China is looking to use new and important technologies such as digital currencies and satellite systems to control its own population and increase its influence globally, the GCHQ has warned, following the US decision to limit its own technological exports to the Asian giant.
In a RUSI Security Lecture, the head of the GCHQ, Sir Jeremy Fleming, is expected to say that while countries such as the UK seek to use new technology to enable prosperity, the Chinese government sees them as a “tool to gain advantage through control of their markets, of those in their sphere of influence and of their own citizens”.
Fleming has already spoken against the security implications of relying on Chinese economic support, which it described as having "a lot of strings attached", such as the need to adopt Chinese technology and thus make user data available to the Chinese state.
“It’s creating the rules of the road; it’s imposing its values. It’s deploying its...