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New Delhi
A Chinese tracking device was found hidden in a car of the United Kingdom (UK) government after officials carried out a security check of government and diplomatic vehicles. According to a report by British news outlet inews on Friday (January 6), the tracking device is a SIM card capable of transmitting location data. The device was placed in the car inside a sealed part imported from a Chinese supplier and installed by the manufacturer of the vehicle, the report said citing a security source.
Such a SIM card is capable of tracking the movement of vehicles and sending location data back to the supplier in China.
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The discovery has raised national security concerns in the UK amid mounting fears that Chinese and Russian intelligence services had been targeting British ministers.
Another source told the British publication that the tracking SIM gives the ability to survey a government over a period of months and years, constantly filing movements. "You can do it slowly and methodically over a very, very long time. Thatâs the vulnerability," the source said.
Reacting to the news, senior backbench Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith, who has been vocal on issues related to China, told inews, "I donât know how much more the UK needs to know about the threat China poses to us all."
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Meanwhile, Chinese officials have dismissed the discovery of the hidden device as "groundless and sheer rumour." The officials said they are firmly opposed to political manipulation on normal economic and trade cooperation or any smear on Chinese enterprises, the report added.
Just a few days back, a key component of Taiwan's most advanced anti-ship missile had been sent to China, causing calls for greater safeguards in the former country. A theodolite from the Hsiung-Feng III anti-ship missile was sent for repair in China's Shandong province.
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