LONDON(National times)- Britain\u2019s domestic intelligence agency on Tuesday warned lawmakers that Chinese spies were actively reaching out to \u201crecruit and cultivate\u201d them via headhunters or cover companies. Writing to lawmakers, House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said a new MI5 \u201cespionage alert\u201d warned that Chinese nationals were \u201dusing LinkedIn profiles to conduct outreach at scale\u201d on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security. \u201cTheir 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,\u201d he said. MI5 issued the alert because the activity was \u201ctargeted and widespread,\u201d he added. The alert named two women, Amanda Qiu and Shirly Shen, and said other similar recruiters\u2019 profiles were acting as fronts for espionage. Home Office Minister Dan Jarvis said that apart from parliamentary staff, others including economists, think tank consultants and government officials have been similarly targeted. \u201cThis activity 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,\u201d Jarvis told Parliament. British intelligence officials have in recent years steadily ramped up their warnings about espionage threats from China, the U.K.\u2019s third largest trading partner. The latest warning came after critics widely questioned how the prosecution of two men charged with spying for Beijing in Britain collapsed just before they were due to stand trial. Academic Christopher Berry and parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash were charged last year with providing information or documents to China that could be \u201cprejudicial to the safety or interests\u201d of the U.K. Their case was dropped in September. The Director of Public Prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said it was because government refused to testify under oath that China was a threat to national security at the time of the alleged offenses, between 2021 and 2023. Prime Minister Keir Starmer denied claims of government interference in the case. In January 2022, the Security Service issued a similar security alert to all lawmakers warning that a London-based lawyer was knowingly engaged in \u201cpolitical interference activities in the U.K.\u201d in coordination with the Chinese Communist Party\u2019s United Front Work Department, an organization known to exert Chinese influence abroad. The lawyer, Christine Lee, was accused of facilitating covert donations to British parties and legislators \u201con behalf of foreign nationals.\u201d MI5 Director-General Ken McCallum told reporters last month that Chinese state actors present a national security threat to the U.K. \u201cevery day.\u201d McCallum said Beijing-backed meddling has included cyberespionage, stealing technology secrets and \u201cefforts to interfere covertly in U.K. public life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON(National times)- Britain\u2019s domestic intelligence agency on Tuesday warned lawmakers that Chinese spies were actively reaching out to \u201crecruit and cultivate\u201d them via headhunters or cover companies. Writing to lawmakers, House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said a new MI5 \u201cespionage alert\u201d warned that Chinese nationals were \u201dusing LinkedIn profiles to conduct outreach at scale\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":115987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n