Chinese firm got Covid testing contract despite trying to hack NHS data, minister says

theguardian.com:

China’s leading genomics research company was given a Covid testing contract in the UK despite ministers knowing it had repeatedly sought to hack into the NHS’s genetic datacentre, a government minister has said.

The BGI Group was making multiple attempts every week to “hack” into Genomics England in 2014, George Freeman, a Cabinet Office minister has revealed to MPs, and is said to remain a “danger”.

Despite the “aggressive” approach of the Chinese company towards the intellectual property of others, its subsidiary, BGI Genomics, was handed an £11m Covid testing contract in 2021.

The Chinese company has also worked alongside and shared data with UK universities and the Wellcome Trust charitable foundation.

The revelation came during a Commons debate in Westminster Hall, where Freeman, who was previously a minister for life sciences, was seeking to reassure concerned MPs that the government was aware of the risks posed by BGI.

He told MPs: “BGI is clearly one of those danger points in the ecosystem. When I was wheeled out in 2014 to give a speech on the occasion of the visit of President XI to the Guildhall as President Xi and then PM Cameron were wheeled in, I was speaking to about a thousand Chinese delegates about Genomics England.

“I was preparing to pay tribute to the work of BGI when my officials pointed out that each week at that point Genomics England was receiving several hack attacks from BGI, and that was a wake-up call for all of us. We are very well aware that we have to manage these risks properly.”

Freeman added: “On that point I have literally just commissioned and received from UK Research and Innovation a detailed assessment of all of the China research and innovation links across our system.

“We did the same