Security Minister Dan Jarvis has delivered a strong condemnation of what he termed "covert and calculated" attempts by a foreign power to interfere with the United Kingdom's sovereign affairs, following a serious warning issued by MI5 to members of Parliament. The UK security services issued an alert to MPs, peers, and parliamentary staff, specifically identifying two LinkedIn profiles that are allegedly being used on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS). These accounts are purportedly operating as "civilian recruitment headhunters" with the goal of soliciting "insider insights" by targeting individuals working within British politics, reports The WP Times with reference to the BBC.
A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in the UK immediately dismissed the accusations of espionage as "pure fabrication" and publicly accused the UK government of orchestrating a "self-staged charade." The spokesperson added that Beijing "strongly condemn[s] such despicable moves of the UK side and has lodged stern representations with them," urging the UK to "stop going further down the wrong path of undermining China-UK relations." The warning, detailing the threats, was formally circulated to MPs by the Commons Speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, and his House of Lords counterpart, Lord McFall, on Tuesday.
The MI5 alert specifically named two profiles, set up with the names Amanda Qiu and Shirly Shen. Simon Whelband, a researcher for Conservative MP Neil O'Brien (a vocal critic of China), told the BBC that he had been contacted by the latter account. After receiving the official parliamentary alert, Whelband searched his LinkedIn messages and found a three-month-old communication from the profile named Shirly Shen, offering a potential job as a remote consultant. Whelband, who reported the message to authorities, noted the poor English used in the message but warned that if the communication had been more credible, more junior staff could easily be "fooled into thinking it was genuine."
In his communication to MPs, Sir Lindsay confirmed that both profiles were being used "to conduct outreach at scale" on behalf of the Chinese MSS, calling Chinese state actors "relentless" in their attempts to "interfere with our processes and influence activity at Parliament." He detailed that the MSS is "actively reaching out to individuals in our community" to "collect information and lay the groundwork for long-term relationships, using professional networking sites, recruitment agents and consultants." Other espionage methods described include all-expenses paid trips to China and payments for information via cash or cryptocurrency. Targets are said to include Parliament staff, economists, think tank employees, and geo-political consultants.
Responding to the threat in the House of Commons, Minister Jarvis announced a comprehensive package of measures to counter the espionage. This includes £170 million dedicated to upgrading encrypted government technology, new protections against Chinese cybercrime, and safeguards against attempts to influence UK university research. Jarvis warned that China possesses a "low threshold" for what information it considers useful as it attempts to build a wider intelligence picture. He emphasized that the UK would take "all necessary measures" to protect against this pattern of behaviour, including tightening rules against covert funding of political parties and providing the Electoral Commission with enhanced enforcement powers. While stressing that China remains the UK's third-biggest trading partner, Jarvis confirmed the government would nevertheless use sanctions "as necessary." Shadow Home Office Minister Alicia Kearns urged the government to place China on the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme (FIRS), currently reserved for Iran and Russia, a matter Jarvis said the government was "looking closely at."
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