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From the evidence provided by HMG to this Inquiry, there appears to have been an increase in the Government's focus on China since 2020, reflecting both the threat posed and the priorities of the Government. We would have expected to see a concurrent increase of resourcing dedicated to the China mission and therefore questioned each organisation on the resources it has been allocating to work on China, and whether that has changed.

After 1997, SIS effort on China reduced, but since 2004/05 it has been seeking to rebuild resources:

The percentage of operational effort dedicated to China has *** over the past 20 years, ranging between ***% (1999) and ***% (2003). For 2018/19 the figure stood at ***% (for comparative purposes, the figure for Russia was ***%). This equated to a financial spend of £*** (out of £***). In 2020, the figure increased to ***%, and a financial spend of £*** (out of £***). In terms of staff dedicated to China, figures show *** from *** full-time equivalent (FTE) (2005/06) to *** FTE for 2019/20. Of these, ***.