Britain’s MI5 security service warned members of parliament on Tuesday about attempts by Chinese agents to collect information and influence activity, according to an email sent to lawmakers seen by Reuters.
The warning comes after prosecutors in October said they had to abandon the trial of two British men charged with spying on members of parliament for China because the British government had not provided evidence showing Beijing was a threat to its national security.
Lindsay Hoyle, the House of Commons Speaker, and his counterpart in the House of Lords circulated a new “espionage alert” issued by the security services to warn them of the threat posed by Chinese spies.
Hoyle said the Chinese Ministry of State Security was “actively reaching out to individuals in our community” and that they wanted to “collect information and lay the groundwork for long-term relationships, using professional networking sites, recruitment agents and consultants acting on their behalf”.
He warned that two individuals were both known to be reaching out on LinkedIn to “conduct outreach at scale on behalf” of the Chinese government.
The Chinese embassy in London did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
