Security News > 2022 > October > China could use Digital Yuan to swerve Russia-style sanctions

UK intelligence agency, GCHQ, boss Jeremy Fleming says China is "Learning lessons" from the war in Ukraine and could make use of a centralized digital currency to partly get around the type of sanctions being imposed on Putin's Russia.

The career MI5 officer, who replaced Robert Hannigan in 2017, is speaking to the Royal United Services Institute think tank later today to spell out what his organization conceives of as a technological threat posed by China.

He will also warn that China's political leadership was "Learning the lessons" from the war in Ukraine and that a centralized digital currency could "Enable China to partially evade the sort of international sanctions currently being applied to Putin's regime in Russia."

Today's annual RUSI lecture will also include further warnings on China's proposals around international tech standards, which Fleming says will threaten the freedom of the internet by reducing interoperability and fragmenting systems, and China's BeiDou satellite navigation constellation, which he will say the ruling party has "Used every lever to force Chinese citizens and businesses to adopt" and export around the world.

The spy chief will also warn how China is seeking to create "Client economies and governments" by exporting its technology to countries around the world.

Earlier this year, Fleming warned that Russia and China were working on getting the Chinese Internet protocol known as "New IP" adopted as a global International Telecommunication Union standard by attempting to restructure the standards process itself.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2022/10/11/gchq_fleming_russia_china_currency/