China Ramadan trip to Xinjiang video-monitored fort
Britain's domestic intelligence service MI5 has warned MPs that a suspected Chinese agent
"carried out political interference activities" inside Parliament
, Westminster authorities said on Thursday.
House of Commons Speaker
Lindsay Hoyle
's office confirmed it had emailed lawmakers to let them know.
"The 'speaker' takes the security of the deputies and the democratic process very seriously
, for which he has issued this notice in consultation with the security services," said a spokeswoman for Hoyle.
The message identified the suspect as
Christine Lee
, stating that she "performed political interference activities on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department," a body that seeks to maintain contact with personalities or groups outside the party.
This London-based lawyer would have donated 200,000 pounds ($275,000, 239,000 euros) to Labor MP
Barry Gardiner
and hundreds of thousands to his party. Former Conservative Prime Minister
Theresa Ma
and - whose party has been
accused of receiving millions of pounds from Russian donors
- presented Lee with an award in 2019 in recognition of his contribution to China-UK ties.
Lee was also photographed with May's predecessor, Conservative
David Cameron
, at an event in 2015, and separately with former Labor leader
Jeremy Corbyn
. "He facilitated financial donations to sitting and aspiring MPs on behalf of foreign nationals based in Hong Kong and China," according to Hoyle's message.
"It was done covertly to mask the origin of the payments
," he said.
Following MI5's warning of Lee's activities, former Conservative leader
Iain Duncan Smith
, highly critical of Beijing, demanded strong action.
China last year imposed sanctions on 10 people and organizations in the UK, including Duncan Smith, for what it called the spread of
"lies and disinformation"
about human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region (northwest China).
Lee has not been detained or deported,
she has simply been banned from Parliament
, she said.
Contacted by AFP, neither the Chinese embassy in London nor the British government immediately commented.
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