MI5 has released new guidance advising citizens on how to protect themselves from transnational repression, citing the threat to Hongkongers after an immigration officer and a trade official were found guilty of spying on dissidents.
Pro-democracy activists also called for the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (HKETO), one of 14 missions around the world claiming to promote trade and cultural ties, to close amid accusations that it is a Chinese “spy hub”.
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Tensions between London and Beijing are rising after the first conviction of Chinese spies in British history. On Thursday, Peter Wai, 40, a Home Office official, and Bill Yuen, 65, the office manager of the Hong Kong trade office were found guilty after a nine-week trial at the Old Bailey of assisting a foreign intelligence service.
The court was told that Yuen, a retired superintendent in the Hong Kong police, commissioned Wai, who worked at Heathrow, to carry out a “shadow policing” operation that spied on activists who dared to “badmouth” Hong Kong’s increasingly authoritarian government.
The pair were arrested after a long-running investigation by MI5 that spanned over a year, The Times understands.
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warned that individuals were at risk of harassment, online disinformation, physical threats or violence, surveillance and coerced or forced repatriation.
It gave fresh, generic advice on handling repression tactics and said the threat came from a series of foreign states. The National Protective Security Authority (NPSA), an arm of MI5, also highlighted the threat from Iran, which MI5 and police have accused of nearly two dozen assassination, kidnap and sabotage plots in the year to October.
“While the number of people affected by [transnational repression] in the UK is low, the impact on those targeted and wider communities can be severe,” the advice said.
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Tomas Roberto, of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, claimed that evidence in the trial of “surveillance” and “harassment” by a HKETO employee proved “unequivocally that the office is being used as a hub” for covert operations.
“It is not enough to summon the Chinese ambassador. The government must act decisively to close the London HKETO,” he said.
Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws, who was sanctioned by Beijing in 2021 and was on a list of the spy ring’s targets, said: “I know there are Chinese assets in this country working for China and Hong Kong spying on many more vulnerable people than me.”
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Critics have also called for China to be placed in the enhanced tier of the Foreign Influence Registration Scheme, a list of countries that pose a risk to the UK’s national security.
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The diplomatic tensions come as a survey of over a thousand Hongkongers across the UK highlighted widespread fears about Chinese espionage and transnational repression. Two thirds of the diaspora surveyed told Hong Kong Watch that they felt some degree at risk from transnational repression, with 17 per cent saying they felt “majorly” at risk.
Of those who felt some risk, the most common fears were infiltration, with 26 per cent saying that groups had been infiltrated by people believed to be spies for Beijing. A fifth claimed they were photographed or doxxed, when personal information such as an address is published online without permission online.
Over 40 per cent of all respondents said they completely avoided taking part in public events because of the risks of transnational repression, with 86 per cent stating that they feared that participating in public events in the UK could put family members in Hong Kong at risk.
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