An employee of the British Parliament was arrested in March on suspicion of spying for China, the Metropolitan Police, responsible for the London region, announced on Saturday.
“Officers of the Metropolitan Police Service arrested two men on 13 March on suspicion of offences” in relation to the Official Secrets Act 1911One in the Oxford region, southeast England, and the other in Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, police confirmed.
Both men were released on bail.
According to the British press, the second man worked in the British Parliament and was in contact with representatives of the Conservative Party, which is currently in power.
Among them were Security Minister Tom Tugendhat and Alicia Kearns, the chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Commons, the lower house of parliament.
The suspect has worked in international politics, particularly in relations with Beijing, and has worked in China.
The case is being investigated by officers from the Metropolitan Police’s Anti-Terrorism Command.
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, which brings together dozens of parliamentarians from several countries, said it was “shocked by the news of the infiltration of the British Parliament by someone allegedly acting on behalf of the People’s Republic of China.”
In July, the House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee warned in a report that Chinese intelligence services were interfering “prolificly and aggressively” in Britain.
China has managed to “successfully penetrate all sectors of the UK economy” and “it is not difficult to detect the Chinese government’s interference in various sectors from universities to nuclear energy,” the document points out.
Last year, British intelligence accused Christine Lee of “engaging in political interference activities on behalf of the United Front Department,” an organization responsible for developing ties between the Chinese Communist Party and foreign entities.
According to MI5, she played the role of an intermediary by making “financial donations to political parties, MPs, aspiring MPs and people running for political office in the United Kingdom” on behalf of citizens of China and Hong Kong.
Christine Lee is accused of donating hundreds of thousands of pounds to Barry Gardiner, a former leader of the Labor Party, and to the party itself.
The alleged agent was also photographed with former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron in 2015 and on another occasion with former Labor leader Jeremy Corbyn.
In 2019, Christine Lee was knighted by Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May for her contribution to good relations between the United Kingdom and China.
In response, the Chinese Foreign Ministry pledged to respect the principle of non-interference in the affairs of other countries.
Sunak criticized Beijing’s interference
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has already expressed “deep concern” to his Chinese counterpart about “Chinese interference in British parliamentary democracy” following the revelation of an arrest for espionage, a Downing Street spokesman said.
The head of the British government met with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, India, and expressed “deep concern about Chinese interference in British parliamentary democracy,” following the revelation that a young man working in the Westminster parliament was arrested for espionage in March.
According to The Sunday Times, British authorities arrested two parliamentary staffers in March on charges of breaching the Official Secrets Act for allegedly spying for China.
One of these former parliamentary staffers had close ties to several senior Conservative Party MPs. The alleged spy was arrested on March 13 along with another man, the newspaper reported.
The main suspect is a young man around the age of twenty who, according to Sky News, is said to have had contacts with, among others, the Minister of Security, Tom Tugendhat, and the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Alicia Kearns.
Sources in the British Parliament told the newspaper that this was “a major escalation” by China and that “never before” had such an instance been seen.
The young man was arrested in Edinburgh, information that was confirmed by Scotland Yard, the police in the British capital. The other suspect was arrested in the English county of Oxfordshire.
Still on the sidelines of the G20 summit, British Justice Secretary Alex Chalk declared that the China issue is a challenge that “defines an era.”
The pressure group Inter-Parliamentary Alliance for China said it was “shocked by reports of infiltration of the British Parliament by someone allegedly acting on behalf of China”.
Source: DN
