Coronavirus has seen countries ‘turn on themselves and their allies’, British military chief says

Pandemic has exposed ‘atomisation of international society’, General Sir Nick Carter says

Chief of the Defence Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, visits Downing Street on 5 March (Peter Summers/Getty Images)

The coming of coronavirus has given a disturbing glimpse into a dark future of states trying to impose control through totalitarian surveillance and weaponising misinformation to break alliances and institutions, the head of Britain’s military has warned.

At the same time the pandemic has exposed a lack of global solidarity and “atomisation of international society” which has led to countries “turning on themselves and their allies”, said General Sir Nick Carter.

And although there have been examples of cooperation, such as the Gavi Vaccine Alliance, “some institutions – the World Health Organisation for example – it has been actively undermined”, he added.

The chief of defence staff did not expand on his claim of the WHO being undermined. But the organisation has been consistently attacked by Donald Trump and senior officials in his administration with the US contribution to its budget.

“What we have seen with Covid-19 is a reminder that the threats to our national security, our values and our prosperity have evolved and diversified markedly,” said Gen Carter in his annual address at Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. “Our authoritarian rivals see the strategic context as a continuous struggle in which non-military and military instruments are used unconstrained by any distinction between peace and war.”

Gen Carter continued: “Coronavirus has revealed the nature of global competition and conflict very starkly. We saw some extraordinary international behaviour in the race for PPE and ventilators in the early stages of the crisis. We have seen misinformation which confuses and undermines trust and disinformation which deliberately polarizes public debate on topics related to Covid-19 [such as] Russian efforts to undermine the Oxford AstraZenica vaccine as a ‘monkey vaccine’ for economic and reputational purposes.”

China in particular, said Gen Carter, is engaged in a “digital great game” and establishing a “digital Silk Road will probably be the most influential element of the Belt and Road Initiative” – an infrastructure programme through which Beijing is accused of spreading debt dependency and political hegemony in other countries.

This was part, held Gen Carter, of a broader Chinese strategy. “They have also harnessed technologies and tactics that have outpaced the evolution of international law to avoid their actions being classified as conflict under the definitions of international law,” he said.  

“China’s new strategic support force is designed to achieve dominance in the space and cyber domains. It commands satellite information attack and defence forces; electronic assault forces and Internet assault forces; and even cyber warfare forces.”

The Chinese telecommunications company, Huawei, is being shut out of 5G networks in some countries – but that was only in the west, Gen Carter wanted to point out. China has overtaken the US to become the country with the most data crossing its borders, and  Beijing has used its growing influence at the UN to shape technical standards for facial recognition and surveillance tech through the International Telecommunication Union.

The problem is being recognised by Nato, said Gen Carter. Its Reflections Group stated in a report last month that the alliance “must devote much more time, political resources, and action to the security challenges posed by China – based on an assessment of its national capabilities, economic heft, and the stated ideological goals of its leaders.  

“It must expand efforts to assess the implications of China’s technological development and monitor and defend against any Chinese activities that could impact collective defence, military readiness or resilience in the Supreme Allied Commander Europe’s area of responsibility.”