ASPEN, (Colorado): Britain’s spy chief said on Thursday that China was now the top intelligence priority for the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), known as MI6, surpassing counter-terrorism.

Richard Moore, addressing the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, said understanding how Beijing pursues its strategic goals was a particularly complex challenge.

“If you go beneath that strategy in terms of how they implement, how they organize, what their tactical intent is, and then what are the capabilities they’re building up — that’s a black box,” Moore said.

“And there’s a role for organizations like mine in helping British ministers and policymakers to understand that, so they can navigate this really complex, difficult relationship with the Chinese.”