British security chiefs are warning Communist China could use a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) to monitor and control citizens – while the British state is itself working on a CBDC.
Sir Jeremy Fleming, who leads the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) mass surveillance agency, used the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) Annual Security Lecture at the Science Gallery in London to warn that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is haunted by “[f]ear of its own citizens, of freedom of speech, free trade, open technological standards and alliances – the whole open, democratic order and the international rules-based system” — and views CBDCs as a way to strengthen its grip.
“Control is… a major driver for Beijing as it seeks to build a centralised, digital currency,” Sir Jeremy told the near-200-year-old think tank.
“Yes, it introduces efficiencies and new ways of settling payments. But the way it’s being implemented allows the monitoring of citizens and it forces companies to use the service,” he continued, adding that a digital yuan might also enable the CCP to circumvent international sanctions of the sort being imposed on Russia due to its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.