MI5 warns UK lawmakers of renewed Chinese espionage attempts

Britain’s MI5 security service has warned lawmakers about attempts by Chinese agents to gather information and influence activity, according to an email seen by Reuters, marking the latest spy threat targeting the UK parliament.

The alert follows the collapse of a September trial involving two British men accused of spying on lawmakers for China, after prosecutors said the government had not provided sufficient evidence to prove China posed a national security threat.

House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle and his House of Lords counterpart circulated the new “espionage alert”, which warned of the risks posed by Chinese spies. Hoyle said China’s Ministry of State Security was actively reaching out to individuals in the parliamentary community to collect information and build long-term relationships through networking sites, recruitment agents and consultants. He added that two individuals were known to be contacting people via LinkedIn on behalf of the Chinese government.

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The warning also comes after MI5 said in October that Chinese spies were posting fake job adverts online to obtain sensitive information, noting that thousands of suspicious listings had appeared. MI5 chief Ken McCallum has previously said Chinese intelligence activity poses a daily national security threat.

In January 2022, MI5 issued an alert about lawyer Christine Lee, accusing her of political interference on behalf of China’s Communist Party; she later sued the agency to clear her name but lost.