Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden says "today should be an embarrassing day for China" after confirming earlier that Chinese state-affiliated actors were responsible for malicious cyber campaigns targeting British institutions in 2021 and 2022. Mr Dowden calls China's actions "malign and hostile". Report by Czubalam. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00 I take this, what has happened, very seriously.
00:03 This is a grave announcement.
00:06 This is hostile activity from China
00:08 in respect of both our parliamentarians
00:11 and in respect of the electoral commission.
00:14 What I would say, though, is that this should be
00:16 an embarrassing day for China.
00:18 We've called them out for what their affiliates are doing,
00:22 and they ultimately did not succeed
00:24 in what they sought to do.
00:26 I was clear in the House today
00:28 that the conduct of China is malign and it is hostile.
00:34 And by the way, it's not just in relation to the United Kingdom.
00:38 We are now seeing the Americans calling out attacks on them.
00:43 And I saw this at the Summit for Democracy in Korea
00:47 that I attended last week.
00:49 Like-minded countries, countries that share our values,
00:53 open, democratic, believing in the rule of law,
00:56 are being systematically undermined by countries like China
01:01 and other hostile states like Russia and Iran.
01:03 Well, we have consistently increased the robustness
01:07 of our response to China.
01:10 If you think back where we were a decade ago,
01:12 what has happened since is the undermining of Hong Kong,
01:16 the conduct in relation to the Uyghurs in Xinjiang province,
01:21 the aggression in the South China Sea.
01:24 I'm left in little doubt that we have to take a clear-eyed view
01:28 to protecting our national security.
01:30 By the way, it's exactly what China does,
01:33 and it's exactly what we will do.