China, Russia, Iran and international terrorism are the biggest security threats to Great Britain, the British foreign intelligence agency "Em-I-Six" (MI6) announced today.
MI6 chief Richard Moore said China was one of the biggest threats to the UK and its allies and a "miscalculation" by Beijing could lead to war.
Moore said that China, Russia, Iran and international terrorism make up the "big four" of security issues that British spies face in an unstable world.
In his first public address since becoming the head of MI2020 in October 6, Moore said that China is the intelligence agency's "highest single priority" because its leadership increasingly supports "bold and decisive action" to achieve its own interests.
Moore called China "an authoritarian state with different values" from Britain's, saying Beijing is conducting "large-scale espionage operations" against Britain and its allies, trying to "distort public discourse and political decision-making" and exporting technology that enables " network of authoritarian control" around the world.
He also said that Great Britain still "faces an acute threat from Russia", that Moscow has financed assassination attempts such as the poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal in England in 2018, that it is behind an increasing number of hacker attacks and that it is trying to interferes in the democratic processes of other countries.
"We and our allies and partners must stand up to Russian activities that run counter to the rules-based international system," the MI6 chief said.
Moore said Iran also poses a major threat and is using the extremist group Hezbollah to foment political turmoil in neighboring countries.
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