The directors of the American Federal Police "FBI" and the British internal intelligence agency "MI5" warned on Wednesday of the increasing activities of Chinese commercial espionage in the West, during a rarely witnessed public conference at the British intelligence headquarters in London.

Before a gathering of officials and businessmen, Ken McCallum, Director General of "MI5," and Chris Wray, director of the American Federal Bureau of Investigation, said that the threat of Chinese spies is increasing.

McCallum pointed out that British internal intelligence has greatly expanded its operations related to combating Chinese espionage activities, stating that "the number of investigations we conduct today is seven times what it was in 2018," adding: "We plan to increase it by the same amount, while maintaining a significant effort to face Russian and Iranian covert threats."

According to McCallum, Chinese intelligence agencies follow a slow and deliberate approach in their quest to develop their sources and obtain information, noting that few of those targeted by these activities know they are targets for Beijing. McCallum confirmed that "hostile activities are currently taking place on British soil."

For his part, Wray said that the Chinese threat is "a complex, permanent, and continuous danger" to the United States and Britain as well as other allies, adding that China is "determined to steal your technology ... and use it to undermine your work and control the market."

The British and American officials warned that if China invades Taiwan, this would strongly undermine the global trade and industrial sectors. The officials called on the business community to remain vigilant and report any potential threat. McCallum said: "The Chinese Communist Party is interested in our democratic, media, and judicial systems, not to imitate them unfortunately, but to use them for its own benefit."