Ministers call for China to be labelled a threat following cyber attack

Ministers are poised to call for China to be declared a threat to national security after feeling “underwhelmed” by the Deputy Prime Minister’s sanctioning of two individuals after Beijing-sponsored attempts to hack government data.

Oliver Dowden suggested there was a “strong case” for China moving to the “enhanced” tier of the foreign influence registration scheme, which would mean tighter controls on Beijing-linked organisations in the UK, following the group of Chinese hackers’ attempts to spy on 43 MPs and peers.

However, some ministers have expressed that Rishi Sunaks’ labelling of China as an “epoch-defining challenge” does not go far enough.

The former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith called on the Government to label China as a “threat”, adding: “We must now enter a new era of relations with China.”