‘Number one threat to global security’: Rishi Sunak promises to crack down on China after winning UK PM race

The race for the United Kingdom Prime Ministerial post is going on with a full frenzy, with the two candidates – Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss – going head to head in the ongoing battle. Now, Sunak has talked about how his election would be beneficial as a move against China.

Indian-origin prime ministerial candidate Rishi Sunak has said that if he is elected to the top post, he will go tough on China, terming the Asian superpower country as the “number one threat to domestic and global security”, as per AFP reports.

Sunak, who is the former finance minister under the Boris Johnson administration, made a promise to crack down on China soon after his UK PM race rival Liz Truss accused him of being weak on the country, as well as on Russia, which currently remains at war with Ukraine.

Earlier, China’s state-run Global Times said Sunak was the only candidate in the contest with “a clear and pragmatic view on developing UK-China ties”. Meanwhile, the PM candidate in Britain has formulated a plan to counter the influence of China on the world.

In an attempt to crack down on China, Sunak put forward a proposal, which included the closure of all 30 Confucius Institutes in Britain, preventing the soft-power spread of Chinese influence through culture and language programmes, as per AFP reports.

The UK PM face has also promised to “kick the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) out of our universities”, which reportedly holds an influence over the higher education system in the country. Sunak said that he would urge educational institutes to disclose their foreign funding and review their research partnership.

Stating that he would build a “NATO-style” agency to tackle threats from China, Rishi Sunak said that Britain’s domestic spy agency MI5 would be used to help combat Chinese espionage in cyberspace.

As quoted by AFP, Sunak said, “Enough is enough. For too long, politicians in Britain and across the West have rolled out the red carpet and turned a blind eye to China’s nefarious activity and ambitions.”