Starmer’s diplomacy downplays “epic scale” of Chinese spying
Yang Tengbo insists that he is not a spy and that he would “never do anything to harm the interests of the UK.” He was speaking yesterday after instructing his legal team to disclose his identity following the “high level of speculation and misreporting in the media and elsewhere.”
Much of that reporting focused on the hapless Prince Andrew, who appears to have welcomed Tengbo into his inner circle. Judges sitting in the UK’s national security court heard that the alleged spy had formed an “unusual degree of trust” with the Duke, as part of what a security expert told the BBC was likely an “elite capture” operation to target and influence high profile British figures.
In early 2023, then Home Secretary Suella Braverman banned Tengbo from the country. He appealed that decision, all the way up to the Special Immigration Appeals Commission which this month upheld the government’s position, which remains that Tengbo’s “presence in the UK is not deemed to be conducive to the public good.”
Just two months after Tengbo launched his final appeal, the head of MI5, Ken McCallum, gave a speech in which he warned of the “epic scale” of Chinese espionage in the UK. China’s embassy in London says such claims are “baseless.” Who to believe?
McCullum went on to warn that suspected Chinese agents had approached over 20,000 people in the UK over sites like LinkedIn as part of an effort to cultivate ties with people working “at the cutting edge of technology.”
Nobody would claim that Prince Andrew is at the cutting edge of anything, nevertheless he was apparently of interest to the Chinese. As for Tengbo, his professional record in the UK makes for interesting reading. He was close to a previous Tory government’s efforts to build closer relationships with Beijing, having arranged the first UK-China Business Leaders Summit in 2014, where he was photographed with George Osborne – then at the height of his own pro-China enthusiasm.
Times have changed since then, though not enough for the current government to upgrade China from a “challenge” to a “threat.” Whitehall officials fear that billions of pounds hang in the balance between those two words, and Keir Starmer remains embarrassingly keen not to ruffle Chinese feathers.
Former security minister Tom Tugendhat worked to designate China as a threat under the new foreign influence registration scheme, something he said yesterday was supported by MI5. He had hoped that his Labour successor would take that decision through to its conclusion, but that has not happened.
It’s a strange state of affairs when our spooks say one thing and the PM seems determined to say another – or rather, not say anything much at all.