People might be spying for China and never realise it, specialists warn
Tim Law, the deputy director of charity UK-China Transparency, claimed the Chinese Communist Party excelled at finding advisers whose work could then become ‘covert’
Professor Steve Tsang warned countries looked to ‘take advantage’(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Brits could be spying for China without even realising it, experts have warned.
Tim Law, the deputy director of charity UK-China Transparency, claimed the Chinese Communist Party excelled at finding advisers whose work could then become “covert”.
Analysts told us about the wider strategy of the CCP, and argued there was little politicians could do to stop Beijing setting traps.
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Mr Law, said: “There are always people on the edge of politics looking for alternative sources of income. That doesn’t mean they actively look for an opportunity to assist a foreign state. The Chinese Communist Party is good at bringing people into its orbit to deliver something of value to the party. That might be through reaching out as a state owned enterprise to someone who might be prepared to do some PR work that might become covert.”
Mr Law also raised concerns about the foreign influence registration scheme, which only has nine entries, none of them related to China. He said: “I find it very hard to believe there isn’t any entity in the UK that isn’t assisting the Chinese state somehow.”
Professor Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute said: “Great powers that want to take advantage of us will do that, particularly a great power that is not a friend. But what we can stop is to get our people not to fall into their traps.”
Chung Ching Kwong, a senior analyst at the Inter-Parliamentary -Alliance, said people could get involved with think tanks while not realising they were tied to the Chinese state.
She added: “A lot of think tanks, especially in places like Shanghai or Beijing, act as an extended arm of their government.
“The public seems to assume spying is like James Bond, they’re carrying guns and doing covert things, but it’s not. It’s hidden in broad daylight.”
It comes after the arrest of Labour MP Joani Reid’s husband David Taylor and two other men this week on -suspicion of spying for China. The experts’ remarks are not specifically about them.
