Rishi Sunak promised to get tough on China

Rishi Sunak has promised to get tough on China if he becomes Britain's next Prime Minister. 

The 42-year-old former Chancellor set out a series of plans he would undertake if elected the prime minister, including building a new NATO-style military alliance of free nations to defend against Chinese technological aggression.

China represents the "largest threat" to Britain and the world's security and prosperity this century and there is evidence to suggest it has targeted countries from the US to India, UK Prime Ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak said on Monday.

Sunak's proposals include the closure of all 30 Confucius Institutes in Britain, preventing the soft-power spread of Chinese influence through culture and language programs.

"China and the Chinese Communist Party represent the largest threat to Britain and the world's security and prosperity this century I will build a new international alliance of free nations to tackle Chinese cyber-threats and share best practices in technology security," he said

Similarly, he also said that "I will expand MI5's reach to provide greater support to British businesses and universities to counter Chinese industrial espionage. We'll work across government and with security services to build a toolkit to help companies protect their intellectual property"

I will protect key British assets. That means examining the need to prevent Chinese acquisitions of key British assets including strategically sensitive tech firms, he said.

Sunak has committed to reviewing all UK-Chinese research partnerships that could assist China technologically or have military applications.

"I will work with [US] President Biden and other world leaders to transform the West's resilience to the threat China poses," he further noted.