The fall of British health secretary Matt Hancock is more than just another sordid saga of political dirty dalliance. Largely overlooked in the righteous furore is the shadowy role of spying by Chinese telcos.
Make no mistake: Hancock thoroughly deserved the bollocking he’s got. At the same time that he was imposing absolutely monstrous rules banning people from hugging, there he was, swapping spit with his secretary in his office. Not that anyone should be surprised: from Prof. Neil Ferguson to David Clark, it’s been one rule for the COVID dictators, another for the rest of us.
Still, it’s how Hancock was exposed that should be an even bigger topic of conversation: especially in Wellington.
A group of influential Tory MPs have warned the Boris Johnson government that Chinese CCTV cameras in ministerial offices “are the tip of the iceberg” as MI5 and the Department of Health begin probes into why there was surveillance in Matt Hancock’s Westminster office.
Britain was the first of the Five Eyes security partners to allow Chinese telcos access to its 5G and other sensitive communications infrastructure. This, despite warnings that Chinese companies were hiding spying tech in their devices, at the behest of the Communist Party.
While the Johnson government has since reversed its policy, it may be too late.
Mr Hancock[…]was unaware that a CCTV camera, near a smoke detector, was positioned inside his office, with some reports suggesting the camera may have been in place for the past four years.
Former health secretary Jeremy Hunt said it was completely unacceptable from a security viewpoint to have ministers filmed inside their offices without their knowledge.
“And so there’ll be issues that our intelligence agencies will want to look at very, very carefully,’’ he said as MI5 began talks with the Cabinet office.
The rogue device, nicknamed on social media as the “love bug”, has been disabled, new health secretary Sajid Javid said.
Which still leaves the question of what else the Chinese have secreted throughout sensitive sites in Britain. As well as who might be working for them.
The camera in Mr Hancock’s office – rented from a Singapore firm – was made by the Chinese manufacturer Hikvision, which is banned in the US because of CIA concerns that it can be used as a spying tool.
A person who is believed to have worked inside the Department of Health had offered the Sun newspaper the vision, which appeared to be a phone recording of the CCTV footage, some six weeks after it was filmed on May 6 this year.
But the scandal has raised other serious concerns, with the China Research Group (CRG) – comprising Tory politicians – saying that Hikvision cameras were being used in sensitive locations[…]They said there were security risks involved in using the cameras “given the potential for Chinese intelligence agencies to tap into camera feeds in sensitive locations[…]Hikvision is one of the core suppliers of Xinjiang’s surveillance state,” CRG said.
Hikvision is just one of a raft of Chinese companies — which, by Chinese law, are required to do the bidding of the Chinese Communist Party.
CRG also highlighted the awarding of more than $A20m in contracts to a Chinese company called Nuctech for UK Home Office border and prison surveillance.
“Nuctech is a security tech company which has a close relationship with the Chinese government, has supplied security equipment in Xinjiang and is owned by the state-run China National Nuclear Corporation, which is tied to the (Chinese) military.”
It said the company was banned in the United States and Canada over concerns that their x-ray machines came with hard drives and USB ports that could be “used for malicious intent if hostile agents carried out data downloads”.
CRG also highlighted how Alibaba and Huawei also provide equipment to key British companies such as BT, formerly known as British Telecom.
The Australian
All of which should be of urgent concern to New Zealanders.
The Ardern government is, as on so many fronts, breaking with its Five Eyes partners on the issue of Huawei and other Chinese tech companies. Already, China-friendly institutions like Massey University have allowed Huawei to build their new wireless infrastructure.
Huawei is also building the New Zealand Cloud Data Centre.
How long before Chinese-made spy cams start showing up in the Beehive?
Please share this article so that others can discover The BFD
