Britain's top cyber spy issued stark warnings about both Russia and China at a London security conference Tuesday.
"Russia is the only nation talking about using nuclear weapons and I have to say that it is extremely dangerous to do so,” Sir Jeremy Fleming, director of the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) spy agency, said at the Royal United Services Institute.
"I would like to think that with our allies that we would have a good chance of spotting it but of course there are never any guarantees in this space," he added, according to multiple news sources.
Fleming, who is said to rarely make public addresses, also discussed President Vladimir Putin's tactics since the invasion of Ukraine began in February.
"It's clear to me that whilst we might not like and in many ways abhor the ways the Russian military machine and President Putin are conducting this war, they are staying within the doctrine that we understand for their use, including for nuclear weapons," Fleming said.
The Larger Threat: While Fleming referred to Russia’s talk of nuclear weapons as “very dangerous,” he believes China’s expanding dominance is “the national security issue that will define our future."
China’s government is using technology to control its population and Beijing authorities believe other nations are “either potential adversaries or potential client states, to be threatened, bribed or coerced.”
Beijing wants to “gain strategic advantage by shaping the world’s technology ecosystem,” Fleming warned. “When it comes to technology, the politically motivated actions of the Chinese state is an increasingly urgent problem we must acknowledge and address."
“That’s because it’s changing the definition of national security into a much broader concept. Technology has become not just an area for opportunity, for competition and collaboration, it’s a battleground for control, values and influence,” he alleged.
Fleming said the Chinese government wants to manipulate the modern technology used by people in their everyday lives in order to influence and surveil its own citizens and the citizens of other countries.
What's More: The spy stopped short of advising against the use of Chinese firm ByteDance’s TikTok app, but said children should be made aware of how technology can be used to collect personal information and how that information can be shared.
“I would speak to my child about the way in which they think about their personal data on their device," Flemming told the BBC. Quotes for this story were also sourced from The Telegraph and The Canadian Press.
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