Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Christopher Wray and MI5 director-general Ken McCallum warn business leaders that Beijing is determined to steal their technology for competitive gain.|Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)|CC0 1.0
The chiefs of FBI and UK’s intelligence agency MI5 came together Wednesday to issue a rare joint warning to firms across the world of a “game-changing” threat from China—economic espionage.
China is “set on stealing your technology, whatever it is that makes your industry tick, and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market,” FBI Director Christopher Wray told business executives attending the joint address at London’s Thames House.
Solidarity
Thames House is the headquarters of MI5 and the joint address by the FBI and MI5 chiefs there is being touted as an “intended show of Western solidarity” against China.
Ken McCallum, MI5’s Director-General, said China’s “covert pressure across the globe” is the “most game-changing challenge we face.”
“This might feel abstract. But it’s real and it’s pressing,” McCallum said.
China reacts
Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington, rejected the allegations, saying, “China firmly opposes and combats all forms of cyber attacks.”