If China can do this to the Brits, they can do it to us.
Remember that as you read what just happened to our closest ally.
The Breach
State-sponsored Chinese hackers have been quietly cracking into the personal phones of senior British government officials for years. Not months. Years.
We’re talking about close aides to Prime Ministers Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, and Rishi Sunak. The people who handle the most sensitive communications in the British government. The people who know everything.
Beijing has been reading their private messages. Accessing their contacts. Monitoring their communications. For years.
And apparently, the hack is also exposing some “embarrassing shenanigans” among the targets. Which means China doesn’t just have intelligence — they have blackmail material.
The Timing
Here’s where it gets absurd.
Just last week — before this hack was publicly revealed — Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour government approved Beijing’s new mega-embassy in London.
Not just any embassy. A massive complex located a stone’s throw from the Tower of London and, more importantly, right next to some of Britain’s most sensitive communication cables.
Critics immediately warned that the embassy would amount to a “spy hub in the heart of our financial capital.”
Then, days later, the news breaks that China has already been inside British officials’ phones for years.
The timing couldn’t be worse. Or more perfectly illustrative of how compromised Western leadership has become.
The “Reset”
Is Starmer reconsidering the embassy approval? Is he demanding answers? Is he treating this as the hostile attack it obviously is?
Of course not.
He’s flying to Beijing on Wednesday to meet with President Xi Jinping. The purpose? To discuss ending what he called an “ice age” of relations and pursue a “massive China reset.”
A reset. With the country that just got caught hacking his predecessors’ closest aides.
The British public wants less bowing to Beijing, not more. But Starmer is heading to China with hat in hand, apparently unbothered that Chinese intelligence has been reading his government’s mail.
Does he not understand this was an attack? By state actors? From the country he’s about to cozy up to?
The Implications for America
Everything China did to Britain, they’re doing to us. Or trying to.
If Beijing’s hackers can penetrate the personal phones of aides to three consecutive British Prime Ministers, they can penetrate American officials too. The techniques that worked in London work in Washington.
And unlike Britain, we know China has already found receptive ears at high levels of our government.
Remember Eric Swalwell? The congressman who had a years-long relationship with a Chinese spy named Fang Fang? She helped fundraise for his campaigns and placed interns in his office. The FBI had to give him a defensive briefing because a foreign intelligence operative had gotten that close to him.
He still serves in Congress. He was on the Intelligence Committee until Republicans removed him. He’s currently calling for ICE to be “crushed.”
Then there’s a certain governor — currently dealing with other troubles in Minnesota — who has a documented history of fixation with China. It’ll be interesting to see what he does when he leaves office and who his eventual handlers might be.
The Espionage Game
Yes, spying has existed since the first cavemen snuck over the hill to see what their neighbors were doing. Yes, there’s probably an American hacker in Langley trying to do unto China before they do unto us. That’s how the game works.
But there’s a difference between playing the game and losing it.
The Chinese scored a major coup in Britain. They had access to the highest levels of government for years without detection. They’re now positioned to build a massive intelligence facility in the heart of London.
That’s not a tie. That’s a win for Beijing.
The Embassy Problem
Think about what Starmer just approved.
A Chinese mega-embassy located next to Britain’s most sensitive communication cables. A facility that will house hundreds of Chinese “diplomats” — many of whom will actually be intelligence officers. A permanent base of operations for espionage in the heart of London.
This was approved after years of Chinese cyber intrusions into British government communications. After warnings that the embassy would become a spy hub. After China demonstrated its hostile intent through actions, not just words.
And Starmer approved it anyway.
Either he doesn’t understand the threat, or he doesn’t care, or he’s compromised in ways we don’t yet know. None of those options are reassuring.
The Warning for America
The Brits better find the door China came through and slam it shut.
And we better be watching for them to try the same thing here.
China isn’t a trade partner with some unfortunate human rights issues. China is a hostile foreign power engaged in active espionage against Western democracies. They’re hacking our allies. They’re stealing our technology. They’re placing operatives in our institutions.
John Ratcliffe’s CIA is working to counter Chinese intelligence. The Agency has been recruiting assets inside Beijing’s government. But defense isn’t enough. We need leaders who understand the threat and act accordingly.
Britain’s Labour government is doing the opposite. They’re approving spy hubs and flying to Beijing for “resets” while Chinese hackers read their officials’ text messages.
That’s not diplomacy. That’s surrender.
The Bottom Line
China hacked the phones of aides to three British Prime Ministers.
Britain’s response was to approve a massive Chinese embassy next to their most sensitive cables and send their current Prime Minister to Beijing for a friendly chat.
If that doesn’t illustrate the rot in Western leadership, nothing does.
America has its own Chinese compromise problems — Swalwell, various state officials, and probably others we don’t know about yet. We have our own security failures waiting to be discovered.
But at least we have a president who understands China is an adversary, not a partner. At least we have intelligence leadership actively working to counter Beijing’s operations.
Britain has Keir Starmer, flying to shake hands with Xi while Chinese hackers laugh at how easy this all was.
If they did it to the Brits, they can do it to us.
We better be ready.