British MPs call for ban on China’s Didi Chuxing over data privacy concerns
- Lawmakers are concerned Beijing could compel Didi to hand over data under a law that requires Chinese firms to cooperate with state intelligence agencies
- The backlash is the latest in a number of U-turns and reviews concerning Chinese investments in the UK, including a ban on Huawei from Britain’s 5G roll-out
The cross-party group of hawkish lawmakers said in an article published in The Times on Monday that they were concerned Beijing could compel the company to hand over data, in line with a 2017 National Intelligence Law that requires all Chinese companies to cooperate with state intelligence agencies.
“In China, they track everybody’s movements,” Iain Duncan Smith, a former leader of the ruling Conservative Party, told The Times. “They put spyware in people’s phones. So, if you’re using one of these new taxis, what’s to stop them dumping spyware on your phone, as they do at the moment you touchdown in China?”
Yasmin Qureshi, an opposition Labour MP for Bolton South East, joined Smith in his criticism.
“I think our government should ask what guarantees are being sought as to whether the data is going to be kept in China and how can the risk of sensitive user data being passed on to the Chinese government be mitigated,” she was quoted as saying.
“The problem with Didi, like all other Chinese companies, is that all roads lead back to the Chinese government and their independence is really a facade … this is primarily a data-harvesting exercise and another incursion by the Chinese Communist Party into the security of the UK,” added Tim Loughton, Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham.