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The influence of China on the world's data has often been hinted at by experts.
But now, MI6 chief Richard Moore has told BBC Radio 4's Today programme about the “debt traps and data traps” brought about by the country.
And he warned that China has the capability to “harvest data from around the world”.
Mr Moore said: “Beijing is trying to use influence through its economic policies to try and sometimes, I think, get people on the hook.
“If you allow another country to gain access to really critical data about your society, over time that will erode your sovereignty, you no longer have control over that data.
“That's something which, I think, in the UK we are very alive to and we've taken measures to defend against.”
In July, it was rumoured that China, together with Russia, would become a “daily threat” to the UK, after space experts said that the two countries had already team together with an eye on future conflicts taking place in space.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston claimed that Russia and China were both involved in “questionable” activity like flying their satellites too close on a day by day basis, and the UK needs to protect its interests in space.
He said: “A future conflict may not start in space, but I’m in no doubt that it will come very quickly to space, and it may well be won or lost in space. “
MI6 chief Mr Moore also said, in a wide-ranging interview, that the threat of Russian president Vladimir Putin poses to the world is real.
Calling them an “accurate threat”, he said: “From time to time we get sort of crises around Ukraine as we worry about build-up of troops and what President Putin's intentions might be.
“Therefore it bears very careful watching and it bears very careful signaling to the Russians about, you know, the price that they would have to pay if they intervened, as they did in 2014.”
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- BBC
- Vladimir Putin
- Space
- China
- Russia
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