China is building Star Wars weapons to take control of space, warns top British spy chief
CHINA is building Star Wars weapons to take control of space, a top British spy chief will warn today.
GCHQ boss Sir Jeremy Fleming will tell an annual security meeting that “many believe” Beijing is building a “powerful” arsenal to blitz British and western satellites in the event of a war.
The head of the government’s listening post will say Britain is facing a “sliding doors moment in history” when it needs to take drastic action curb China’s global tech dominance.
He will tell an annual Rusi security lecture that Beijing’s network of BeiDou satellites could be used to track anyone at anytime, anywhere.
He will warn: “Many believe that China is building a powerful anti-satellite capability, with a doctrine of denying other nations access to space in the event of a conflict.
“And there are fears the technology could be used to track individuals.”
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Russia and China have both tested anti-satellite weapons that could destroy communication, surveillance and GPS satellites which are used for navigation and guiding precision missiles.
He will say China, not Russia, is the defining threat of our era as its dominance in new technologies such as digital currencies could be used to exert control on China’s population, its neighbours, debtors and trading partners.
He will say: "The Chinese leadership believes it draws its strength, its authority, from the closed, one-party system.
"They seek to secure their advantage through scale and through control.
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This means they see opportunities to control the Chinese people rather than looking for ways to support and unleash their citizens' potential.
"They see nations as either potential adversaries or potential client states, to be threatened, bribed or coerced.
"But underlying that belief is a sense of fear - fear of its own citizens, of freedom of speech, free trade, open technological standards and alliances - the whole open, democratic order and the international rules-based system.
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"It is no surprise that while the Chinese nation has worked to build its advanced economy, the (Chinese Communist) Party has used its resources to implement draconian national security laws, a surveillance culture, and the increasingly aggressive use of military might.
"And we're seeing that fear play out through the manipulation of the technological ecosystems which underpin our everyday lives - from monitoring its own citizens and restricting free speech to influencing financial systems and new domains."