Speaking at the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May, Rishi Sunak said that Beijing is becoming “increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad.” Credit: Stéphane Rousseau/PA
Former civil servants, ministers and military personnel may be barred from gainful employment in firms linked to the Chinese state under plans being discussed by ministers.
Senior government officials are considering what measures can be taken to prevent the flow of former officials and personnel to fill the staff of Chinese state-owned companies.
The Telegraph understands that one of the steps being discussed is a comprehensive overhaul of the rules in place in Whitehall and the Armed Forces, with the aim of tightening existing safeguards and imposing blanket bans if necessary.
Whitehall currently relies on a combination of “waiting periods” requiring delays before former officials can pass the rules and bans on lobbying.
“The biggest problem”
The initiative comes weeks after Rishi Sunak declared that China is our era's greatest challenge to global security and prosperity” and signaled Whitehall's growing concern about the threat posed by Beijing.
Speaking at the G7 summit in Hiroshima in May, the prime minister said Beijing is “increasingly authoritarian at home and assertive abroad.”
A Whitehall source said: “There has been naivety in the past about the revolving door between the government and Chinese state-owned entities and the risks it poses to the UK.”
Last year, it emerged that former military pilots were lured with large sums of money to help train Chinese forces, which caused great concern among Whitehall officials and prompted a rare warning from British military intelligence of the threat.
In addition, Whitehall officials are concerned that existing rules allow former ministers and civil servants to take paid jobs at controversial firms such as Huawei. As prime minister, Boris Johnson ordered telcos to remove Huawei technology from Britain's 5G network in 2020 on grounds of national security that the company has always insisted were unfounded.
Whitehall to China
Examples of former ministers and Officials from Whitehall to Chinese firms in recent years include Chris Hopkins, a former minister for Northern Ireland who until September 2022 was head of Huawei's parliamentary division.
Separately, John Suffolk, Huawei's global cybersecurity officer, joined the company in 2011 from Whitehall, where he served as the government's chief information officer. Until March 2022, Sir Andrew Kahn, former chief executive of UK Trade and Investment, served on Huawei's board of directors, and in 2011 became chairman of the UK advisory board after leaving Whitehall.
Sir Danny Alexander, former chief secretary of the treasury, is vice president of the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank.
There is no suggestion that anyone who has already served in China-related bodies has violated any or rules. But now these rules can be tightened.
One option available to ministers is to tighten the appointment rules for former ministers and civil servants to make it clear that they cannot work for “hostile states” after leaving Whitehall. Ministers are concerned about Chinese laws that allow the state to demand information held by firms in the country
'Publicly call China'
In May, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, head of the Royal Air Force, said that it was ” unacceptable” that ex-military pilots are being recruited to train the Chinese military. He said: “We have made the decision to state this very loudly and clearly that this is unacceptable, and we were ready to publicly call on China.”
At the time the practice was exposed, Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative Chairman of the House of Commons Defense Committee, said: “We should not be surprised at the audacity of China to lure British pilots to learn about our tactics. But we should be surprised that nothing like the Official Secrets Act prevents this – and the lack of patriotism among those involved.
James Hippie, secretary of the armed forces, said last year, that the government wants to change the law to introduce a two-warning rule, which would mean that “after people have been given this warning, it will be a crime to continue this training.”
He added: “China is a competitor that threatens UK interests in many places around the world. It is also an important training partner, but there is nothing secret about their attempts to gain access to our secrets, and their recruitment of our pilots to understand the capabilities of our air force clearly worries us and the intelligence part of the Air Force. Ministry of Defense.
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