Resisting China is about far more than counter-espionage – it is civilisational

This week, opposition parties will round on the Government over a failed counter-espionage trial. But what is the point if we trudge to China's totalitarian destination?

Following the collapse of a trial on charges of espionage on behalf of China, the nation finds itself in another week of political grandstanding. Opposition parties will line up to challenge Ministers over their handling of the case. But mere politics misses the deeper problem: it is not enough to complain about Chinese spying if step by step we adopt the very totalitarian structures and controls their regime exemplifies.

Our recent governments’ approaches to China have been inadequate – but as we trudge forward towards digital IDs, central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), biometrics and mass surveillance by default, we risk joining China in their own oppressive social system.

The proper purpose of resisting China is to live differently – with the dignity of freedom, not under minute and extensive control by authority, that is, totalitarianism.