The Chinese Communist Party poses the biggest long-term threat to economic and national security, according to the heads of Britain’s MI5 and the United States’ FBI. The leaders delivered the remarks at MI5 headquarters in London during a first-ever joint appearance between the leaders of the FBI and MI5. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray said China represents a particular threat to businesses. 

“The Chinese government is set on stealing your technology. Whatever it is that makes your industry tick, and using it to undercut your business and dominate your market and they’re set on using every tool at their disposal to do it,” Director Wray said.  

According to Wray, the two biggest threats China poses to businesses are hacking and stealing research. That allows China to enjoy innovations without having to fund the research it took to create them. Wray also said if China tried to take over Taiwan, it would be one of the biggest disruptions to global business the world has ever seen. 

China is also trying to interfere in politics in the U.S. and around the world in an effort to prevent political candidates with anti-China views from being elected, according to Wray. That includes interference in a New York congressional race earlier this year in which Wray said China tried to prevent a candidate who was a former protestor at Tiananmen Square from winning. 

The head of the MI5 said it’s important to counter China’s aggression while still finding a way to cooperate on key issues because China is such a dominant world player and cannot be cut off.

“China is central to global issues. Economic growth, health, climate change. Having for example almost 150,000 Chinese students in UK universities is in almost all cases good for them and good for us,” Ken McCallum, director general of MI5, said.  

Wray made clear the Chinese government and Communist Party poses the threat, not its people. 

“We’re focused on countering not the Chinese people and certainly not Chinese immigrants in our countries who are themselves frequently victims of the Chinese government’s lawless aggression,” Wray said. 

FBI Director Christopher Wray describes the Chinese government as the biggest long-term threat to economic and national security https://t.co/ZuIcSW3xKw pic.twitter.com/sRszYphgNj

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 7, 2022

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman called the remarks “alarmist” and accused the U.S. of doing exactly what it accuses China of doing.

“Facts have fully proven that the U.S. is the biggest threat to world peace, stability and development,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said. “This intelligence official’s remarks fully expose his deep-rooted Cold War mentality and ideological prejudice.”