If it proves to be the case that China has recruited a Briton, who held a coveted job as a researcher in Westminster, as an agent, it represents a significant escalation in Beijing’s intelligence targeting of the UK.
Chinese spying efforts were once focused on the hacking and stealing of intellectual property. More recently there have been signs of a growth in human intelligence efforts, using undercover Chinese nationals in an effort to obtain information.
In 2020, three alleged Chinese agents were quietly expelled by the UK. They had been posing as journalists for one of the country’s press agencies. But despite this apparent failure, the effort to recruit agencies appears to have stepped up.
MI5 issued a rare “interference alert” warning to MPs in January 2022, accusing Christine Lee, an Anglo-Chinese lawyer, of seeking to improperly influence British parliamentarians on behalf of China’s ruling Communist party. Lee rejects the accusation and in July this year launched a legal action against MI5, suing the agency for compensatory damages, arguing she was unable to work and travel.
This time, it is a Briton in his 20s, who spent time previously working in China, who is in focus. Records show he held a parliamentary pass at the time of his arrest in March on suspicion of breaching the Official Secrets Act, and worked international policy, including on China, for a handful of Conservative MPs for a few years.
So far, there has been no prosecution and the man has been released on bail until early October, and it remains possible no criminal proceedings will develop. Turning covertly obtained intelligence into evidence that can be properly presented to a court can be complicated, and it may be the case that spy agency suspicions are not grounded in hard fact.
Meanwhile, at the G20 in Delhi, the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, challenged the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, over interference by Beijing in the UK parliament where he “conveyed his significant concerns about Chinese interference in the UK’s parliamentary democracy”.
Espionage is always ultimately political, not just in its intent but in the decision to call it out. Until two years ago, Britain was always anxious about publicly upsetting China, which was why news of the expulsions of 2020 leaked out only the following year.
Amid pressure from some quarters of the Conservative party for a dramatic rethink, there has been something of a shift in policy. Lee, though never herself prosecuted nor arrested, was effectively called out publicly, as MI5 sent its alert around all Westminster.
This time a leak has emerged as Sunak attends the G20 summit in India, where China is of course present, even if President Xi Jinping is not. It is hard to conclude the timing is coincidental given Downing Street’s briefing of the rebuke.
That may help Sunak sound tougher on China following internal criticisms from hawkish Tory backbenchers, including the former prime minister Liz Truss, who have been unhappy that the UK has not been willing to describe Beijing as a threat, even though such language would take Britain beyond other western allies.
But it is unwise to be too cynical. Intelligence chiefs have been warning for some years that the threat from Beijing is increasing. In July, the UK’s foreign intelligence agency MI6 said it devoted more resources to China than Russia, even allowing for the invasion of Ukraine.
The question, however, is in what form it might take place. Beijing’s intentions are often poorly understood in the UK, and at times its intelligence efforts had appeared slight, focused on obtaining relatively basic information. Unlike Russia, which has proved willing to carry out poisonings in Britain, the direct harm posed also appears limited.
China, however, remains interested in the workings of Britain’s parliamentary democracy, a further reminder that the era of state competition is back. Nothing could be more reminiscent of the cold war than foreign powers running agents in Britain
