According to the former head of MI6, the UK needs to "wake up" to the threat posed by China's threats to international security.
Western nations are "under full press of Chinese espionage," according to Sir Alex Younger, who oversaw the UK Intelligence Service from 2014 to 2020.
In the past week, the US military has shot down four objects, including a balloon believed to be a Chinese spy.
According to Sir Alex, the UK must set restrictions on the nations it will tolerate because they "behave in an unacceptable way.".
A Chinese spy balloon was shot down by the US military on February 4 after flying over important military locations in North America. The object, according to China, was a weather balloon that went astray.
The three additional "unidentified objects" have since been shot down across North America.
According to Sir Alex, "this balloon scenario demonstrates there is no trust" between China and western countries, he said on BBC Radio 4's Today program.
"The sovereignty of many nations has been grossly and clearly violated by this. ".
According to Sir Alex, the UK must acknowledge that it is "in a competition" with China.
"We need to wake up to this," he said.
"To combat the systemic competition that is present, we must build on our strengths even more. ".
The government will do "whatever it takes," according to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, to protect the UK from spy balloons.
The prime minister announced on Monday that a "quick reaction alert force" of RAF Typhoon jets was on call around-the-clock to monitor UK airspace.
