BBC Newsnight: NATO chief warns cyberspace attack could trigger military land incursion

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Secretary General of Nato Jens Stoltenberg said the group of nations will defend itself against cyberspace attacks as it would from any armed attack. He told BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis that Nato will treat this kind of aggression as it would any other incursion.

He said: “The core purpose of Nato is that all allies protect and defend each other and that’s based on out Article 5: an attack on one will be regarded as an attack on all allies.

“And what we have said is that an attack in cyberspace can be as damaging, as dangerous, as a kinetic attack, a normal armed attack.

“But the way we will respond, that can be in cyberspace but it can also be in other domains, air, sea, land.

“So we have only made it clear that an attack in cyberspace can be regarded as serious as any other attack against a Nato ally.”

Last week, Mr Stoltenberg warned that China’s development is threatening the global balance of power.

He called on countries to join the alliance in a bid counter any potential threats from Beijing.

Although China is not an enemy of the group, Mr Stoltenberg highlighted its advance in cyberspace and cooperation with Russia.

He said: “The rise of China is fundamentally shifting the global balance of power, heating up the race for economic and technological supremacy, multiplying the threats to open societies and individual freedoms and increasing the competition over our values and our way of life.

“They’re coming closer in cyberspace, we see them in the Arctic, in Africa, we see them investigating in our critical infrastructure.

“And they’re working more and more with Russia.

“All of this has security consequences for NATO allies.”

The Nato chief pointed out that China has the second-largest defence budget in the world and that its investing “heavily” in modern military capabilities.

Chine recently sparked war fears after Chinese jets violated Taiwan’s airspace last week.

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