‘Five Eyes’ spy chiefs warn Silicon Valley over Chinese threat

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The heads of security services in the US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have urged the world to step up efforts to shield innovation from “unprecedented” Chinese spying.

FBI director Christopher Wray on Tuesday hosted counterparts from the “Five Eyes” intelligence-sharing network in Silicon Valley to raise awareness about risks posed by China in high-tech sectors from quantum computing and artificial intelligence to synthetic biology.

“This is the very first time the heads of our five agencies have appeared together publicly on any topic — an unprecedented event to confront an unprecedented threat,” Wray said. “There’s a single common thread in just about every conversation about protecting innovation . . . and that is the Chinese government.”

Wray and his counterparts launched the inaugural Emerging Technology and Securing Innovation Security Summit at Stanford University in an increased effort to draw attention to the risks. The security chiefs, who included MI5 director-general Ken McCallum of the UK, also met business leaders and entrepreneurs.

They were joined by Mike Burgess, head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, David Vigneault, director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, and New Zealand Security Intelligence Service chief Andrew Hampton.

Burgess said that while “all nations spy” China was engaging in a range of actions, including intellectual property theft, that went beyond traditional espionage.

“The Chinese government is engaged in the most sustained, scaled and sophisticated theft of intellectual property and expertise in human history,” he said. “China has developed a ruthless business model aimed at seizing commercial advantage . . . stealing intellectual property is the first step.”

The US and its allies are becoming more vocal in raising concern about China’s military activity and efforts to influence domestic policies in other countries.

China has responded that the US and its allies are trying to contain China and impede its economic rise in the world.

The spy chiefs said China was increasingly targeting companies to obtain technology.

“If you’re anywhere close to the cutting edge of tech, you might not be interested in geopolitics, but geopolitics is interested in you,” McCallum said. “So, we’re coming together at this summit to reach a much wider audience than we’ve had to in the past.” He said MI5 investigations into covert Chinese activity had risen sevenfold since 2018.

Hampton said business leaders were “increasingly aware” of the challenges and “the need to be clear eyed.”

Vigneault said the five countries faced a “cat and mouse” challenge as Beijing was constantly adapting to efforts by western security services to crack down on spying. He said Chinese spies were increasingly operating in more covert and nuanced ways.

But he said China was also helping the west to raise awareness of the threat with its actions. “The PRC has been the best advocate [for us] because they have been so bold,” he added.

China’s ministry of foreign affairs has been contacted for comment.