Britain’s domestic intelligence service issued an espionage alert to MPs, peers and parliamentary staff warning that Chinese actors are using social media and fake recruitment agents to cultivate sources with access to sensitive information in the UK, Security Minister Dan Jarvis told the House of Commons.
According to a government statement, MI5 said the activity was carried out by a group of Chinese intelligence officers often masked by cover companies or external headhunters, and that it had identified two online profiles believed to be legitimate headhunters used to build relationships on platforms such as LinkedIn.
Jarvis told parliament that the targeting is wider than elected officials and includes parliamentary staff, economists, think tank employees, geopolitical consultants and government officials whose networks or access to politicians are of interest. He said China assesses a low threshold for what information is valuable and will aggregate small pieces of information to develop a broader picture.
The minister placed the alert in the context of a pattern of concern, citing cyber operations by Chinese state-affiliated actors that targeted parliamentarians’ emails in 2021 and attempted foreign interference attributed to an individual identified by MI5 in 2022. He also announced the removal of surveillance equipment manufactured by companies subject to China’s national intelligence law from all sensitive UK sites and from overseas locations maintained by the UK.
Officials said the national intelligence law is commonly interpreted as creating a legal obligation for Chinese companies to assist state intelligence work, a concern that prompted earlier decisions to remove Chinese-made video cameras from some government facilities; that work is described as complete. Jarvis also announced a 170 million pound investment to renew sovereign and encrypted technology used by civil servants to protect sensitive work.
The government said the alert is part of efforts to disrupt and deter threats to UK institutions. MI5 said it had identified two online profiles linked to the activity, but the government statement did not publish further identifying details of those profiles.