CHINESE assertiveness is the most pressing issue facing the Five Eyes intelligence allies, former prime minister John Howard has told a forum in London.

Mr Howard disputed the claim that cyber threats were the most significant issue facing the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing partners of Australia, the UK, US, New Zealand and Canada.

“I don’t downplay the cyber threat but to pretend there isn’t a game in town that doesn’t involve China … is deluding ourselves,’’ he said.

He said China had a “massive diaspora’’ spread across the Pacific, and that Australia’s population was about to reach 25 million people, of which one million were ethnic Chinese.

“Terrific citizens making an enormous contribution,’’ he said, adding that “China is very interested in the capacity to use those people to further her power and her interests.’’

Mr Howard said how countries reacted over the next decade to a rapidly-growing China — which brought on one hand “extraordinary benefits’’ — would be important.

“In common with other nations … she is asserting herself in a very significant way and I think the capacity of our intelligence agencies to advise on who is doing what, and the right way to respond … is absolutely crucial.’’

His comments come at a time when the Turnbull Government is struggling to define its relationship with China, which is furious at new foreign interference and political donation laws.

Mr Howard’s comments were made at a forum organised by the think tank Policy Exchange, chaired by former Australian ambassador to the UK Alexander Downer.

Other speakers included the former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, who said he believed cyber threats were the biggest challenge for the Five Eyes partners.

Mr Harper said the Five Eyes had less co-ordination and co-operation when it came to tackling cyber threats.

While saying he “would not name names’’, he said some countries had “permitted the penetration of Chinese hardware’’ and in some cases software into their computer systems, which led other countries to be reluctant to rely on those systems.

“All of our governments … are behind in the area of cyber intelligence. We have very different procurement processes and very different security safeguards,’’ he said.

All the speakers agreed on the importance of the Five Eyes relationship, with Mr Howard pointing to the assistance of the American CIA and British MI6 during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars in the 2000s.

Former secretary-general of NATO and UK Secretary of State for Defence under Tony Blair, Lord Robertson, said the assumption now had to be made that any conversation being held in a room with mobile phones was on the record, because there was the capacity for it to be it

overheard by someone “in a warehouse outside Beijing.’’

He said proper intelligence analysis such as that provided by Five Eyes was what “properly saves us from the guys in the warehouse outside Beijing.’’