A report by the Daily Mail has revealed a security breach after British intelligence officials discovered a Chinese tracking device hidden inside a British government vehicle used by the prime minister.
According to the report, the device was placed inside a component imported from a Chinese supplier and remained in the car for nearly four years before being discovered during a thorough security check, indicating that the spy device was found after British security services began dismantling government and diplomatic vehicles as part of the face of growing threats from foreign surveillance.
According to intelligence sources, the device was integrated into the "electronic control unit" by a Chinese sub-supplier before the part was shipped to the vehicle's manufacturer , unlikely that the manufacturer was aware of the device's contents.
Intelligence officials said this type of tracking indicates a broad penetration of Western supply chains and not just a specific targeting of the British prime minister's car, arguing that the manufacture of sub-components in large quantities suggests that any vehicle that uses these parts, whether for an ordinary citizen or a head of state, effectively becomes a moving tracking node.
Expert before the House of Commons: The incident dates back to 2022
The Daily Mail reported that the revelation has put pressure on the British prime minister to harden his stance towards Beijing, while the news from the corridors of the British parliament confirms that the file of cybersecurity and Chinese technology has been opened to ignite a massive wave of controversy and digital interaction.
The House of Commons held a hearing before the Parliament's Business and Trade Committee on Wednesday as part of a wider inquiry into the economic relationship between Britain and China, where the committee heard three expert witnesses and focused the discussion on Chinese electric vehicles and the risks of espionage and cybersecurity associated with this technology.
One of these experts blew a resounding surprise before the committee, talking about the dangers of collecting data through cellular communication units built into car components, and that a senior government official assured him in 2022 that the prime minister's car was sending data to China through these cellular units in it.
The expert considered that it is very difficult to determine which British prime minister was using the target car because 2022 saw three Conservative prime ministers: Boris Johnson, then Liz Truss, and then Rishi Sunak.
China confirms: Pure rumors
Since the story of the presence of tracking devices in British government vehicles first surfaced, the Chinese side has described these allegations as baseless and merely rumors.
Beijing has called it a "politicization" of economic and trade cooperation and a discredit of Chinese companies.
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in London said the reports were "pure rumors" and "disinformation," accusing Western politicians of exploiting national security concerns to disrupt normal trade and discredit Chinese tech companies.
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