” to prevent Beijing from dominating key technologies.
This was emphasized by Jeremy Fleming, director of GCHQ, the British special service for cybersecurity and communications monitoring, quoted by the Financial Times.
“The threat posed by Russia’s activity is likely to reveal a vulnerability to a specific application on your phone – potentially serious, but you can probably use an alternative,” Fleming said, speaking at Imperial College London, stressing:
“The concern, however, is that China’s size and technological weight mean that it has the potential to control the global operating system.”
“Countries like China are implementing many of the emerging technologies that are changing the digital environment in a timely manner,” Fleming added, noting that Beijing’s vision for the future of cyberspace is not linked to that of the West and affects “the debate over international rules and standards.”
The spy warned that the West was facing a “moment of truth” and that China could dominate all key emerging technologies for decades – including artificial intelligence, genetics and biology, unless the West did something now.
To begin with, Fleming called on Britain to create “sovereign technologies” in areas such as cryptography and quantum technology to protect its sensitive information.
Calling today’s Britain a “global cyberpower” and a “big animal in the digital world,” Fleming urged the country not to rest on its laurels, warning that “historical power does not mean we can assume we will be a power in the future.”
“Without action, it is becoming increasingly clear that the key technologies we will rely on for our future prosperity and security will not be shaped and controlled by the West,” he warned.
The GCHQ is known to be closely linked to the National Security Agency (NSA), the influential U.S. special service exposed by its former employee, Edward Snowden, for engaging in illegal mass surveillance and wiretapping of ordinary Americans and citizens around the world. Together, the GCHQ, NSA, and security agencies of Canada, Australia and New Zealand have teamed up to form the Five Eyes Intelligence Alliance.
Because of their illegal espionage activities, the GCHQ and NSA have been embroiled in a series of scandals, ranging from spying on allies (including German Chancellor Angela Merkel) and private companies, to breaking online encryption systems used by millions to protect personal data. of personal images from webcams, etc. In 2018, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that mass data collection by the GCHQ was a violation of human rights.
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