UK intelligence agency MI5 has issued a warning to UK lawmakers about the activities of Chinese intelligence agents. According to the warning, these agents are utilizing LinkedIn and other recruitment fronts to target UK lawmakers for information gathering and long-term relationship-building. MI5 has highlighted that this is part of a wider effort to counter the threat of espionage, describing the activities as targeted and widespread. The intelligence agency has issued this alert in response to the growing concerns over such operations. The warning was shared by House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle, who emphasized the urgency of the issue.
Additionally, the MI5 alert cited LinkedIn profiles of two women, Amanda Qiu and Shirly Shen, and said other similar recruiters’ profiles were acting as fronts for espionage. Home Office Minister Dan Jarvis said that apart from parliamentary staff, others including economists, think tank consultants and government officials have been similarly targeted. Jarvis said the government is rolling out a series of measures to tackle the risk, including investing 170 million pounds ($224 million) to renew encrypted technology used by civil servants to safeguard sensitive work. Opposition parties say authorities are not doing enough and are too wary of jeopardizing trade ties with China.