Raab: China and Russia ‘took advantage’ of Covid to break international law
China and Russia have used the Covid pandemic to carry out cyber attacks and clamp down on human rights, according to foreign secretary Dominic Raab.
Raab said today that the “usual suspects” of Iran, Russia and China have tried to “take advantage of the crisis”, with Beijing’s Hong Kong clamp down used as an example.
Beijing imposed new national security laws on Hong Kong earlier this year that breached the British-Sino treaty, which promised the region autonomy from mainland China.
The UK also believes Kremlin-backed cyber criminals hacked into a series of European and North American labs that were developing Covid vaccines.
It also widely believed that the poisoning of prominent Vladimir Putin critic Alexei Navalny was carried out by the Kremlin in August.
Raab told Westminster’s Foreign Affairs Committee today that he was “pretty confident” these countries saw the pandemic as an opportunity to further their illegal pursuits.
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He said: “I think if you had asked me at the beginning of the crisis, we had discussions internally, would there be actors, state and otherwise who try to take advantage of the crisis in cyber or in other areas…I think you could make an argument that the timing of what China has been doing on Hong Kong would have been influenced by that.
“I think in a way it’s natural amidst the uncertainty Covid has wrought and the grabbing of everyone’s attention and focus it’s very easy for the world to take its eye off the ball.
“I do think those considerations – whether it’s Beijing, Tehran or Moscow – will feature, we’re pretty confident of that.”
Raab also said that the UK could potentially boycott next year’s Winter Olympics in Beijing over China’s treatment of Uighur Muslisms.
The Chinese government is holding an estimated 1m of the Uighurs in internment camps, with some human rights experts claiming the state is engaging in genocide.
“Generally speaking my instinct is to separate sport from diplomacy and politics but there comes a point where that may not be possible,” Raab said.
Relations between the UK and China have become strained this year, after Boris Johnson banned Huawei from being involved in the building of the country’s 5G network due to security concerns.
Beijing was also unhappy at the UK’s offer to give residency visas to millions of Hong Kongers in response to China’s national security laws.