For those who claim that ‘paranoia’ is the leitmotif of policymakers and analysts critical of the People’s Republic of China, here’s another wakeup call. Mr Ken McCallum, the head of MI5, Britain’s premier intelligence agency, said on Wednesday that more than 20,000 UK citizens have been approached covertly by Chinese spies, amidst a new warning to tens of thousands of British businesses of the risk of having their innovations stolen. According to the BBC, Mr McCallum was speaking at an unprecedented public appearance of the security chiefs of the Five Eyes alliance in California. The heads of the US, UK, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand security agencies appeared together, for the first time ever, to warn of commercial secrets being obtained by China through widespread espionage. That Stanford University in California was chosen as the venue for the public appearance is significant; it is the very heart of Silicon Valley and the spy chiefs have spent closed sessions with innovators, entrepreneurs and investors telling them that their cutting-edge research is being, to put it plainly, stolen. Emerging and advanced technologies are a particular target of China’s covert operations. As Mr McCallum iterated: “We have seen a sustained campaign (by Chinese spies) on a pretty epic scale.” In previous decades, including at the height of the Cold War, western intelligence and security agencies focussed on protecting government secrets from foreign spies. Now, the danger which has been flagged by the alliance chiefs is that technological innovation by small companies, start-ups, and researchers is the new target.

Those who have been following Beijing’s path to its emergence as tech superpower are not surprised. The Chinese Communist Party has been ruthless in its pursuit of leadership in frontier technologies and its efforts to surpass the USA were laid out in its 14th five-year plan in 2021. Beijing identified seven technology areas to focus research on including artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and semi-conductors; robotics and biotechnology have anyway been longstanding research priorities for China. Its espionage efforts seem to be focussed on augmenting these capabilities. In fact, Beijing is in the process of establishing a monopoly in some areas and leads in fields such as electric batteries, hyper-sonics, and advanced radio-frequency communications like 5G and 6G. According to a March 2023 report in The Guardian, the USA is the clear leader in only seven out of 44 technologies ~ tracked over 2022-23 by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute ~ including vaccines, quantum computing, and space launch systems. Sensitive semiconductor chipmaking technology, which powers the digital revolution, is highly valued by China. Obtaining the latest technology at any cost ~ beg, borrow, or steal, as the adage goes ~ is emerging as a key battleground for great power competition. As the head of MI5 put it: “If you’re working today at the cutting edge of technology then geopolitics is interested in you, even if you’re not interested in geopolitics.” All nations spy, of course. But some take it to a new level altogether.