Watch out for online contact with Chinese spies, UK defence minister warns public | Espionage

Ordinary UK citizens should be wary of online contact with Chinese spies, the defense secretary has said, after MI5 issued a spying alert to parliament.

Luke Pollard told MPs on Tuesday that the warning that China was trying to recruit people with access to sensitive information should also be heeded by the general public.

The security services have taken the unusual step of advising MPs, Lords and their staff to be vigilant about protecting themselves from spies and uncovering two LinkedIn accounts used to recruit people with access to non-public information.

“This is advice that the rest of the public should take to heart,” he told Sky News’ Sophy Ridge. “Because as we move more online as a community, the greater the ability for people to want to harm us or give us access to information they shouldn’t have access to.”

Security services detected two accounts on LinkedIn named Amanda Qiu and Shirly Shen; Both were alleged bounty hunters and were thought to be linked to espionage.

Security minister Dan Jarvis told parliament on Tuesday it was a “secret and calculated” attempt by the Chinese government to recruit people close to power.

In response, Beijing accused the UK spy agency of “baselessly exaggerating” the issue and said it was not interested in “so-called intelligence” from the UK parliament.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Mao Ning said at a press conference on Wednesday: “China never interferes in the internal affairs of other countries and has no interest in collecting so-called intelligence from the UK parliament.”

One of the parliamentary staff contacted by Shirly Shen told the BBC she ignored the message but was concerned less experienced staff might have responded.

He said: “The message was not written in very good English, it was a message saying that there was a job opportunity, that I was interested, and that I would contact you if I was interested.

“I’ve been working in parliament for about 10 years, so I’m kind of used to it. But if you’re more junior, you don’t know what you’re looking for. You might think it’s a genuine offer made to you on LinkedIn, and they might accept.”

He said he believes such contacts are becoming increasingly common. “They realized that the way to reach parliamentarians was through staff… this is extremely worrying,” he said.

This came shortly after the collapse of a case against two Britons alleging they spied for China.

Parliamentary investigator Christopher Cash and his China-based friend Christopher Berry were accused of espionage, but the charges were dropped a month before the trial was due to begin.

The Crown Prosecution Service said it was forced to abandon the case after the government failed to provide assurances that China was a “current threat to national security”; this was a threshold that had to be met to proceed with prosecution.

The text of the 1911 espionage law refers to collecting information “directly or indirectly useful to the enemy”; This definition would strain the UK’s already fragile relationship with the superpower.

Pollard, appearing on breakfast TV and radio, said China posed “a number of threats” but said it was a “complex picture”.

He said: “China poses a number of threats to the UK, but they also present a number of opportunities for the UK. It’s a complex picture with China, which I’m sure you’ve been hearing from government ministers for weeks.”

Appearing on the LBC radio breakfast show with Nick Ferrari, Pollard was questioned about the government’s purchase of Chinese technology, including vehicles used by the military that may contain listening devices.

Pollard told Ferrari that the government was “looking carefully at what the options are in Chinese technology.”