MI5 Warns British Lawmakers of LinkedIn Threat From Chinese Spies
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Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle wrote to members of the House of Commons on Tuesday to make them aware of the “espionage alert” issued by MI5, which says the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) is attempting to infiltrate Westminster.
“Their aim is to collect information and lay the groundwork for long-term relationships, using professional networking sites, recruitment agents and consultants acting on their behalf,” Hoyle said.
The Epoch Times was unable to reach Qiu or Shen for comment.
The MI5 alert details how the Chinese intelligence service might attempt to recruit a target. “The Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) seek to collect sensitive information on the UK to gain strategic advantage,” it says.
“Following recent examples of attempts to target UK Parliament for intelligence gathering, this espionage alert seeks to highlight typical MSS tradecraft and methodology from a specific group of highly active officers,” the alert adds.
It warns that foreign agents target political and economic information, especially that which is classified or sensitive in nature, and that people who have direct access to information on the UK democratic system—as well as their close associates—are considered priority targets for the MSS.
Parliamentary staff, think tank workers, economists, and others working alongside the government—including MPs and peers—have been targeted for their networks, the alert said.
Hoyle said, “It is of the utmost importance that we all understand how this activity happens and how to protect ourselves against it. We all have a responsibility to keep Parliament safe.
“The Lord Speaker is also writing in similar terms to members’ staff in the House of Lords.”
Shadow security minister Alicia Kearns said MI5’s revelations “are no surprise,” and “are the latest in an ever-growing list of actions by the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in our sovereign affairs and try to undermine our democracy and our country. ”
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China Has ‘Low Threshold’
Security Minister Dan Jarvis addressed MPs concerning MI5’s alert on Tuesday afternoon, warning that all of their staff and many of their associates could be targeted.He urged all staff to be aware that “China has a low threshold for what information is considered to be of value, and will gather individual pieces of information to build a wider picture.”
Jarvis said the activity MI5 has identified “involves a covert and calculated attempt by a foreign power to interfere with our sovereign affairs in favor of its own interests, and this government will not tolerate it.”
He added, “It builds on a pattern of activity that we have seen from China with cyber-operations by China state-affiliated actors targeting parliamentary emails in 2021, and attempted foreign interference activity by Christine Lee in 2022, and other more recent cases.”
Lee denied any wrongdoing, and in July 2023, she sued MI5 for what she alleged were breaches of her human rights in releasing an intelligence service memo about her into the public domain. In December 2024, three judges dismissed her case, finding there were “legitimate reasons” for the briefing.
On Tuesday, Jarvis said the government will take “all necessary measures” to protect “our national interests, our citizens and our democratic way of life, including working with our allies and partners.”
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Spy Trial Collapse
The alert follows the collapse of a major espionage trial in the UK, in which two British men—one of whom had worked as a parliamentary researcher—were accused of passing information to an agent of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).Both Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry denied any wrongdoing.
Cash had worked as a parliamentary researcher for Conservative MPs Tom Tugendhat and Kearns, and is a former director of the China Research Group, while Berry is an academic who taught in China.
Both were accused of violating the Official Secrets Act, with prosecutors claiming that between 2021-23, they passed politically sensitive information to a person believed to be a Chinese intelligence agent, with links to a senior member of the CCP.
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Speaker’s Warning
Under UK law, the prosecution had to prove that the information was passed to an “enemy.” Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson, who leads the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said they could not get a government statement to the effect that China posed a “threat to national security,” and so the case collapsed.New Measures
Jarvis told MPs the government plans to roll out a “comprehensive package of measures” to “disrupt and deter the threats posed by China, as well as by state actors more widely.”The Labor government is working on new tools to counter foreign interference, including the proscription of proxy organizations, increased penalties for election interference offences, and measures targeting covert political funding, he said.
It will also launch campaigns to help politicians recognize suspicious activity and help professional networking sites spot foreign agents.
Jarvis also told MPs that the government has completed the removal of Chinese security cameras from sensitive government sites.
Kearns urged the Labor government to change China’s designation under the UK’s foreign influence registration scheme to force Chinese agents to register a much broader range of activities in the UK.
The Epoch Times has reached out to LinkedIn for comment.
